Genesis 34-36

What I Noticed Today (Genesis 34-36)

Genesis 34

In verses 1-34, Dinah, Jacob’s daughter through Leah, is raped by a Canaanite prince:

• Dinah went to visit some of the women who lived nearby.

• Shechem, the son of Hamor (the same Hamor that sold Jacob the field), saw Dinah and raped her. He became infatuated with her, loved her, spoke tenderly to her, and asked his father Hamor to get her as his wife.
• Jacob heard what Shechem had done but didn’t do anything immediately because his sons were in the field.
• When Jacob’s sons returned from the field and found out what happened, they were outraged because such a thing should not be done.
• Hamor told Jacob’s sons that his son Shechem wanted to marry Dinah. Hamor proposed they allow intermarriage between the clans. In that way, Jacob could settle in the land and acquire more property.
• Shechem offered to pay whatever bride price Jacob demanded.
• Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and Hamor deceitfully, saying they could not intermarry unless their men were circumcised. If they agreed to be circumcised, then they would agree to give each other’s daughters in marriage, and become one people.
• Hamor and Shechem thought it sounded reasonable to be circumcised because they thought eventually they would acquire all of Jacob’s possessions.
• All the men, including Hamor and Shechem, were circumcised.
• On the third day, when they were still in pain from the circumcision, Simeon and Levi (Dinah’s brothers) got their swords and killed every male in the city.
• They killed Hamor and Shechem and took Dinah from Shechem’s house.
• The rest of Jacob’s brothers plundered the entire city, taking all their possessions, cattle, wives, and children.
• Jacob was angry with Simeon and Levi. Because of their actions, he knew he might face retribution from the Canaanites and Perizzites, who lived in the land. If they banded together, Jacob and his household would be destroyed.
• Simeon and Levi’s only response was to defend their sister’s honor in not allowing her to be treated like a prostitute.

Genesis 35

In verses 1-15, Jacob completes the journey to Bethel:

• God told Jacob to get up, go to Bethel, and settle there. Once there, he was to build an altar to God who appeared when he fled from Esau.

• Jacob commanded everyone with him to get rid of their foreign gods and purify themselves.
• Jacob told them they would journey to Bethel where he would build an altar to the God who answered his prayers when he was in distress, and with him wherever he went.
• Jacob hid all their foreign gods under a tree in Shechem.
• When they set out, God protected them, so no one came out against them.
• Jacob arrived in Bethel (also known as Luz) and built an altar to God there because it was there that God revealed himself to Jacob when Jacob was fleeing from Esau.
• Deborah, the woman who nursed Rebekah and cared for her, died and was buried. Jacob named the place where she was buried the “Oak of Weeping” (Allon Bacuth).
• God appeared to Jacob again after he arrived in Bethel. God confirmed Jacob’s name will now be Israel. God told him to be fruitful and multiply. God promised an assembly of nations would come from him, and kings would descend from him. Finally, God promised to give him the land he had promised to Abraham and Isaac.

• Jacob set up a marker at the place where God spoke to him, poured out a drink offering, and anointed the marker with oil. Jacob named the place Bethel.

In verses 16-20, Rachel dies:

• On the way to Ephrath, Rachel goes into labor and delivers another son whom she named “Ben-oni” (Son of My Sorrow). Then she died. Jacob changed the boy’s name to “Benjamin” (Right-hand Son).
• Rachel died on the way to Ephrath (Bethlehem).

In verses 21-26, Israel journeys beyond the Tower of Edar:

• While they were living in this region, Reuben went in and slept with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, who was the mother to his brothers Dan and Naphtali.
• The 12 sons of Jacob are listed, not according to birth order but according to the order of Jacob’s relationship with their mothers: Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah.

In verses 27-29, Isaac dies:

• Jacob came to his father Isaac in Mamre in Kiriath-arba (Hebron).
• Isaac was 180 years old, and he died.
• His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Genesis 36

Chapter 36 includes the family records of Esau (Edom).

In verses 1-8, are the family records of Esau:

• Esau had three wives: Adah, Oholibamah, and Basemath.
• Esau had five sons, all of whom were born to him in the land of Canaan.
• Esau gathered up his family and possessions and moved to Seir away from his brother Jacob because the land could not support them both.

In verses 9-43, the family records of Esau are detailed in five major sections:

• Section 1. Verses 10-14. This section expands verses 4-5: six sons were born to Adah’s son Eliphaz, and four sons were born to Basemath’s son Ruel.
• Section 2. Verses 15-19. This section lists the chiefs of Esau’s sons, and grandsons, but adds a seventh son of Eliphaz named Korah.
• Section 3. Verses 20-30. This section lists the sons and chiefs of Seir the Horite, the father of Eliphaz’s concubine, Timna.
• Section 4. Verses 31-39. This section lists the eight kings who ruled consecutively in the land of Edom prior to King Saul.
• Section 5. Verses 40-43. This section lists eleven of Esau’s chiefs who ruled over portions of Edom (see also 1 Chronicles 1:51-54 for a similar list).

Some thoughts for additional consideration: 

• The rape of Dinah brings out the worst in Jacob and his sons.
• They have attempted to do what God wants but in an unholy way, with bad motives. Lies and deceit abound as Jacob and his family act more like Gentiles than children of God.
• How often do we do that today? We try to help God out, do what God wants, but we do it with impure motives, in an unholy way. No wonder the unbelieving world looks at Christians and questions our beliefs.

What did you notice in your study today? Feel free to visit the website and leave a question or a comment.

Tomorrow: Genesis 37-40