May the mumbling commence!
Jacob’s sons take the Lord’s name in vain. They misuse the sign of the covenant –
circumcision – to make the men of Shechem vulnerable. Bad news, indeed! Read from Peterson’s The Message:
Jacob’s
sons
answered Shechem and
his father with cunning. Their sister,
after all, had been raped. They said, “This is impossible. We could never give our sister to a man who was
uncircumcised. Why, we’d be
disgraced. The only condition on which we
can talk business is if all your men become circumcised like us. Then we will
freely exchange daughters
in marriage and make ourselves at home among you and become one big, happy
family. But
if this is not an acceptable condition, we will take our sister and leave.”
That seemed fair enough to Hamor and his son Shechem.
The
young man was so smitten with Jacob’s daughter that
he proceeded to do what had been asked.
He was also the most admired son in his father’s family.
So
Hamor and his son Shechem went to the public
square and spoke to the town council: “These
men like us; they are our friends. Let them settle down here and make themselves at home; there’s plenty of room in the country
for them.
And, just think, we can even exchange our daughters in marriage. But these men will only accept our invitation to
live with us and become one big family on one condition, that all our males become circumcised just as they themselves
are. This
is a very good deal for us – these people are very wealthy with great herds of
livestock and we’re
going to get our hands on it. So let’s do what they ask
and have them settle down with us.”
Everyone
who was anyone in the city agreed with Hamor
and his son, Shechem; every male was circumcised. (Genesis 34:13-24)
Now read the same passage from the NIV translation:
Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob's sons replied
deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. They said to them, "We can't do such a thing; we can't give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. We will give our consent to you on one condition only: that you
become like us by
circumcising all your males. Then we will give you our
daughters and take
your daughters for ourselves. We'll settle among you and become one people with
you. But
if you will not agree to be circumcised, we'll take our sister and go."
Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. The young man,
who was the most honored of all his father's household, lost no time
in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. So Hamor and his
son Shechem went to the gate of their city to
speak to their fellow townsmen. "These men are
friendly toward us," they said. "Let
them live in our land and trade in it; the land
has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters
and they can marry ours. But the men will consent to live with us
as one people only on
the condition that
our males be circumcised,
as they themselves are. Won't their livestock,
their property and all their other animals become ours?
So let us give our
consent to them, and they will settle among us."
All the men who went out of the city gate
agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was
circumcised. (Genesis 34:13-24)
Like father like sons!
They replied deceitfully. Jacob’s
sons have taken after their father. They
didn’t fall far from the tree, it seems.
That’s something that Peterson missed when he translated the word “cunning”.
It was a knee-jerk reaction. So they were themselves at their worst. They used the covenant sign of the Lord to
make the strong vulnerable. It’s disgusting!
And Jacob’s sons were not alone. Hamor and Shechem thought they were going to
rob Jacob’s family blind. Hamor and Shechem
did not comprehend their own vulnerability.
That will prove disastrous for them as we will see tomorrow.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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