January 26, 2024
Read Genesis 34-36, Psalm 26
Are you someone who thinks through things before you act or do you tend to react to things quickly or with more emotions than careful thought? In Genesis 34 we have some of this going on with Jacob’s family. The lone female born to Jacob from his 4 wives is Dinah. Dinah is raped by Shechem, but also falls in love with her afterward. Shechem’s father Hamor seeks out Jacob for a marriage arrangement between the two. About this time the eleven sons of Jacob find out what has happened, and they devise a plan. Jacob’s sons tell Hamor that it would not be proper to wed Shechem with Dinah because none of the Shechemites have been circumcised. Hamor convinces all the men of their town to circumcise themselves so that they can possibly intermarry with Jacob and their family. While the men are still recovering Simeon and Levi take their opportunity and go to the town and kill all the men for retribution against their sister. In this narrative Jacob seems rather neutral and cares little about his daughter Dinah. This is not the case for her brothers. They take the opposite approach and turn this evil deed into a mass killing of the Shechemites. Only then does Jacob seem to care about what the boys have done, because it may fall back on him. “Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed’” v. 30.
God gives us our emotions, they are not wrong to have, but sometimes they can get the better of us. Sometimes we do not act on them when we should. We should learn not to act on all the emotions we have. If we did that, we might find ourselves in trouble. Like Jacob, if he had acted in some way to what happened to Dinah maybe his sons would not have overreacted. If you struggle with making emotional decisions maybe you should come up with a plan to slow down before you act. Give yourself a 10-minute rule to respond to a text if you are tempted to reply in anger or maybe you sleep on a decision before you make an impulsive one that could cost you dearly.
DId God Really Say... 