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Jan 4, 2022 · Dinah was the daughter born to Jacob from his first wife, Leah (Genesis 30:21). When Jacob returned to his homeland after working for his father-in-law, Laban, for over 20 years, he settled in in a place called Shechem. Dinah was a young woman at this time. Genesis 34 gives the account of Dinah’s venture into the city to visit the women there.
- Shechem
Shechem raped Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, and two of Jacob’s...
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The story of Esther begins with a king’s banquet. King...
- Who Was Jezebel in The Bible
What is the story of Ahab and Jezebel? What should we learn...
- Jacob
Genesis 34 records the rape of Jacob’s only daughter, Dinah,...
- Circumcised
Circumcision is the surgical removal of the prepuce, or...
- Shechem
- She Was the Daughter of Jacob and Leah. Scripture tells us that Jacob’s four wives bore 12 sons. After we read of the birth of 10 sons (six of whom were born to Leah),1 we are told, “And afterward, [Leah] bore a daughter, and she named her Dinah.”
- Her Mother Prayed for a Girl. Unlike her brothers, Dinah’s name comes with no explanation in Scripture as to why it was given. Dinah means “judgment,” and the Sages explain that Leah chose it because she had passed judgment on herself.
- Jacob Protected Her from Esau. Dinah was born when the family lived in Padan Aram, near her grandfather, Laban. As Jacob moved them back toward the Holy Land—his birthplace—they encountered her rogue uncle, Esau.
- She Was Raped and Abducted. After the family settled near the city of Shechem, the local prince, whose name was also Shechem, saw her, desired her, raped her, and took her to his home.
- Who Was Dinah & What Was Her Story?
- The Rape of Dinah
- What Happened to Dinah?
- But Did Shechem Take Dinah by Force?
- Shechem Falls Passionately in Love
- Attempt at Reconciliation
- An Offer of Marriage
- Shechem Makes A Further Offer
- Circumcision
- Jacob’s Sons Attack
The young girl Dinah is seized and raped by Shechem.Shechem tries to atone. He falls in love with Dinah and offers to marry her. He also offers compensation to her family.Jacob accepts the young man’s attempt at reconciliation, but his sons do not. They plan to murder Shechem and all the men of the city.Dinah’s brothers massacre the men of the city, including Shechem, and enslave the women and children. Dinah’s fate is unknown.Dinah was the daughter of Leah, the unloved wife of the tribal leader Jacob. Jacob had always preferred his other wife Rachel, even though Leah seems to have been a loving wife and gave her husband many children. From the start, therefore, Dinah may have felt that she was unloved by her father, the very man who should have loved her. At the time of...
Without giving any details of where she was or how it happened, the Bible simply says that Shechem, the son of the local ruler, took hold of her and and had sexual intercourse with her by force. There was 1. seeing 2. desiring and 3. taking just as there was with the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, where the pattern for sin had begun.
There is much debate about this. Scholars argue that the words in the Bible text could mean something quite different: that Shechem had intercourse with her without following due procedure, without the correct formalities. He and Dinah had sex without first having a marriage ceremony, and so Shechem has treated her as a harlot. He should have first...
Now love complicates what would otherwise be the simple story of a violent crime. Shechem declared that he has fallen passionately in love with Dinah. He told her this, and he told anyone who would listen to him. He loved her tenderly – the words of the story imply longing, yearning, tenderness, not the usual feelings of a rapist. He has injured he...
Jacob is told that his daughter has been defiled. The word used to describe the action implies someone who is impure because they have a skin disease, or have touched something dead and are ritually unclean. It does not mean sinful, but it does mean exclusion from the tribe until cleanness is restored. Because of Shechem’s action, Dinah is an outca...
When Dinah’s brothers heard what had happened, they were very angry. The verb used to describe their emotion is the same as the word used to describe God’s grief when he sees what humanity has become, before the Flood (Genesis 6:6) Hamor tries to placate them by telling them his son loves Dinah, and wants to marry her.Their relationship will be bas...
After his father has finished speaking, Shechem makes another offer: to give any marriage present they want, if he can marry Dinah.Referring to her, he uses the word ‘maiden’. Why? It is technically incorrect, as he well knows, but it is an attempt to show respect for her – perhaps rather clumsy, but well-meant. The sons of Jacob are not mollified:...
There is deep anger in the hearts of Dinah’s brothers, and they want justice, not compensation. They set out to deceive Shechem and his father. They ask that Shechem and all the able-bodied men of in his territory, all the men capable of going out to fight in an emergency, be circumcised. They seems unaware or unconcerned that they are demeaning th...
Three days later, when all the recently circumcised men are still in pain, two of Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levi, enter the unguarded city and attack the newly-circumcised men. They know this is the opportune time, since the third day after circumcision is the most painful, and is also the time when a fever is likely. The men of the city will be...
Jun 8, 2024 · Jacob is also known as Israel, the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. But, the story of Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, is more in line with a made-for-tv movie than an entertaining musical. Dinah’s story is hard to read, hard to understand, and challenging to teach to each new generation. It’s not ideal material for children’s books or ...
- Lori Stanley Roeleveld
Verse 1. - And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, - if Dinah was born before Joseph (Genesis 30:21) she was probably in her seventh year when Jacob reached Succoth (Genesis 33:17); but it does not follow that she was only six or seven years of age when the incident about to be described occurred (Tuch, Bohlen). If Jacob ...
Jun 23, 2021 · The story of Dinah recounts an episode in which the girl (or young woman) goes out to see the “daughters of the land” (34:1) but is raped, seduced, and/or abducted by Shechem, a Hivite prince, who subsequently falls in love with her. Shechem asks his father, Hamor, to negotiate marriage terms. Jacob is silent on the matter, but Dinah’s ...
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34 Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. 2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her. 3 His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 And Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me ...
