Actions and Reactions
When God deals with us and our spirits are determined to follow Him and His guiding, ultimately we will change. Jacob experienced a place where God had met him and changed his character. This change meant that he would see things in a different light, he would act and react differently.
The incident that takes place here in Genesis 34 is one that most of us will find distasteful and unjust. How we deal with these kind of incidents is entirely dependant on whether we have had 'God Encounters' or not and whether we are willing to allow our hard, conditioned hearts to be changed by Almighty God.
As we have seen previously Jacob wrestled with God and prevailed, in other words he had come through with God not without God.
Dinah, Jacobs daughter is on a night out with the girls (Genesis 34:1) where she is seduced, raped and violated by a young man. Heard this kind of thing before?
The man who has violated her seems to then be repentant and wants to marry Dinah. Oh that he had kept his selfish desires and motives in check. This tells us something of the rebellious, sinful nature that is inherent in all of us as a result of Sin that entered the world through Adam. Not that we are in any way as depraved as the young man in our story, yet, nevertheless Sin in us is capable of anything. Sin reproduces what it is.
It is very difficult to right wrongs, no matter how good our intentions. We need to daily ask God for His Grace to enable us to go through life without sinning. A tall order, and one that seems impossible, but through God all things are possible. Whether we subscribe to the possibility of a life without sin depends on our perspective and relationship with Almighty God and whether we believe that He has done what He said He would do by sacrificing His Son who terminated Sin forever. What I do know is that my life is not perfect and also what I know is that God through His Grace sent His Son to die for me and set me free from the power of Sin and Death, so that I could live a life of freedom and power to the glory of God. It is an ever on going process, the question is am I willing to change?
It is through the daily situations and circumstances that I find myself in that I have to work out my salvation with fear and trembling, it is in fact God working in and through me for His good pleasure and purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13)
Sin does not only harm us and our relationship with Almighty God it also damages our relationships with our neighbours and friends.
So back to our narrative.
What does Jacob do when he hears that his daughter has been violated. Genesis 34:5 tells us that he kept his silence and waited till his sons had come in from the field.
What was going through his mind at this point? Did he feel any compassion towards his daughter? I believe he did, from what I read of Jacob I find a changed man.
To understand Jacob's actions we have to understand his circumstance. Jacob is in a hostile place, he is few in number compared to all those that surround him. One false move and he, his family and his livelihood would be taken away. He had no walled city, just tents in the fields, his only protection was his relationship with Almighty God. He had begun to imbibe the 'faith' that was so evident in his grandfather Abraham and too some extent was in his father Isaac. It was this belief and knowledge that kept him going Genesis 35:3 tells us that Jacob acknowledged that God answered him in his time of distress and was with him in the way that he went.
Sometimes it pays to wait, especially wait on God. We see in this chapter that Jacob's sons did not appear to share the same conviction with regard to Almighty God as their father. That may be something to do with the fact that they had not had 'God Encounters'. All of us need 'God Encounters' that move our lives from relying on our parents encounters (if they have had them) to that of our own encounters. If we do not have this kind of relationship with Almighty God then we are in grave danger of making disastrous decisions that will have lasting consequences through out our lives.
The situation here in chapter 34, although awful, could have been used for the glory of God and demonstrate that this God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was the living God and did change lives. But unfortunately youthful hot headiness and arguably justified anger got in the way.
The young sons never had any intention of trying to rectify the situation other than through the shedding of blood. They had premeditated to kill those that had offended their family. Retribution and retaliation, this is not Gods way. Jesus demonstrated a different way on a cross.
The sons of Jacob used the act of circumcision Genesis 34:15 (circumcision was the sign that God had established His covenant with His people, it was the outward sign that these son's of Abraham had been set apart to Him), as a way of weakening those that had offended them Genesis 34:25.
After two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, had seized the moment and destroyed all the males that had been weakened by the physical act of circumcision and "rescued" Dinah their sister, the rest of the sons of Jacob plundered the city and took what was not rightfully theirs thereby bringing disgrace and reproach on Jacob and his family.
Jacob responded to this situation with a very heavy heart indeed. He said "You have made me obnoxious among the inhabitants", "I shall be destroyed, my household and I" Genesis 34:30. The response from his sons was "they had it coming", it was one of retaliation and not forgiveness. Now I know that this story could repulse us and many of us in reality may want revenge, but Jacob realised that revenge was not always sweeter and that acceptance, forgiveness and loving your enemies was far more profitable both to the soul and the flesh.
Despite all of this we will see that God comes to the rescue yet again.
Almighty God deliver us from all the Sin that stops us from allowing you to work the miracle life changing experience in our lives. Wrestle with us that we may be able to make a difference to those around us and those we meet. Grant us self control together with a peace and knowledge in Your gift of Salvation that we may be able to live a righteous and holy life before you and those we come in to contact with in our daily lives. Give us patience and wisdom to know how to act and react. Grant us your peace, a peace that transcends all logical reason so that we can be your effective witnesses, demonstrating your way, the way that your Son so selflessly demonstrated on a cross. Giving up His right for the greater good of humanity. In the difficult experiences of our lives help us Lord to forgive our enemies and those that misuse us. Help us Lord to be doers of the word and not just hearers so that our actions speak louder than our words.
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