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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
ויעקב שמע כי טמא, Shechem, who had already been mentioned (hence his name does not need to be repeated here and a pronoun will do) and that as a result of what he did, Dinah had been defiled by an uncircumcised person who had been intimate with her.
Radak on Genesis 34:5
Radak, in his commentary on Genesis 34:5 makes a point to draw out how terrible Shechem was.
“AND HE WASN’T EVEN CIRCUMCISED!!”
When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her. His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her.
Genesis 34:2-3 (NIV)
Genesis describes Shechem as an incredibly bad man. After forcing himself on Dinah, he “spoke tenderly to her,” which is precisely the kind of thing a serial abuser does.
But it’s even worse than that. The oldest rabbinical traditions hold that Dinah is only 8 years old here.
There is nothing new under the sun.
In the Jewish commentaries, Rashi is explicit. He says “lay with her” is the natural way one lies with another. “Violated her” is the unnatural way. This passage should turn your stomach. You should feel the wrath that the brothers feel. That’s the point.
Interestingly, the Midrash contains a story that suggests that Dinah is later given in marriage as Job’s second wife. This tradition likely stems from a strong desire to see her restored, and places her next to a man of great honor. While I don’t believe that “being married to Job” is the highest possible calling for a woman, I can at least nod at the attempt to make her whole.
Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time.
Genesis 12:6 (NASB)
The rabbis note that this mention of the Canaanites in Genesis 12 is meant to tell you about their incursion into the land, not their habitation of it.
How do we know this?
Because in two chapters, we’ll meet the King of Salem, or Jerusalem, priest of God Most High. This land is his.
And Melchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.
Genesis 14:18 (NASB)
If the Canaanites are now in the land that belongs to Melchizedek, we are being told that they are the invaders.
But this isn’t just a story about land. It’s our hearts. This describes the human condition.