Passage: Genesis 34:1-31 | Message By: Austin Dyck | Series: Blood Brothers1. Recap 

Today we come to Genesis 34, where a lot happens that seems out of the blue after the happy events we saw in the last chapter.

In chapter 33, after returning from 20 years in Paddan-aram, Jacob reunites with his brother in an unexpected reconciliation. Instead of wanting to kill him, which had been the whole reason Jacob ran away in the first place, Esau wants Jacob to come and live with him.

But Jacob can’t do that. And one of the reasons is because God told him to go back to the land of Canaan—the land of his people, the land God promised him. The land God promised to bring him back to.

But God’s promise to bring Jacob back to the land isn’t the only promise on the table. There’s also a promise that Jacob made to God. On His way out of the land, after God met him and promised to bring him back to the land, this happened:

“Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you’” (Genesis 28:20–22).

If God keeps His word—which is almost a dare, given that God promised to do this—then God will be Jacob’s God, and Jacob will set up that stone to be God’s house.

Perhaps he means to make a temple for God there, or even just build an altar. The point is, He’s promised to come back to this place when God brings him back to the land in peace.

And look what God has done. He’s brought him back to the land—and He’s done it in peace. He’s given him peace with Laban, peace with Esau.

So what should Jacob be doing next? I mean, he knows how kind God has been to him. Before he met Esau, he said, “I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps” (Genesis 32:10).

He should be heading straight for Bethel. But instead, he seems to be dragging his feet. We saw last week that after Esau leaves him, he settles for a time in Succoth, on the far side of the Jordan, not even in the land of Canaan officially, and he stays there long enough to build a home and booths for his animals. He was in no rush.

And then we were told he came peacefully to Shechem, in the land of Canaan (33:18). A step closer. He buys some land and builds an altar, which is good, but he still hasn’t come all the way back to Bethel.

It seems like he’s on his way there. But he’s taking his time. God has kept His promises to Him, but He’s not showing any urgency to keep his promise to God.

And it’s here, on the outskirts of Shechem, almost-but-not-quite where he should be, that a terrible thing happens to his daughter.

2. Conflict

•           Dinah & Shechem 

“Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land.” (34:1)

Besides their births and meanings of their names, none of Jacob’s children have been mentioned to this point. Now, we’re reintroduced to Dinah as the daughter of Leah. We’ve already seen that Jacob didn’t care much for Leah and didn’t care as much about the children that Leah had borne to him.

In this time in history, for a young woman to go out alone was dangerous. Remember how Boaz told Ruth to stay close to his servants so that nothing bad would happen to her? So why is Dinah, with a dad and twelve brothers, going out by herself? Does this suggest some neglect from her family?

Whatever the case may be, we do know that she is seen by Shechem, who we read to be the son of Hamor the Hivite, and prince of the land (34:2). In verse 2, we read that when Shechem (who was a young man—34:19) saw Dinah (who was a young woman—34:3) ...

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