Bible Reading: Genesis 34; Job 1; Mark 5; Romans 5
Genesis 34:1-2 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.
Rape is a reality for young women. Unfortunately, here scripture is very honest with us and tells us what happened to the sister of Jacob's sons. Notice that the Bible tells us that she went to see the daughters of the land. Unprotected, Leah was with the daughters of the Canaanites. During her time out, Shechem the Hivite saw her. The Bible tells us he was a prince of the country. His father was Hamor the king of the land. As royalty, he was probably used to having whatever he wanted. Here was undoubtedly a beautiful young lady that was a Hebrew. Not only was she fair, but she was a novelty, being a stranger to the land. This young man took her apparently by force and he lay with her. The Bible tells us he defiled her.
When the sons of Jacob hear the news they were very upset:
Genesis 34:7 And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done.
This thing ought not to be done! Knowing that they were greatly outnumbered, the sons of Israel concoct a plan that will give them the advantage and they killed all the males of the city. This thing ought not to be done either! Their vengeance was over zealous. Their justification for their deed was:
Genesis 34:31 And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?
Here is the lesson to be learned by the daughter of Leah. It is better to protect a daughter before something terrible like this happens than to try and 'fix' it afterward. Why was Dinah out among a heathen people unprotected in the first place? Where were her parents? Where were her brothers?
This reminds me of college. At the university I attended, there was a van that drove around the campus all night long. It had a light on top and we all called it the 'rape van'. The purpose was for an unprotected woman to have a ride across a dark campus. I am sure it was instituted because of the rapes that occurred on the campus. Fathers and mothers don't let your daughters be like Dinah. Don't send them out among the daughters of the land unprotected because there are men like Shechem out there.
In Christ,
Rody
