Seeking Justice, Seeking Peace: A Dialectic

Scripture: Genesis 34

Sermon: Seeking Justice, Seeking Peace: A Dialectic

Topics: Peace, Justice, Dialectic

Preached: February 13, 2011 Woodlawn

Rev. Mike Abma

Genesis 34

34Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the region. ²When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force. ³And his soul was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the girl, and spoke tenderly to her. ⁴So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, ‘Get me this girl to be my wife.’

5 Now Jacob heard that Shechem^* had defiled his daughter Dinah; but his sons were with his cattle in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. ⁶And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him, ⁷just as the sons of Jacob came in from the field. When they heard of it, the men were indignant and very angry, because he had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, ‘The heart of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage. ⁹Make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰You shall live with us; and the land shall be open to you; live and trade in it, and get property in it.’ ¹¹Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, ‘Let me find favour with you, and whatever you say to me I will give. ¹²Put the marriage present and gift as high as you like, and I will give whatever you ask me; only give me the girl to be my wife.’

13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. ¹⁴They 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. ¹⁵Only on this condition will we consent to you: that you will become as we are and every male among you be circumcised. ¹⁶Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live among you and become one people. ¹⁷But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and be gone.’

18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. ¹⁹And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honoured of all his family. ²⁰So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, ²¹‘These people are friendly with us; let them live in the land and trade in it, for the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters in marriage, and let us give them our daughters. ²²Only on this condition will they agree to live among us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. ²³Will not their livestock, their property, and all their animals be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will live among us.’ ²⁴And all who went out of the city gate heeded 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 still in pain, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city unawares, and killed all the males. ²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away. ²⁷And the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled. ²⁸They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. ²⁹All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and made their prey. ³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me by making me odious 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.’ ³¹But they said, ‘Should our sister be treated like a whore?’

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

A DIALECTIC BETWEEN PEACE AND JUSTICE

VOICE SEEKING PEACE

Well, this surely is a dark chapter in the book of Genesis.

Not sure what we can glean from this chapter?

But I think it is pretty obvious that Simeon and Levi were way out of line killing of those innocent citizens in the city of Shechem.

VOICE SEEKING JUSTICE

Hold it, hold it. Where did this talk of “innocent people” come from?

You did read the beginning of this story as well as the end, didn’t you?

It starts with a horrendous crime.

It starts with a rape.

So let’s not label Shechem “innocent.”

PEACE: I guess, if we are going to argue this out,

we are going to have to take a closer look at the text.

Let’s start at the beginning.

What does the text say?

It says that Shechem saw Dinah, seized or took Dinah,

and lay with her by force.

There are plenty of scholars, even a woman Old Testament professor down the road at Western Seminary, who concedes that translating this as “by force” is a little too strong. Really, the sense is that he lay with her “without parental consent” or “without parental blessing.”

In other words, this could very well have been consensual.

JUSTICE: Are you reading the same text?

By force is by force – it was a crime.

Don’t try white-wash it with talk of consensual sex.

This was clearly a shameful thing – it was out-of-bounds.

Shechem did wrong and he knew it.

Dinah was defiled. That is the word that is used later on.

Deflowered and defiled.

And that is why Shechem deserved to be punished.

Who ever heard of giving a woman to her abductor for marriage?

PEACE: Man, you really are demonizing this Shechem.

Here was this young man full of passion who got carried away.

But his heart was clearly in the right place.

Just listen to how the text portrays him:

His soul was drawn to Dinah

He loved her.

He spoke tenderly to her.

Does this sound like a sexual predator?

No.

Here was a young man

with a young woman he loved

and things got ahead of themselves.

He was simply trying to make the best of a difficult situation.

JUSTICE Man, you really read the Bible with rose-colored glasses.

Shechem was a rich spoiled brat who was used to getting what he wanted.

He was a smooth talker.

He was just saying and doing what he thought he needed to say and do

to get what he wanted to get.

He sounds a bit like that dim-witted Samson

who says to his parents

“Get me that Philistine girl to be my wife.”

And we all know where that led – to trouble.

The only real difference is that this Shechem character has lots of money to get his way.

PEACE: Okay, I think we could keep arguing all night about Shechem –

You say his motives can’t be trusted;

I say they can.

We’ll have to agree to disagree.

But you have to admit that his father, Hamor, is a pretty honorable man.

Once he hears about what happened, he goes to Jacob for a talk:

Pater familias a pater familias

Mano a mano.

Hamor does not want trouble.

He wants to settle this civilly, peaceably, like reasonable people.

JUSTICE: I admit that Hamor’s talk sounds all flowery and nice:

“Let’s all be friends.

You take our daughters to marry.

We’ll take your daughters to marry.

Let’s all live as one people,

Let’s all live happily ever after …”

But you do see the danger behind these words, don’t you?

You do see the direction of these words?

Before you know it, the Israelites would have been absorbed by the Hivites.

That is why God warned his people again and again not to marry the Canaanites.

That is why Isaac and Jacob had to travel so far for their wives.

Read Deuteronomy 7:1-3.

It says very clearly “do not intermarry with the Canaanites.”

And the Hivites are in the list of Canaanites!

PEACE: Okay, now it is my turn to object.

Here you are quoting all these Bible passages and theological principles

as if the Israelites never intermarried with Canaanites.

But that isn’t true.

Moses had a Midianite wife.

Joseph had an Egyptian wife.

Judah had a Canaanite wife — and by the way,

remember that Judah actually did treat his Canaanite daughter-in-law like a prostitute.

And even Simeon himself had a Canaanite wife.

So this whole “moral purity” argument can only be pushed so far.

It certainly does not justify how the people of Shechem were treated.

JUSTICE: Well, things would have turned out differently if Jacob would have displayed some backbone.

Hamor and Jacob have this mano a mano conversation,

and what does Jacob say? Nothing.

He provides no leadership.

He is that same old wiley survivor out to make a buck and save his own skin.

Here he is, silently ready to accept peace at any price.

He never seems to acknowledge the gravity of the crime.

He never asks Shechem for a clear statement of repentance.

He never seems intent on preserving the dignity of his daughter.

The only thing he seems interested in

is securing his possessions

and saving his skin.

He may be practical, but he certainly is not very principled.

This is not his finest hour.

PEACE: I beg to differ.

He may seem overly silent in this chapter,

but over the years he has learned that the way of wisdom

is often through silence and patience.

He is no longer the impulsive, impatient man he once was.

And he wasn’t only thinking about himself.

He has the whole community in mind.

When the brothers jumped into the negotiations,

Jacob trusted their word and could see the wisdom in it.

It was not simply the family of Israel merging with the Hivites.

It was the Hivites merging with the Israelites through circumcision.

This was workable. Honorable.

Jacob believed them.

Hamor and Shechem believed them to.

Hamor and Shechem were given conditions and they complied..

They did everything they were asked.

But it was Simeon and Levi who broke their word!

They ruined everything!

JUSTICE: I will admit that perhaps Simeon and Levi went a little too far.

They should have killed Shechem, taken back their sister, and left it at that.

But it wasn’t simply Simeon and Levi who were in on this.

Read the text.

The other sons of Jacob came and plundered the city too.

They took the flocks and the loot.

Maybe this was a little over-the-top,

but at least there was no compromise.

At least Israel avoided being swallowed up by the Hivites.

PEACE: I just do not see it that way.

The brothers were bold-faced liars.

Then they were cold-blooded killers.

What they did was inexcusable.

This is a dark chapter in the Israel’s history.

When Jacob finally speaks at the end of this chapter,

What he says is true:

what happened stinks.

It is odious.

Even if what Shechem did at the beginning of this chapter was shameful,

what these brothers do at the end of this chapter was way more shameful.

JUSTICE: Is this story tough to hear? Yes.

Is it shameful? I’m not sure.

This is another one of those Biblical stories where being zealous for the Lord comes off looking pretty brutal.

Read about what Phinehas does to that mixed couple – an Israelite man and Midianite woman — in chapter 25 of the book of Numbers,

or what Elijah does to the priests of Baal,

or what Jehu does to the family of Ahab.

All of these are fairly brutal stories.

brutal but necessary.

That is why I see these brothers seeking justice.

I see them preserving righteousness.

PEACE: I’m not so sure – especially not in this chapter.

Sounds more like these brothers were telling lies,

ruining the peace,

and jeopardizing the whole clan of Jacob.

CONCLUSION

So what do you think, O people in the pew?

What do you think about this tug of war between

those seeking peace

and those seeking justice?

What wisdom can you give to

Rabbi’s who have been arguing about this passage for millennia,

Scholars who have been arguing about this passage for centuries,

And common folk, like you and me,

Who are left not sure what to do with this passage?

But we see this type of thing replayed again and again.

In the New York Times,

In commenting on Darfur in Sudan,

Franklin Graham writes it is time to seek peace.

The next day, Desmond Tutu writes,

but what about justice for the genocide?

Psalm 85 asks the same question.

How can we find true shalom?

How can we find restoration?

The salvation of the Lord is at hand.

His glory is about to dawn.

At that time

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;

At that time

justice and peace will finally kiss.

Until that time,

We pray

For the wisdom to balance

Seeking justice

And seeking peace.

Amen