The Skeptics Annotated Bible (45 page)

(34.7)
“And the sons of Jacob … were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter.”

8 And
Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife.

(34.8)
“Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife.”

9
And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.

(34.9)
“And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.”

10
And ye shall dwell with us
: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein.

(34.10)
“And ye shall dwell with us.”

11 And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give.

12 Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.

13
And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully
, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:

(34.13)
“And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully.”

14 And they said unto them,
We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised;
for that were a reproach unto us:

(34.14)
“We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised.”

15
But in this will we consent unto you: If
ye will be as we be, that
every male of you be circumcised;

(34.15)
“But in this will we consent unto you: If … every male of you be circumcised.”

16
Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.

(34.16)
“Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.”

17 But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone.

18
And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor’s son.

(34.18)
“And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor’s son.”

(34.1-31)
What did Dinah want?
There is one voice that is entirely missing from this story: Dinah’s. Did she love Shechem? Did she want to marry him? Or did she want him killed? Was this a Romeo/Juliet-type story, with two young lovers willing to overlook their cultural and religious differences in order to be together? We’ll never know since it was of no interest to the biblical author. By slaying Shechem, Dinah’s brothers condemned her to a celibate life, since non-virgin women were not permitted to marry. (Dt 22.13-21)

LORD, GOD OF MY FOREFATHER SIMEON! YOU PUT A SWORD INTO HIS HAND
— Judith 9.2
According to the Apocryphal/ Deuterocanonical book of Judith, God not only approved of the violence in Gen 34, he gave Simeon the sword that he used to kill all the males in the city.

19 And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter: and he was more honourable than all the house of his father.

20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying,

21 These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.

22 Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.

23 Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of their’s be our’s? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us.

24 And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and
every male was circumcised
, all that went out of the gate of his city.

(34.24)
“Every male was circumcised.”

25
And
it came to pass on the third day,
when they were sore
, that two of
the sons of Jacob
, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and
slew all the males
.

(34.25)
“And … when they were sore … the sons of Jacob … slew all the males.”

26
And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword
, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out.

(34.26)
“And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword.”

27
The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.

(34.27)
“The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.”

28 They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field,

(34.29)
“And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive.”

29
And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive
, and spoiled even all that was in the house.

30 And
Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land
, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.

(34.30)
“Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land.”

31
And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?

(34.31)
“And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?”
Dinah’s brothers, to justify the massacre of a town for the rape of their sister, say: “Should he deal with our sister as with a harlot?” To the author of Genesis, rape is a crime against the honor of men rather than against a woman.

35
And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:

3 And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.

4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

5 And they journeyed: and
the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them
, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

(35.5)
“The terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them.”

6 So
Jacob came to Luz
, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Beth-el, he and all the people that were with him.

7 And he built there an altar,
and called the place El-beth-el
: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

(35.6-7)
“Jacob came to Luz … and called the place Elbethel.”
73 When did Jacob rename Luz to Bethel?

8 But Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried beneath Beth-el under an oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth.

9 And
God appeared unto Jacob again
, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him.

(35.9)
“God appeared unto Jacob again.”
God meets with Jacob so often that he’s becoming a bit of a pest.
49 Can God be seen?