Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Genesis-Chapters 33-34

Gen 33.1-20 tells us about Jacob’s meeting with Esau, and Esau embraces him; Esau receives Jacob’s gifts; Jacob moves on to Canaan and comes to Shechem.

v 1…Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked (after he crossed the Jabbok and met his family), and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids (as a precaution).

v 2…And he put the maids (Zilpah and Bilhah) and their children in front), and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last (putting the ones he loved most last)

v 3…But he himself passed on ahead of them (first) and bowed down to the ground seven times (giving complete filial honor-Prov 24.16).

v 4…Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him (in his arms with respect) and fell on his neck, and kissed him (in a Torah scroll there are dots over each letter; this tells us to pay attention or beware; did God’s power turn Esau’s hate to genuine affection?), and they wept.

v 5…And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, “Who are these with you?” So he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”

v 6…Then the maids came near with their children, and they bowed down.

v 7…And Leah likewise came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel and they bowed down.

v 8…And he said, “What do you mean by all this company which I have met (the droves sent ahead as a gift)?” And he said, “To find favor in the sight of my lord (to be reconciled to you).”

v 9…But Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother, let what you have be your own (your gift, though generous, is unnecessary).

v 10…And Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, for I see your face as one who sees the face of God (I have been pardoned by you as I would have received forgiveness from God had I appeared before his face, with tokens of contrition), and you have received me favorably.

v 11…Please take my gift which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have plenty.” Thus he urged him and he took it (he accepted the gifts).”

v 12…Then Esau said, “Let us take our journey and go (to Seir where Esau lived), and I will go before you (to show him the way and protect him).”

v 13…But he said to him, “My lord knows the children are frail and that the flocks and herds which are nursing are a care to me. And if they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die.

v 14…Please let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at Seir (there is no indication from Scripture that Jacob ever went to Seir, but in our opinion, he was not going to lie to him, and he may have went there quickly after this; knowing the unstable nature of Esau, Jacob would not want to give Esau an opportunity to do harm so close to his borders; they were just reconciled so Jacob isn’t going to reoffend him).”

v 15…And Esau said, “Please let me leave you with some of the people who are with me (for protection and to show him the way).” But he said, What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord (Jacob probably knew the way and did not feel he was in danger-God had sent him).”

v 16…So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

v 17…And Jacob journeyed to Sukkot (probably after a quick visit to Seir) and built for himself a house, and made booths (sukkot) for his livestock (to protect them), therefore the place is called Sukkot (this alludes to Israel entering the Messianic Kingdom after Yom Kippur of the seven year birth-pains where God will protect his people; starting from Gen 31.1 to 33.17 we have a picture of Israel going back to the land around Rosh Ha Shannah at the beginning of the seven year tribulation; Israel’s salvation as a nation on Yom Kippur; and entering into the Messianic Kingdom which is symbolized by Sukkot).

v 18…Now Jacob came safely (to peace, an idiom for the kingdom) to the city of Shechem (shoulder-Isa 9.6), which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and camped before the city.

v 19…And he bought a piece of land where he had pitched his tent from the hands of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money.

v 20…Then he erected there an altar and called it ‘El-Elohe-Israel (God is the God of Israel).’

Gen 34.1-31 will tell us about the rape of Dinah; Hamor and Shechem try to arrange the marriage of Dinah; Simeon and Levi make a counter offer saying the men of Shechem should be circumcised; the men of the city are convinced to dos so by Hamor and Shechem; Simeon and Levi destroy the city and rescue Dinah; Jacob’s reaction .

v 1…Now Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit (to see and be seen; look over; she was curious about them) the daughters of the land.

v 2…And when Shechem to son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her (how beautiful she was), he took her and lay with her by force (defiled her).

v 3…And he was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her (spoke to her heart and emotions).

v 4…So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young girl for a wife.”

v 5…Now (meanwhile) Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent (“silent” in Hebrew is written defectively without a “yod” implying his silence was total; he showed no outward grievance about it-Prov 11.12) until they came in.

v 6…Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out (to the tent) to Jacob to speak to him (about this incident).

v 7…Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done (even among the nations).

v 8…But Hamor spoke with them saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter, please give her to him in marriage (it was custom to ask the father and the brothers),

v 9…and intermarry with us; give your daughters to us; and take our daughters for yourselves.

v 10…Thus you shall live with us (in peace as our equal), and the land shall be open before you (to choose where to dwell); live and trade in it, and acquire property in it.”

v 11…Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me (in compensation for your humiliation and the loss of her virginity).

v 12…Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according to what you say to me; but give me the girl in marriage.”

v 13…But Jacob’s sons answered (not Jacob) Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit (with guile; they had other plans) and spoke to them, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.

v 14…And they said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised (not that there was any law against it, but it did not agree to their religion or honorable), for that would be a disgrace to us.

v 15…Only on this will we consent to you; if you will become like us, in that every male of you be circumcised (their purpose was to render them helpless so they could act in revenge, and upon the very organ used to perpetrate this offense),

v 16…then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people (but ritual circumcision was not going to save Hamor, Shechem and the men of the city, just like ritual circumcision in the first century could not save anyone).

v 17…But if you do not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go (leave the area with our goods and wealth which you will not benefit from).”

v 18…Now their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son.

v 19…And the young mad did not delay to do the thing, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father (and believed the others would follow).

v 20…So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying,

v 21…These men are friendly with us (so there are no security concerns); therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage, and give our daughters to them.

v 22…Only on this condition (this was the mindset in the first century also, according to the Pharisees of Beit Shammai) will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us to be circumcised as they are circumcised.

v 23…will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours (by absorbing their rich possessions gradually; it seems this circumcision was agreed to out of greed). Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us.”

v 24…And all who went out of the city gate of his city listened to hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city (false teaching killed them).

v 25…Now it came about on the third day when they were in pain, that two two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers (by Leah), each took his sword and came upon the city unawares, and killed every male (with the help of the other brothers possibly, or other servants).

v 26…And they killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went forth (left).

v 27…Jacob’s sons came upon the slain (and joined them) and looted the city because they (by the act of their prince) had defiled their sister.

v 28…THey took their flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field;

v 29…and they captured and looted all the wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even all that was in the houses (but Jacob disapproved of these cruel acts, so it seems just that he probably set these captives free and restored to them their property).

v 30…Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi (the two principal actors), “You have brought trouble on me (what they did was a very serious sin and would go unnoticed by others), by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I shall be destroyed, I and my household (not that Jacob really believed this because he knew the promises of God, but these sons exposed him, and the time for war against these nations was still far in the future; Israel was too small for a defense against all of them; God would protect him-Gen 35.5).

v 31…But they said, “Should he treat our sister as a harlot (they were concerned with their honor and sometimes people only see one course of action; Jacob knew that this course of action would have far reaching effects, and recalls this incident in his dying blessing to Simeon and Levi-Gen 49.5-7).

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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