GENESIS: Snoopy's Short & Snappy Review

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Duh, Jim tried to support his objection by dogmatically claiming that Nathanael never appears again in John after 1:49-51; and I refuted this claim by pointing out Nathanael's additional presence at Jesus' resurrection appearance in 21:2.
 
Hello All. Here is Genesis 34

Snoopy's Snappy Review:
Brutal chapter that could come with a trigger warning. :sick:
www.biblegateway.com

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 34 - New English Translation

Dinah and the Shechemites - Now Dinah, Leah’s daughter whom she bore to Jacob, went to meet the young women of the land. When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, who ruled that area, saw her, he grabbed her, forced himself on her, and sexually assaulted her. Then he became very attached to Dinah...
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Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, sets out to meet the other young women of the land.

She is grabbed and sexually assaulted by Shechem, the son of Habor who rules the area. Shechem claims to fall in love with Dinah and asks Habor to arrange for their marriage.

Habor appeals to Jacob for his daughter and proposes that the two groups of people intermarry. Live freely among us, he says, and acquire property.

Jacob's sons answer that Shechem and all the other men must be circumcised. The dudes agree because they desire Jacob's livestock and property.

Three days later Simeon and Levi (Dinah's brothers) slaughter all the males with their swords. The brothers plunder the city and take the animals from the surrounding fields.

Jacob is worried about retaliation from the Canaanites and Perizzites. Simeon and Levi defend their actions.
 
This story was new to me. It doesn't appear anywhere in the Revised Common Lectionary.

What is the takeaway? Why would the authors of Genesis have included it in the family history?
 
So a guy rapes Dinah, then asks to marry her, and her father says, "sure, great, just cut off your foreskins and we'll all live happily ever after."?

I mean, her bros went overboard with the slaughtering and pillaging but Jacob's response seems a bit ... mild ... given what happened.
 
paradox3 said:
This story was new to me. It doesn't appear anywhere in the Revised Common Lectionary.

What is the takeaway? Why would the authors of Genesis have included it in the family history?
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Maybe it will set something up in the next chapter? I mean, it's a story about things that happened to Jacob's family but it doesn't seem to say much about the overall storyline of them being the people of God or whatever.

And as for it not being the RCL: Well, it doesn't seem to say much about the whole thread about their relationship to God (as I already said) and, yeah, the whole "slaughter the people in revenge for your sister's rape" thing doesn't seem like something you'd preach from the pulpit in the 21st century. More like the plot of a B-grade grindhouse action movie.
 
The demand to cut off the foreskins is made by Levi and Simeon and the text indicates they were being deceitful.

The dudes were sore for three days. It seems to have weakened them enough that the two brothers could take them all out. We don't know how many men were murdered.
 
paradox3 said:
The demand to cut off the foreskins is made by Levi and Simeon and the text indicates they were being deceitful.

The dudes were sore for three days. It seems to have weakened them enough that the two brothers could take them all out. We don't know how many men were murdered.
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Ah, missed that. So really, there's nothing here but a grindhouse revenge movie. I'd skip it, too, unless there's some kind of more meaningful followup in the next chapter that comes from it.
 
I sure hope the authors weren't suggesting Dinah was at fault by going out to meet the other young women.
 
Mendalla said:
Ah, missed that. So really, there's nothing here but a grindhouse revenge movie. I'd skip it, too, unless there's some kind of more meaningful followup in the next chapter that comes from it.
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In the next chapter God instructs Jacob to relocate his household and get rid of all the foreign idols.

Maybe the purpose of the Dinah story is to get the clan on the move again. Jacob was worried about being few in number and getting attacked.
 
For some reason, I didn't know, or had forgotten, that Dinah is a Biblical name until I read this today.
 
Mendalla said:
For some reason, I didn't know, or had forgotten, that Dinah is a Biblical name until I read this today.
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It's not a commonly used name. I can only think of Dinah Shore.

And, of course, Dinah in the kitchen with someone strumming on the old banjo.

Edit: There's also Dinah in Alice in Wonderland. Alice's cat, don't you know?
 
paradox3 said:
I can only think of Dinah Shore.
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That's who came to my mind. Of course, that's probably a flag as to my generation. I wonder if Gen Z or even younger millennials would even know the name. Even for me, she was mostly an "old star" my mother watched.

paradox3 said:
And, of course, Dinah in the kitchen with someone strumming on the old banjo.
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Thanks. Now that song is going to earworm me all afternoon. Fee, fi, fiddly-i-o. :cautious::giggle:
 
Perhaps we can use this story to ponder our feelings about justice.

Is anyone happy that all the males in the land were deceived and murdered? Probably not.

What about the perpetrator? I would have been pleased if Jacob and his sons said something like, "No, you jerk. You can't marry Dinah."

Then again. What if Dinah became pregnant as a result of the encounter? We never hear this is the outcome of the rape, of course. But it might have still been a question at the time of the marriage negotiations.

What about all the women and children who were captured by Jacob and his sons? (Genesis 34: 29) They, too, pay a heavy price for Shechem's actions.

Finally, what action might Jacob have taken if his sons had stayed out of the matter?
 
paradox3 said:
Perhaps we can use this story to ponder our feelings about justice.

Is anyone happy that all the males in the land were deceived and murdered? Probably not.

What about the perpetrator? I would have been pleased if Jacob and his sons said something like, "No, you jerk. You can't marry Dinah."

Then again. What if Dinah became pregnant as a result of the encounter? We never hear this is the outcome of the rape, of course. But it might have still been a question at the time of the marriage negotiations.

What about all the women and children who were captured by Jacob and his sons? (Genesis 34: 29) They, too, pay a heavy price for Shechem's actions.

Finally, what action might Jacob have taken if his sons had stayed out of the matter?
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Sounds like the current situation in Israel and Gaza, the response is inappropriate to the crime.
 
Good morning. Here is Genesis 35.

Snoopy's Snappy Review:
Sad times for Jacob. :cry:
www.biblegateway.com

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 35 - New English Translation

The Return to Bethel - Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once to Bethel and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. Purify yourselves...
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God instructs Jacob to return to Bethel. Before he leaves, he buries the idols and the rings from the ears of his people.

From Bethel, they travel to Ephrath.

Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin.

Jacob's son Reuben sleeps with Bilbah, his father's concubine. Jacob learns of this.

Isaac breathes his last and joins his ancestors. Esau and Jacob bury him.
 
God's promises to Jacob are repeated in this chapter. Ditto for the announcement of the name change from Jacob to Israel.

Jacob now has his 12 sons. Two of them have already gone on a spree of murder and mayhem. Now a third son has been incestuous. What a bunch!

There might not be very much to discuss today. Life goes on.
 
Jacob backslid in his relationship with God and again things went sideways for him as it does for all who rebel against God's will -----now in 35 ---we see the Change in his heart and mind ----he is now putting off his old ways and putting on the new -----this is spiritual renewal after he realizes that things have not been good in his rebellion against God ---- and so now he is full on just getting back under God's protection and back into his relationship with Him

He is repenting and purifying and returning to God's House by building an alter to worship Him ----

2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes.

3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.”


Here we see Jacob has a name change ----which establishes a new identity ------which is relevant today when the name sinner is changed to saint ---new identity in place ----

10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob,[d] but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.[e]” So he named him Israel.

I say
Jacob finally after many years of his idol --ego ---getting in his way of keeping his close relationship with God at bay --finally comes to his senses and sees the light -----

We are a people of great EGO ---we like to think we don't need any supernatural being to direct us ----we have it altogether all by ourselves ---We say I am my own god ------

But do we really have it altogether ??? or are we just fooling ourselves ????????

So many people in Genesis ---right from the start thought they had it altogether and shoved God away from them and low and behold disaster strikes ----wrong turns and decisions are made ----jealousy --envy ---anger and conflicts arise ---Jacob turning a blind eye to a serious rape charge of his daughter ----What ????? what kind of a father does that ---one who has a blinded mind and a hardened heart full of fear ---he leaves it for his sons ----Jacob had no courage ---no respect for his family -----he was a lost soul ------God was so far away from him --but he finally came to the end of his self and realized that he needed God ---and turned back to him --

We will only realize that we need a higher power to intervene in our lives when we have exhausted all of our ego trips and have hit our last nerve that --Says ---I can't take it anymore ---- we have to come to the end of ourselves before we will bow down to God ---
 
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