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.
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.
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)
The text shows us two separate responses from Dinah’s brothers: distress and anger.
The distress (עָצַב) is the same word used to describe God’s heart before God flooded the earth. Grieved. In pain.
The anger (חָרָה) is the same word used to describe Cain before he killed his brother.
וְעַתָּ֣ה ׀ אַל־תֵּעָ֣צְב֗וּ וְאַל־יִ֙חַר֙ בְּעֵ֣ינֵיכֶ֔ם כִּֽי־מְכַרְתֶּ֥ם אֹתִ֖י הֵ֑נָּה כִּ֣י לְמִֽחְיָ֔ה שְׁלָחַ֥נִי אֱלֹהִ֖ים לִפְנֵיכֶֽם׃
Now, do not be distressed or reproach yourselves because you sold me hither; it was to save life that God sent me ahead of you.
Genesis 45:5 (Revised JPS, 2023)
Much later, Joseph will encourage his brothers to be neither grieved nor angry at themselves for their actions against him. Same words. I can’t help but see a link here.
Dinah, in her weakness, suffers an injustice, and her brothers pour out wrath in her defense.
The same brothers treat Joseph unjustly, and Joseph, in his strength, withholds the justified wrath against them and encourages a new path.
There is a time for grief and wrath, and a time for healing and peace.