Author: jovial_cynic

Sameness

Posted on by jovial_cynic
When Adam first sees the woman in Genesis 2:23 and declares “bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh,” the excitement isn’t about sexual attraction. Adam’s words simply don’t translate that way.

It’s about SAMENESS.

It’s about seeing someone who is an equal. She is someone who can help Adam address the one thing that isn’t good about all of creation: that Adam was alone.

The reason I mention the “not about sexual attraction” bit is because… quite literally, “Adam & Steve” DOES work here, because the text is pointing to loneliness.

If you don’t understand this, I suspect you simply don’t have friends. You don’t understand that God gave us one another to address that woeful experience of being alone.

Human sexuality is a separate topic and a separate layer of experience. Friendship and recognizing sameness in others is a higher order of relationship.

A Righteous Slaying?

Posted on by jovial_cynic
On the issue of Simeon and Levi killing all the men of Shechem, there’s rabbinical debate regarding whether or not it was justified.

According to the Noahide laws (a binding moral code for all Gentiles), the penalty for Shechem’s violation against Dinah is death, and the penalty for allowing such actions is also death. Therefore, it was a righteous slaying.

On the other hand, Shechem was a prince. Who could possibly stand up to him? Only Shechem was guilty. Therefore, it was unrighteous.

Blood Brothers

Posted on by jovial_cynic
<blockquoוַיַּעֲנ֨וּ בְנֵֽי־יַעֲקֹ֜ב אֶת־שְׁכֶ֨ם וְאֶת־חֲמ֥וֹר אָבִ֛יו בְּמִרְמָ֖ה וַיְדַבֵּ֑רוּ אֲשֶׁ֣ר טִמֵּ֔א אֵ֖ת דִּינָ֥ה אֲחֹתָֽם׃
Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor–speaking with guile because he had defiled their sister Dinah
Genesis 34:13 (Revised JPS, 2023)

Simeon and Levi get all the blame for the whole story of the massacre of Shechem, starting with the circumcision requirement, so why does the text tell us that “Jacob’s sons answered” and not just “Simeon and Levi” answered? In what way were they all “speaking with guile,” and not just the two offending brothers?

The rabbis explain that the trickery wasn’t intended to end in bloodshed. The trickery was that the brothers presented Shechem an impossible requirement: “You and all your men in your whole city must be circumcised.”
Who would agree to this?! But if Shechem refused, he would be forced to reject his claim to Dinah and return her to her family.

This seemed like a clever enough plot that Jacob didn’t object to it.

He didn’t assume Dinah’s blood brothers would be so aptly named.

Deals with Devils

Posted on by jovial_cynic

הַרְבּ֨וּ עָלַ֤י מְאֹד֙ מֹ֣הַר וּמַתָּ֔ן וְאֶ֨תְּנָ֔ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר תֹּאמְר֖וּ אֵלָ֑י וּתְנוּ־לִ֥י אֶת־הַֽנַּעֲרָ֖ לְאִשָּֽׁה׃
Ask of me a bride-price ever so high, as well as gifts, and I will pay what you tell me; only give me the maiden for a wife.”
Genesis 34:12 (Revised JPS, 2026)

When Shechem violates Dinah, the text states that he then goes to Dinah’s family to try to get them to agree to marriage, stating that he’ll pay whatever it takes for it to be mutually agreeable.

What’s important to note is that in the culture, the violation and defilement is accepted as reality. Dinah has been sullied in their eyes.

However, Shechem’s offer of marriage would technically reverse the violation and restore her “status.”

You have to understand – this would be very tempting for the family, specifically because they *loved* Dinah. By agreeing to the marriage, Dinah’s status would be restored, and she could be held in high esteem by marrying the prince, and the family could even receive a very high bride-price (dowry) and gifts (that would go to Dinah).

Simeon and Levi’s response isn’t just revenge. It’s a very powerful statement: honor cannot be purchased.

Regardless of the trouble it may cause, and the loss of status and financial opportunity, you simply do not make deals with devils.

The Ox and the Donkey

Posted on by jovial_cynic
The Tze’enah Ure’enah is a collection of ancient Jewish writings seemingly directed at women – the name itself is shorthand for Song of Songs 3:11: “Go forth and see, O ye daughters of Zion.”

It’s among the commentary on Genesis 34:6, and the connection it makes to “unequally yoked” is fascinating. It reminds me that the writings of Torah are not only meant to be understood linearly, but that the writings were put together with the beginning and the end in mind.

“Shechem’s father Hamor came out to Jacob to speak to him” [34:6]. The Midrash writes. Hamor said to Jacob: you grandfather Abraham was a prince, and I am a prince. Give your daughter to a prince. Jacob responded: my grandfather Abraham was called, ox, as the verse says, “Abraham ran to the herd” [Genesis, 18:7]. This is an ox. You are called Hamor, which means donkey, and the verse says, “you shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together” [Deuteronomy, 22:10]. This means, you should not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

Tze’enah Ure’enah on Genesis 34:6

Dinah’s Suffering

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Little is mentioned about Dinah in Genesis 34. The text says she was violated, and after the story of Simeon & Levi’s revenge, there’s no more narrative about her in the Bible. No children. No remarriage. No lone adventures. Her story simply ends.

In my journey through Genesis, I have found ways to “restore” nearly every broken or shamed character, where the text picks up the pieces in some way further down the generations. But it simply stops for Dinah.

I find this incredibly heartbreaking.

This is an unresolved suffering, where the only response is the kind of fury that the brothers unleash against Shechem and the whole community. Wrath. But no resolution.

And this is the painfully honest experience for some:

She lived. She suffered. She died.

There are no words of comfort here. Not for her. Not in this life.

Dinah’s name (דִּינָה) means Judgment.

I believe it means that God is coming for Dinah.

Israel’s Plunder

Posted on by jovial_cynic

וְאִתָּ֖נוּ תֵּשֵׁ֑בוּ וְהָאָ֙רֶץ֙ תִּהְיֶ֣ה לִפְנֵיכֶ֔ם שְׁבוּ֙ וּסְחָר֔וּהָ וְהֵֽאָחֲז֖וּ בָּֽהּ׃
You will dwell among us, and the land will be open before you; settle, move about, and acquire holdings in it.”
Genesis 34:10 (Revised JPS, 2023)

I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. Thus you will plunder the Egyptians.”
Exodus 3:21-22 (NASB 1995)

There’s a fascinating and seemingly prophetic statement that Hamor says to Jacob and his sons after Dinah is violated. Jacob already knows that God has promised the land to him. But here, Hamor says “the land will be open before you to settle and move about and acquire possession.” This sounds like a plunder.

Jump to Exodus, after Egypt has violated Israel, and God tells Moses directly: you will plunder the Egyptians.

It’s an interesting parallel.

Wicked Hamor and Shechem

Posted on by jovial_cynic

וְהִֽתְחַתְּנ֖וּ אֹתָ֑נוּ בְּנֹֽתֵיכֶם֙ תִּתְּנוּ־לָ֔נוּ וְאֶת־בְּנֹתֵ֖ינוּ תִּקְח֥וּ לָכֶֽם׃
Intermarry with us: give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
Genesis 34:9 (Revised JPS, 2023)

הָאֲנָשִׁ֨ים הָאֵ֜לֶּה שְֽׁלֵמִ֧ים הֵ֣ם אִתָּ֗נוּ וְיֵשְׁב֤וּ בָאָ֙רֶץ֙ וְיִסְחֲר֣וּ אֹתָ֔הּ וְהָאָ֛רֶץ הִנֵּ֥ה רַֽחֲבַת־יָדַ֖יִם לִפְנֵיהֶ֑ם אֶת־בְּנֹתָם֙ נִקַּֽח־לָ֣נוּ לְנָשִׁ֔ים וְאֶת־בְּנֹתֵ֖ינוּ נִתֵּ֥ן לָהֶֽם׃
“These people are our friends; let them settle in the land and move about in it, for the land is large enough for them; we will take their daughters to ourselves as wives and give our daughters to them.
Genesis 34:21 (Revised JPS, 2023)

The tonal shift is intriguing. We should assume that Hamor and Shechem are more honest in their intentions with their own people than with the Jacob and his sons.

To the sons of Israel: Give your daughters, and take our daughters.

To their own people: We will take their daughters, and give our daughters.

Can you hear it? It sounds like an equal exchange in v9, but in v21, it becomes clear: Hamor and Shechem are bad men who have no regard for the vulnerable, even among their own people.

Outrage in Israel

Posted on by jovial_cynic

וּבְנֵ֨י יַעֲקֹ֜ב בָּ֤אוּ מִן־הַשָּׂדֶה֙ כְּשׇׁמְעָ֔ם וַיִּֽתְעַצְּבוּ֙ הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֔ים וַיִּ֥חַר לָהֶ֖ם מְאֹ֑ד כִּֽי־נְבָלָ֞ה עָשָׂ֣ה בְיִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל לִשְׁכַּב֙ אֶת־בַּֽת־יַעֲקֹ֔ב וְכֵ֖ן לֹ֥א יֵעָשֶֽׂה׃
Meanwhile Jacob’s sons, having heard the news, came in from the field. They were distressed and very angry, because he had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter – a thing not to be done.

One commentary notes something fascinating here. There is no “nation of Israel” yet. At this time in the narrative, Israel is not a place. Israel is a man named Jacob.

Yet we only see the outrage in the sons of Jacob, and not in Jacob himself. Jacob does not speak at at all in the text until the end of the chapter, when he complains that Simeon and Levi have brought trouble upon him by making him an enemy of the Canaanites.

A Thing not to be Done

Posted on by jovial_cynic

וּבְנֵ֨י יַעֲקֹ֜ב בָּ֤אוּ מִן־הַשָּׂדֶה֙ כְּשׇׁמְעָ֔ם וַיִּֽתְעַצְּבוּ֙ הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֔ים וַיִּ֥חַר לָהֶ֖ם מְאֹ֑ד כִּֽי־נְבָלָ֞ה עָשָׂ֣ה בְיִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל לִשְׁכַּב֙ אֶת־בַּֽת־יַעֲקֹ֔ב וְכֵ֖ן לֹ֥א יֵעָשֶֽׂה׃
Meanwhile Jacob’s sons, having heard the news, came in from the field. They were distressed and very angry, because he had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter – a thing not to be done.
Genesis 34:7 (Revised JPS, 2023)

In the rabbinical commentary, there’s a discussion about what “a thing not to be done” indicates.

Rashi suggests that even the Gentiles, since the time of the Flood, understood that violating a girl was wrong; every nation at the time had outlawed such activity.

Nachmanides counters: the Canaanites did not consider it immoral, and the text is highlighting only what is forbidden to the Jews.

Either way, the reader is told to agree with the anger of the brothers. It was a thing not to be done.