Extra Lessons from Genesis 34:
Number one: the judgment on Shechem as an individual was severe. The penalty for defiling and raping Dinah. Death. ( But it doesn’t mention if she even resisted his advances.
Number two: the even more severe punishment on Shechem‘s father and Shechem’s village, its men who died, their wives and children who were taken into slavery with all their possessions plundered. Imagine their grief, wives without husbands, children now fatherless.
Number three: The subsequent penalty on Jacob who mentioned to Simeon and Levi, “you have ruined me, making me infamous, embroiling me with the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites! And we are few in number: and they will gather together against me and attack me; and I shall be destroyed, and my household.“ Putting the Future of the Promised Land, Israel at risk, Jacob even feared that their actions would rebound upon his head, and his total household would be destroyed! No wonder Jacob when deciding the sons’ inheritances went back to this wild incident and years later tempered their inheritance and commented on the inheritance of Simion and Levi, still distancing himself from their actions Jacob would have had the constant reminder of their actions. And with Jacob now having to provide for Schechem’s wives and children and the whole village from that day forward.
Takeaway: Despite how casually post-modern society in the west takes casual sex. How seriously does God take what we in modern society see as ‘the hookup’, as ‘one night stands’, as ‘booty call’ and as ‘friends with benefits’! Genesis 34 is placed here in God’s word just to outline how seriously God considers casual sex with all of it’s dire consequences - the danger of unwanted offspring, the danger of adultery - illicit sex when married, the danger of fornication, sex outside wedlock, which the New Testament says to ‘flee from!’
Remember The Bounty returned unexpectedly to Hawaii on their round-the-world voyage of discovery, to be set upon and to have Capt Cook and his men slaughtered because they had formerly left behind their abandoned, untended and forgotten wives and children whom the had casual sex with. In that case the ‘wages of sin was certainly death!’ Romans 6:23
The main takeaway is that God created us in His image to attend the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and be the holy bride of Christ - a mystery that we will fully understand in heaven!
Tune into our Genesis 34 podcast for an in-depth exploration of these lessons and more, as we seek to understand God’s heart and His standards for our lives.
