The Life of Jacob (19): The Rape at Shechem (Genesis 33:18-34:4) by Rev. Angus Stewart
I. The Places Where Jacob Stayed
II. The Rape of Dinah
Robert Harbach: “‘Dinah ... went out to see the daughters of the land,’ to have a friendly visit, to socialize, engage in ‘girl-talk’ with females her own age. Out of curiosity she went forth to catch up on the latest doings in the world, to see, to be seen, to win admiration, to take in the latest fashions, how the young people dressed, how they talked, how they danced, what were the latest shows and popular diversions, and, probably, what were the latest ‘crushes’ on the ‘cute’ sons of the land. She was like a moth fluttering about a flame. For soon, from what was undoubtedly frivolous female company she was spirited away by Prince Shechem to his house. Perhaps, as so often the case, it began as a sort of romantic flirtation and ‘date’ made on the spur of the moment, with her giddy, giggling girl friends gayly urging her off with a new found ‘ boy friend.’ But a gadding girl and a young man who has never been away from home are both liable to fall before the lightest temptations. Neither of them fit the picture in Titus 2:5, ‘to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed’” (Studies in Genesis, p. 662).
O. Palmer Robertson: “The fact that Shechem’s father appears at Jacob’s doorstep with hat in hand indicates that Dinah’s brothers were correct in their evaluation of the situation. Dinah their little sister had been raped and now was being held away from home by a burly foreigner. All during the polite negotiations that followed, this raw fact could not be forgotten. Whether willingly or by force, little Dinah was being detained by the heathen Canaanites. She was being held captive after having been violated” (The Genesis of Sex, p. 111).