Genesis 34:1-31: The Desire for Revenge

Genesis 34:1-31: The Desire for Revenge

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of Genesis, and today the next passage we come to is Genesis 34:1-31, so I’ll be reading a selection of verses from that passage. It says,

1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. 3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.” 5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing must not be done. 8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give…. 13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised…. 18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter…. 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered. 30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, we know that in order to rightly understand both what this passage is teaching and how it connects to our lives, we need the Holy Spirit. So please, send your Spirit to minister to us through this passage today in a most powerful way. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

One of the most well-known feuds in American history is popularly known as the Hatfield-McCoy feud. It lasted from 1863 to 1891—so about 30 years. And the conflict began when a member of the Hatfield family who had fought for the Confederate Army went out with a group of other Confederate militiamen and ambushed and killed a member of the McCoy family who had fought for the Union Army. 

After that, nothing really notable happened until 13 years later, when the two families began disputing about who owned a particular pig. And that dispute over the rightful ownership of the pig turned out to be the match that lit the flame of the rest of the feud. It went back and forth for the next 20 years and was quite the fiasco. People were kidnapped, homes were burned down, jailbreaks were carried out, numerous people were ambushed, and by the time all was said and done, over a dozen people had been murdered. And the feud had political elements as well. Because the Hatfields lived in West Virginia and the McCoys lived just across the state line in Kentucky, the governing authorities themselves got into some heated arguments over who had jurisdiction and how extradition laws should be applied. At one point, the governors of the two states even threatened to have their militias invade each other’s states. Eventually, the inter-state conflict actually had to be settled by the United States Supreme Court. 

It’s quite the story, really. And, sadly enough, it’s a story that illustrates a tendency all of us have. Whenever someone wrongs us, we instinctively desire to retaliate. We want revenge. And the desire for revenge can sometimes consume us—which is what we see happening in our main passage this morning of Genesis 34. This passage shows us that the desire for revenge isn’t anything new but rather has existed from ancient times. 

Now, to remind you of the context here, a man named Jacob returned to where he was from—the land of Canaan—after a 20-year sojourn several hundred miles away. And as Jacob returned, he reconciled with his brother Esau. That’s what we read about last week in Genesis 33. However, Jacob once again showed himself to be a deceiver by not following through on the promise he made to Esau about reuniting with him in the land of Seir and instead going to a place called Succoth and then to the city of Shechem. In addition, not only was this not where Jacob had told Esau he’d go, it was also not where Jacob had told God he’d go. Back when God had visited Jacob in Genesis 28 while he was in Bethel, Jacob had committed to return to Bethel in order to build a structure that he called “God’s house.” 

Yet, in Genesis 33, Jacob instead goes to Shechem in order to build an altar—perhaps because he thought he’d be more prosperous there. He probably reasoned to himself that it was okay since Shechem was only 20 miles away from Bethel and since he was building an altar to God, after all. However, the fact remains that by settling in Shechem, Jacob wasn’t being fully obedient to God’s will. In fact, he was being disobedient—because that’s what partial obedience is. Partial obedience is actually disobedience. 

So, when you think about it, everything that happens in Genesis 34 with the rape of the Jacob’s daughter and the massacre of the people of Shechem is actually Jacob’s fault, to some degree. None of the terrible events of this chapter would have happened if Jacob had been obedient and gone to Bethel instead of going to Shechem. But that’s what often happens when we disobey God’s will. Disobedience often leads to disaster—as we see here in Genesis 34. 

Look at verses 1-7: 1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. 3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.”… 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing must not be done. 

So, Jacob’s daughter Dinah is raped by the prince of the city, named Shechem. Keep in mind that the city itself is also called Shechem, so Prince Shechem had probably been named after the same guy who had founded the city of Shechem. Now, obviously, Prince Shechem’s decision to rape Dinah would be a disgusting and horrendous thing to do in any circumstance, but it’s particularly unwise since Dinah has eleven very protective brothers. And verse 7 tells us that when these brothers heard what had happened “they were indignant and very angry because [Shechem] had done an outrageous thing.” 

We then read in verses 8-12, 8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me for as great a bride-price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.”

So, Shechem is obviously desperate. But his father Hamor tries to be strategic in his request. Hamor attempts to convince Jacob and Jacob’s sons not just to allow his son to marry Dinah but also to start allowing intermarriage in general between Jacob’s people and the people of Shechem. Hamor probably thought that would be economically advantageous. 

Then, in verses 13-15, Jacob’s sons demonstrate how the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Jacob himself was a pretty crafty guy, and his sons show themselves to be quite crafty as well. It says, 13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised.

Now, circumcision was something God had commanded of Jacob’s grandfather Abraham as a sign of the covenant he had made to bless Abraham in some very notable ways. And it was a sign that was to be applied to all of Abraham’s male descendants—essentially marking them off as God’s chosen people. Yet here in these verses, Jacob’s sons use this sacred and God-given sign for their own treacherous scheme. 

We then read in the subsequent verses how Hamor and Shechem readily agree to the requirement. So, Shechem is immediately circumcised, and Hamor and Shechem successfully convince all the rest of the men in their city to be circumcised as well by promising them economic prosperity through their association with Jacob. Verse 24: “And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.”

And that turns out to be a very bad decision. Look at verses 25-29: 25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered. 

So, yeah…that’s pretty low. That’s like the definition of a cheap shot. I mean, it’s one thing to launch a surprise attack, but to do what Jacob’s sons do in these verses is something else entirely. Yet, that’s the extent to which they were consumed with a desire for revenge. Their desire for revenge had blinded them to such an extent that they were willing to wipe out who knows how many innocent people because of an offense committed by one man. 

Yet as extreme as their response is, let’s not allow ourselves to imagine that we also don’t desire, quite often, to get revenge on those who wrong us. Hopefully we’ve never massacred an entire city before, but we do sometimes find ourselves trying to get even with people for wrongs they’ve committed against us. You can see it even in early childhood, right? Like when a child, let’s say, hits their sibling, how does their sibling usually respond? Do they politely say, “Excuse me, I didn’t like that very much. Could you please not do that any more?” Not usually. I mean, if that’s the way your kids usually respond, then we’ve gotta get you teaching a parenting class or something, because that’s not the typical response in the Tancordo household—at least, not until we make them say something like that. Instead, the sibling typically responds by hitting back. Or, if they’re significantly outmatched, they’ll try to get even by telling mom or dad and maybe even exaggerating things just a bit so that the offending party gets into even more trouble. But one way or another, they try to get revenge. 

Now, chances are that, as an adult, you’ve figured out ways to get even with others that are a little more sophisticated but not fundamentally different. From time to time, of course, there are some particularly dramatic ways people try to get revenge. One example would be road rage. Another would be cheating on your spouse because they cheated on you. However, there are also plenty of other ways we often try to get revenge on others that aren’t as dramatic or severe but that are still radically divergent from the way God calls us to respond. One behavior that seems to be particularly widespread is gossiping. Not only is this perhaps the most common way we try to get even with others, it’s also quite possibly the most harmful. When we feel that someone has slighted us or deliberately wronged us in some way, it’s very tempting to talk about them behind their back. And it feels so good, doesn’t it? We often feel so justified in saying the things we say because, we tell ourselves, “They deserve it. They hurt me, so I’ll hurt them.” 

Another very common way we try to get revenge on others is through passive aggressive behavior. Instead of addressing issues we have with people in an open and direct way, we express our frustration with them indirectly. For those of us who are married, maybe we give our spouse the “silent treatment” or withdraw from the relationship in some way. Or maybe we sulk around and snap at our spouse for extremely minor things. It’s also possible to exhibit passive aggressive behavior in the workplace. Maybe we deliberately try to make a coworker’s job more difficult or reply to them sarcastically or with snarky comments. So, even though Genesis 34 lays before us a very dramatic and severe example of getting revenge, don’t miss all of the more subtle ways we often try to get revenge in the course of our everyday lives. 

Notice also in this passage how we often try to get revenge in ways that are disproportionate to the offenses committed against us. Jacob’s sons slaughtered and plundered the men of an entire city because of an offense that one man of that city committed had against their sister. Even though Shechem raping Dinah was obviously way out of line and something that was truly horrendous, the punishment carried out by Jacob’s sons far exceeds Shechem’s crime. And that’s the tendency all of us have in exacting revenge. We tend to respond in ways that are disproportionate to what’s been done against us. 

And in our misguided zeal, we can sometimes become so blinded by our desire for revenge that we do things that are incredibly rash and unwise—just as we see in Genesis 34. We find an indication of this in verse 30: Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” 

So, obviously, Simeon and Levi—who were the ones who actually carried out the massacre—hadn’t really thought ahead. They may have decisively eliminated all of the people who were a threat to them in Shechem, but they hadn’t considered how the other Canaanite cities around them would respond. As a result, their rash actions had endangered their whole family. And that leads us to the main idea of this passage, which is that by taking revenge on the people of Shechem, Jacob’s sons make their entire family a target for destruction. They had just put a bullseye on their backs. Fortunately, as we read about in the next chapter, God ends up protecting them. As Jacob and his family are leaving that region, Genesis 35:5 says that “a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.” But if God hadn’t intervened in the situation and given them that protection, there’s a good chance that Jacob and his family would have been killed. 

So, let’s not overlook the fact that when we try to get revenge on someone else, it often has a way of coming back on us. We often experience unintended consequences in our own lives as a result of the things we do against others. Not only that, the whole mentality of seeking revenge is often just a miserable mentality to have. We might feel momentary gratification as we’re exacting revenge, but it doesn’t make us truly happy. Instead, we’re actually rather miserable.  

So, the question is, how can we overcome the desire for revenge we often have? We’ve spent all this time talking about the problem. What’s the solution? 

Well, I’d like to suggest two things. There are two primary ways to deal with our desire for revenge. First, remember God’s future judgment on the wicked. Remember God’s future judgment on the wicked. When we give up the so-called “right” to get even, we’re not giving up the expectation that evil deeds will one day be punished or that justice will ultimately be upheld. The Bible’s very clear about that. It tells us in no uncertain terms that perfect justice is coming. 

We read in Proverbs 24:19-20, for example, 19 Fret not yourself because of evildoers, and be not envious of the wicked, 20 for the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out. We’re also told in Romans 12:19: Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 

You see, God’s the one who will make sure the scales of justice are balanced in the end. That’s his job, not our job. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” So, whenever we seek revenge or try to get even with someone, we’re actually, in effect, taking the place of God. We’re usurping his authority and claiming for ourselves a prerogative that belongs to God alone. Instead, we should rest assured that God will make good on his promise to judge the wicked. Justice may presently be delayed, but it won’t ultimately be denied. Nobody is ultimately getting away with anything. 

By the way, this is one reason why it’s so important for us not to shy away from the idea of God’s future judgment. Sometimes, it seems as though certain professing Christians try to downplay the biblical teaching that God punishes sinners—as if that were somehow a blemish on God’s character or something for us to be embarrassed about. But I’d like to encourage you to embrace the teaching of God’s judgment as something that’s good and right. Obviously, on the one hand, it’s very sobering to think of people being punished for their sins, since we know that we ourselves would be recipients of that punishment if it weren’t for Jesus. 

Yet we also find scenes in the Bible like the one in Revelation 16. Right after God pours out judgment on the wicked, an angel praises him in verses 5-6, saying, 5 …“Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” The saints in heaven then echo this expression of praise in verse 7, saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!” So, that’s the mentality we should have as we consider God’s judgment. There’s no need for us to be embarrassed about anything. First of all, God’s not embarrassed by the fact that he judges the wicked since he speaks about it plainly throughout the Bible. And we also see in these verses that the angels aren’t embarrassed about it either, nor are the saints in heaven embarrassed about it. So, there’s really no need for us to shy away from that aspect of God’s character. 

In fact, the fact that God will give the wicked what they deserve in the future is what keeps us from trying to give them what they deserve in the present. I believe a theologian named Miroslav Volf makes this point very well. I actually shared this thought from Volf last year, but it’s so good, I just can’t keep myself from sharing it again. Miroslav Volf is a Christian theologian at Yale and is from the country of Croatia. And as many of you may know, Croatia, several decades ago, was the site of a terrible genocide. And Volf is coming out of that. He watched as his friends and family members were slaughtered before his eyes. So, as a Christian theologian, he’s had to think through how you can forgive people for crimes like that. Again, we’re not just talking about people hurting your feelings; we’re talking about them killing your family. How can you ever forgive that? 

Miroslav Volf says that one component of being able to extend that forgiveness is believing in a God who judges sin. Listen to what he writes, “To the person who is inclined to dismiss the belief in divine vengeance, I suggest imagining that you are delivering a lecture in a war zone. Among your listeners are people whose cities and villages have been first plundered, then burned and leveled to the ground, whose daughters and sisters have been raped, whose fathers and brothers have had their throats slit. The topic of the lecture? A Christian attitude toward violence. Soon you would discover that it takes the quiet of a suburban home to believe in God’s refusal to judge. If God were not angry at injustice, God would not be worthy of our worship….The certainty of God’s just judgment at the end of history is the presupposition for the renunciation of violence in the middle of it.” In other words, the only way we can relinquish our right to demand payment now for the ways people have wronged us is to believe that God will eventually sort things out. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” he says. 

So that’s one way to deal with our desire for revenge: remember God’s future judgment on the wicked. Then, another way is to remember God’s mercy and forgiveness toward us. We actually touched on this a little bit last week in looking at the parable Jesus tells in Matthew 18 about an unforgiving servant. Basically, a wealthy man had a servant who owed him millions of dollars. But instead of making the servant pay, the man graciously forgave his servant of that debt. However, right after being forgiven of that enormous debt, the servant then turned around and heartlessly prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law a fellow servant who owed him a few dollars. That kind of behavior would be unthinkable, right? To be forgiven of an enormous debt but then to demand the immediate payment of a tiny debt—that’s appalling. 

Yet, that’s the situation we’re in. We’re the ones who have been forgiven of an enormous debt. Our sins against a holy God are way more serious than anything others have done against us. Yet, instead of giving us the punishment we deserved, God was merciful toward us. He actually sent his own son Jesus to come to this earth and rescue us from our sins through his death on the cross. Jesus died in our place, taking upon himself the judgment we deserved, with the result that those of us who put our faith in him are forgiven of our sins and inherit the gift of eternal life. And aren’t you glad God did that for you? Aren’t you glad God didn’t “get even” with you when you had sinned against him? So, since God didn’t “get even” with you—but instead sent his own Son to rescue you—how could you or I ever think it’s appropriate to try to “get even” with others? So, if you’re ever having trouble overcoming a desire for revenge, just consider the mercy God’s shown you and the way he’s forgiven you of your wrongs against him through his Son Jesus. 

And the more we look at Jesus and what he’s done for us, the more we see just how remarkable it is. Isaiah 53:7 says that “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” We also read in 1 Peter 2:23-24 that 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. So, when people wronged Jesus, he didn’t wrong them back. He didn’t retaliate or seek revenge. In fact, according to Luke 23:34, he actually prayed for his enemies on the cross. He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Jesus loved the very people who were crucifying him and demonstrated his love by praying for them even as he hung there on that cross. 

So, if that’s the way Jesus treated those who wronged him and if we’re supposed to be like Jesus, how should we treat those who wrong us? By doing good to them, right? As Paul says in Romans 12:21: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” So, as you can see, it’s not enough for us to simply refrain from seeking revenge or resist the desire to repay evil with evil. As Christians, we’re called to actually repay evil with good. Again, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

But, believe it or not, it actually gets even more radical than that. God calls us not only to do good to those who wrong us but to do good as an overflow of genuine love in our hearts. As Jesus says to his disciples in Luke 6:27-28, 27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. You know, so often, we might not actively seek revenge on people who wrong us or do anything malicious against them. But on the inside, we might still be seething with anger and bitterness and resentment. I know you know what I’m talking about. Maybe you’ve even fantasized about people who have wronged you getting what they deserve. You want them to suffer the way you’ve suffered—and preferably even worse than you’ve suffered. You relish the thought of that. I’ve been there.  

Yet that’s not where God wants us to be. You see, God cares about what’s going on in our hearts. Think about it like this. We’re told in Matthew 5:28 that lust is a form of adultery. We’re also told in 1 John 3:15 that hatred is a form of murder. So, isn’t it reasonable to conclude that nursing a desire for revenge in our hearts is a form of taking revenge through our actions? I think that’s a pretty safe assumption. The fact is that God calls us to love our enemies from the heart with the same love Jesus demonstrated for his enemies on the cross. “Love your enemies [and] do good to those who hate you,” Jesus says.

And by the way, let me just say that, as Christians, one of the most notable ways in which we can be distinct from the world is by following that command. You know, we say we want to make an impact on people through the way we live, right? Well, I can’t think of a greater way to get people’s attention and demonstrate God’s power and grace in our lives than to love our enemies with the sacrificial love of Jesus. Where else do you see that in society? Who else does that? Nobody. But that’s what Jesus expects us to do as his disciples.