SIMEON, LEVI, & REUBEN
But on this condition we will consent to you.
—Sons of Jacob
“The next chapter begins with Dinah, Jacob’s daughter with Leah,” said the man:
[She] went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her. His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman.155
“Huh? He rolls over and says, ‘So how was that rape for you, sweetie?’ What does that even mean?”
“This is certainly one of the more bizarre scenes in Genesis,” said the man. “An already tragic event, one often inspired by hatred or lust, takes an unexpected turn when Shechem has the audacity to advance with romantic words when his soul is drawn to Dinah. The scene becomes even stranger when Shechem insists to his father, ‘Get me this young woman as a wife.’”
“Wow,” said the boy. “What a little pr—”
“Prince,” said the man. “An extraordinarily entitled little prince. With an extreme lack of self-control, as we’ll see when he blindly agrees to do anything to get his wish. But before we get ahead of ourselves, Jacob hears of this and maintains his composure until his sons come in from tending livestock in the field. That’s when Shechem and Hamor speak with Jacob about arranging a marriage and they all learn of what’s happened. As you can imagine, Jacob’s sons become very angry when they hear what’s been done to their sister.”
“No kidding,” said the boy.
“Yes, but Hamor tells them the following,” said the man:
The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.”156
“I guess the tree didn’t grow very far from the apple,” said the boy.
“Not far at all. And then Shechem chimes in here,” said the man:
“Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask. Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, and I'll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the young woman as my wife.157
“Sounds like he’s trying to bribe his way out of justice at this point,” said the boy.
“Yes, well, the sons of Jacob see another problem,” said the man, reading on:
“We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.”158
“And this pleases Hamor and Shechem,” said the man, “enough so that they don’t hesitate to comply.”
“What are the ethics around marrying your sister off to a rapist just to convert some strangers to your religion?” said the boy. “That’s a heavy balance to weigh.”
“Especially at thirteen,” said the man.
“Jeez, is that how old she is?”
“Approximately. Just wait until you see how it unfolds.”
“Well quit dilly-dallying, old-timer.”
The old man smiled. “Hamor and Shechem go back to their city and tell all the men that their neighbors have agreed to intermarry and live in peace with them and trade, under one condition. But that condition is soon accepted as Hamor persuades them of the benefit in absorbing their population and property and animals into their own.”
“I noticed the reason this all came to be was left out of the sales pitch,” said the boy. “Really, though, what are the death rates of something like this? I noticed those were left out of Abraham’s sales pitch for circumcision as well.”
“What do you mean?” said the man.
“I mean in times without hygiene and sanitation a city full of men inflict a serious wound on themselves, and you think no one died of infection? I’m just noticing the text never said, ‘And twenty percent of the men who agreed to God’s covenant perished due to a mysterious discoloration spreading from their groin.’ You know what I’m saying? Blame it on Satan or do what you gotta do, but let’s not sweep the inevitable consequences of mass wound infliction under the rug.”
“Keep in mind that a ‘city’ in these times could have meant a few hundred people,” said the man. And with a growing smile he added, “But I think you’re being impatient when it comes to the rate of death.”
“Alright,” said the boy, “let’s hear it then.”
So the man read:
Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male.159
“Wow,” said the boy. “Wow. Definitely didn’t see that coming.”
“Turns out Jacob’s sons inherited their father’s knack for deception,” said the man, reading on again:
They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went away. Jacob’s sons came to the slaughter and plundered the city because their sister had been defiled. They took their flocks, herds, donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. They captured all their possessions, dependents, and wives and plundered everything in the houses.160
“I’m all for revenge,” said the boy, “but using God’s covenant as a bait and switch for genocide? I mean there’s gotta be a special place in Hell for that sort of thing, right?”
“You probably won’t like what Jacob has to say to his boys,” said the man, reading on:
“You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I.”
But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a harlot?”161
“You’ve troubled me? Obnoxious? Never mind the fact that my daughter was just raped. I’m starting to dislike this guy as much as Abraham.”
“This reaction certainly doesn’t show Jacob in the best light,” said the man. “I’ve looked for insight into this verse and found a few answers, though none of them leave you feeling satisfied. One is that while his initial reaction shows little concern for Dinah’s violation, his greater concern is for the safety of all of his people, as well as God’s prophecy, now that his sons have invoked the wrath of the surrounding tribes. While what happened to Dinah is upsetting, she may be raped a hundred times over and killed along with all his other children if Hamor’s brethren seek revenge.”
“I suppose that’s true,” said the boy, “although he does emphasize ‘kill me’ and ‘I shall be destroyed.’”
“I’m not defending his words,” said the man, “just sharing what I’ve found. I don’t believe Jacob is someone the average person might pick out as the hero of a story. Most of the Biblical heroes are riddled with humanity. These weren’t even necessarily good people in any kind of divine sense.”
“Yeah, they’re more like rats dropped in a morality maze.”
“Not exactly the words I would have chosen,” said the man, “but you’re certainly on to something there. God’s chosen people are presented with ethical decisions that determine the course of our future.”
“Either way,” said the boy, “I think Leah’s kids are beginning to realize where they stand in the order of most loved. They basically asked him, ‘What the hell were you gonna do about it?’”
“Yes, it certainly appears Jacob is mostly passive as usual,” said the man, “as we haven’t heard anything from him since he learned of the news. Perhaps he left it to his sons to deal with intentionally but hadn’t imagined they’d take it so far. Though, as we’ll see, he doesn’t do much to punish them for it either.”
“He probably recognizes manipulation is in their blood at this point,” said the boy. “The whole family’s screwed up that way.”
“Yes, well, this story also begs the question of where Leah was while her thirteen-year-old daughter was wandering around the neighboring tribes. And I’ve even heard some of the responsibility placed on Dinah’s shoulders, venturing into a neighborhood she knows to be wicked.”
“Oof. I don’t know how I feel about that,” said the boy. “All she did was go out and try to make some friends.”
“I’m not saying I agree with it either,” said the man, “and what happened to Dinah is inarguably awful, but what we have here is a cautionary tale about the realities of wandering into foreign streets on your own.”
“The whole thing is a mess,” said the boy. “Anyway, how do they deal with it?”
“Well, then God says to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.’ Which is a good reminder of how the hero’s journey is coming full circle,” said the man, “as this is where he first landed when he ran away from home. And so he takes his people and journeys to Bethel and builds an altar, where God appears to speak to Jacob again.” The man looked down and read:
“Your name is Jacob. No longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel.
And God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”162
“So that’s it, huh? Simeon and Levi take out a city full of innocent people and all God has to say is ‘be fruitful and multiply’? Presumably with all the heathen widows they took captive? What happened to all that talk about men who shed blood will pay with bloodshed? God’s chosen ones have turned into deceitful mass murderers and He just looks the other way?”
“This is true,” said the man. “Genesis doesn’t detail any punishment, nor approval of Levi and Simeon’s actions here. There is no sense that God commanded this retaliation, and even if He had required the destruction of this city, we can guess it may have come in a similar manner to Sodom and Gomorrah. We’ll see these two brothers suffer consequences later on, but for now, God refrains from inflicting any upon them. So what we’re left with is another moral dilemma to chew on while balancing the desire for justice with the temptation to go overboard in revenge.”
“I think ‘overboard’ is an understatement,” said the boy.
“Their motivations were pure, but their actions surely broke the Lord’s covenant. We’ll get back to these brothers later though,” said the man. “For now, God leaves Jacob, and Jacob makes a pillar of stone. He pours oil upon it and names it Bethel.”
“I take it there’s meaning to that name?” said the boy.
“House of God,” said the man. “Then, on their journey onward, Rachel goes into labor, and she has a hard labor, one that ends in her demise. And as her soul was departing she names her son Ben-Oni, but Jacob names him Benjamin.”
“Your beloved wife’s dying breath is to name her last child one thing, and rather than say any parting words, you’re like, ‘Nah. I don’t care for that one.’ Please explain.”
“First, let us note how Rachel once passionately declared, ‘Give me children, or else I die!’ And once she had children, she died.”
“Oh wow,” said the boy. “I would have forgotten that.”
“But to your point,” said the man, “the name Rachel chose means ‘the son of my sorrow,’ as the life of her son cost her her own. Jacob, I assume, not wishing to be reminded of his wife’s painful death every time he calls on his son’s name, changed it to mean ‘the son of my right hand,’ or someone very dear to me, perhaps to avoid any ill omen that may come along with the former choice. And as to his parting words to Rachel, we know the Bible spares many details, but I think we can assume from previous descriptions that this was a heartbreaking experience.”
The boy lifted his water bottle and poured one out on the ground.
The man smiled and shook his head as he kept reading:
And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day. Then Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. And it happened, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine.163
“What,” said the boy, “is wrong with these people? This book has more drama than a soap opera.”
“Indeed it does,” said the man, “which is very much the point regarding how many lessons we can derive from these stories. But here the Scripture leaves a frustrating lack of insight into the situation. The explanation I find most convincing revolves around the relationships between the parties involved. Reuben is the eldest son of Leah, the unloved wife of Jacob, and Bilhah is the maidservant of Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob. The motivation could have been an innocent love affair, sure, but I think, considering the timing and circumstance, it was more likely an act of revenge. Now, how accepting Bilhah was to Reuben’s advances is left to the imagination. Was this lust or love? Did she have a gripe against Rachel, or was Reuben merely forceful in this situation? My guess is forceful, as I’d like to imagine Bilhah was mourning her mistress, but I suppose we’ll never know for sure.”
“And how does Jacob react to all of this?”
“He doesn’t,” said the man.
The boy threw his hands in the air and said, “Typical!”
“All we know is that he ‘heard about it’ before the story carries on.”
“Unbelievable, man.”
“No more is said, and no more needs to be. I’m sure we can all fill in the blank regarding how Jacob must have felt about this betrayal in a time of mourning. Some people see his non-reaction as weakness, others as self-control, but either way we’ll see how this affects their father-son relationship down the road.”
“Alright, alright,” said the boy. “Keep going then.”
“Then Jacob rejoins his father Isaac at Mam—”
“Are you kidding me?” said the boy. “This dude is still alive? He was on his deathbed like thirty years ago.”
“It’s possible this is out of chronological order,” said the man, “placed here to wrap up the chapter. Actually it’s unclear whether or not Jacob ever exchanged any words with his father after he left home. All we know is that Isaac breathed his last breath and died at one hundred and eighty years old, and that Esau and Jacob buried him. The point of mention here is really to bring the generations of Isaac to a close.”
“Did Rebekah get the Eve treatment?”
“No mention of Rebekah,” said the man, “so we’re lead to assume she passed in the time Jacob was gone.”
“Typical,” said the boy.