HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  33.1–3 Jacob’s defensive strategy on seeing Esau with four hundred men is to divide the women and children into three groups (cf. 32.7), from least to most valuable. His preference for Rachel and Joseph, placing them last of all, recalls the reason for his wives’ rivalry in chs. 29–30 and anticipates the conflict between Joseph and his brothers. Jacob’s bowing himself to the ground is intended to placate Esau’s wrath and neatly reverses the blessing of 27.29.

  33.4 Esau’s running to meet Jacob is possibly the feared violent attack, but instead there is a traditional joyous greeting of kin (see 29.11, 13). Instead of an attack, the brothers are reconciled.

  33.8–9 Jacob hopes to find favor with Esau, apparently by offering all his possessions as a gift. But Esau shows that he harbors no ill will, replying that he has enough. In this exchange, Esau shows virtue and eloquence and apparently has prospered in spite of the loss of his blessing.

  33.10 To see your face…face of God, high praise and also ironic, since Jacob has just seen God face to face the night before (32.30). And in both meetings, to Jacob’s relief, his life was preserved (32.30).

  33.11 My gift, better “my blessing” (Hebrew birkati). Jacob rhetorically offers to return the blessing to Esau. The gift may be the flocks and herds of 32.13–15.

  33.12–17 Jacob remains unsure of Esau’s intentions and gives deceptive excuses not to travel to Seir with him. Instead, Jacob journeys toward Canaan and stays for a time at Succoth, east of the Jordan River, so called because he built booths (sukkot) there.

  33.18–20 A brief passage from E describing Jacob’s arrival at Shechem and his purchase of a plot of land there, where he founds a shrine to El-Elohe-Israel (“El, the God of Israel”). Shechem was an important Israelite shrine (see Josh 24). This El epithet is comparable to El Elyon (14.19), El Shaddai (17.1), El Olam (21.33), and El-bethel (35.7), all of which seem to identify El (the old Canaanite high god) with the God of Israel. The brief reference to Paddan-aram is from the P source.

  GENESIS 34

  The Rape of Dinah

  1Now 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.”

  5Now Jacob heard that Shechema 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.

  8But 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 favor 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.”

  13The 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.”

  18Their 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 honored 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.

  Dinah’s Brothers Avenge Their Sister

  25On 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?”

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  a Heb he

  34.1–31 With Jacob’s return to Canaan the stories turn to conflicts involving Jacob’s children. In this story Jacob’s children are grown, and Jacob becomes the aging patriarch whose authority is waning. The story of Dinah concerns the proper relations between the children of Israel and the native inhabitants of Canaan and involves honor, sex, violence, and moral breaches within Israel’s family. Dinah’s role is as daughter, sister, sexual victim, and potential bride, but she only briefly has volition of her own; generally her role is in relation to the men of the story. Of her later life we are not told. This is a J story, in which the characters are enmeshed in moral ambiguities of their own making.

  34.1 The daughter of Leah…Jacob. Dinah’s introduction places her in the context of women, marriage, and offspring and also signals the responsibility of Jacob and her nearest brothers, the sons of Leah (including Simeon and Levi), to protect her. Women of the region, lit. “daughters of the land.” Easy commerce between the daughter of Leah and the daughters of the land is potentially dangerous, because daughters have brothers.

  34.2–4 Shechem, the name of the city and of its prince. The Hivites are one of the peoples of Canaan (10.17), whom the Israelites are later admonished not to marry and to utterly destroy (Deut 7.1–3). Perhaps because he is a Canaanite, Shechem rapes Dinah by force, yet he also falls in love with her and speaks tenderly to her—a remarkable turn from a violent rapist to a sympathetic figure. Dinah is now referred to as daughter of Jacob, raising the issue of her father’s response to rape or betrothal, but as a dishonored daughter Dinah has no active voice in the issue.

  34.5–8 Surprisingly, Jacob is silent and waits for his sons’ reaction. Although Dinah has been defiled by the rape, in theory her honor and the family’s honor can be restored if the man marries her (Deut 22.28–29), though this is complicated by his identity as a Hivite (see note on 34.2–4). The sons are indignant and very angry, not seeing the complexity of the situation, only the dishonor. Committed an outrage in Israel emphasizes the contrast between Israel, still a nascent nation, and the Canaanite/Hivite world of its neighbors.

  34.8–12 Hamor ’s name (“donkey”) may refer to the old Can
aanite practice of sealing a treaty with a donkey sacrifice. He offers a treaty here to intermarry and share the land. This would efface the independent identity of Israel, leading to its absorption into Canaan. It also violates the commandment not to enter into a covenant with the Canaanites (Ex 23.32). Shechem increases the offer to include any bride-price.

  34.13–17 Jacob’s sons, showing their true inheritance, answer deceitfully (cf. Jacob in 27.35). Now the sons are tricksters, proposing circumcision as their condition. This painful operation (for an adult) is poetic justice for Shechem’s violent act of rape and will discomfit the Shechemite males for several days.

  34.25–31 Dinah’s brothers. Simeon and Levi are Leah’s children and as such are responsible for their sister. They exact revenge, taking advantage of the men’s incapacity owing to the circumcision, and rescue Dinah (who is curiously in Shechem’s house, v. 26). The brothers despoil the city. This brutality serves to restore the family’s honor, but is unwise, as Jacob angrily points out. The brothers’ crude justice prevails, but Simeon and Levi pay the price when Jacob curses them on his deathbed (49.7). Hence the tribe of Simeon was absorbed into Judah, and Levi, the priestly tribe, was scattered throughout Israel.

  GENESIS 35

  Jacob Returns to Bethel

  1God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your clothes; 3then come, let us go up to Bethel, that I may make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak that was near Shechem.

  5As they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities all around them, so that no one pursued them. 6Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7and there he built an altar and called the place Elbethel,a because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So it was called Allon-bacuth.b

  9God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him. 10God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall you be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he was called Israel. 11God said to him, “I am God Almighty:c be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you. 12The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13Then God went up from him at the place where he had spoken with him. 14Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it. 15So Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

  The Birth of Benjamin and the Death of Rachel

  16Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel was in childbirth, and she had hard labor. 17When she was in her hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid; for now you will have another son.” 18As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Ben-oni;d but his father called him Benjamin.e 19So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20and Jacob set up a pillar at her grave; it is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. 21Israel journeyed on, and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

  22While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard of it.

  Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali. 26The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

  The Death of Isaac

  27Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had resided as aliens. 28Now the days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years. 29And Isaac breathed his last; he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

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  a That is God of Bethel

  b That is Oak of weeping

  c Traditional rendering of Heb El Shaddai

  d That is Son of my sorrow

  e That is Son of the right hand or Son of the South

  35.1–29 The last chapter of the Jacob story tells of his return to Bethel and is punctuated by three deaths (Deborah, Rachel, and Isaac) and one birth (Benjamin). The death of Isaac is the formal end of this part of the patriarchal narratives, and the birth of Benjamin points toward the next section, the Joseph story. This chapter is composed of E and P texts, with one passage from J (vv. 21–22a).

  35.1–15 Jacob’s return to Bethel is told in two versions, E (vv. 1–8) and P (vv. 9–15). The E story refers to the earlier revelation at Bethel (28.10–22) and provides a fulfillment of his vow made there. The P story provides Jacob with the patriarchal blessing and the change of name from Jacob to Israel (cf. 32.28, E). Both stories conclude with Jacob naming the place Bethel or El-bethel (vv. 7, 15).

  35.1–4 God calls Jacob to move from Shechem to Bethel to fulfill his vow (see 28.20–22). Since God has done his part (has been with me, v. 3; cf. 28.20), Jacob prepares his family for the worship of God alone by casting off foreign gods and purifying them for worship (cf. Ex 19.10–11; Josh 24.23, the latter also at Shechem). The earrings are buried with the statues of foreign gods, presumably because they could be used to make more such statues (as Ex 32.2; Judg 8.24). The oak that was near Shechem, the sacred tree where Abram built an altar in 12.6–7 (J) and where the covenant ceremony occurs in Josh 24.26.

  35.5 Terror from God anticipates the divine fear that protects the Israelites on their journey to the promised land (Ex 15.16; 23.27; Josh 1.9). This detail presupposes a version of the conflict with the people of Shechem like that in ch. 34 (J).

  35.6–7 Luz, the older name of the site, which Jacob now names El-bethel, “El of Bethel” or “God of Bethel.” Cf. the naming of Bethel in J (28.19) and P (35.15). The altar and the naming complete the shrine, which Jacob had vowed would be God’s house (bet ’elohim, 28.22) if God would return him in peace.

  35.8 The death of Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse (who suckled her as an infant), is a curious detail. Rebekah’s nurse accompanies Rebekah to Canaan (24.59), but is unnamed. Rebekah’s own death is never mentioned. The death of the old nursemaid, associated with Jacob’s mother as a baby, foreshadows the death of Rachel, Jacob’s beloved wife, in childbirth. Her monument, the oak of weeping, also foreshadows Rachel’s tomb and memorial pillar (35.20).

  35.9–15 The P version of God’s revelation to Jacob and the establishment of the shrine of Bethel echoes many features of the revelation to Abram in 17.1–8 (P). God changes the patriarch’s name from Jacob to Israel (as he changed Abram to Abraham, 17.5), reveals his divine name as El Shaddai (as in 17.1), and gives the patriarchal promises of fruitfulness, nations, kings, and land (see 17.6–8). Unlike the parallels in 28.10–20; 32.22–32, there are no angelic visions or vows or dangerous encounters, merely God’s direct revelation and speech to his chosen patriarch. The placement of the P version after the J and E stories makes it a serious and emphatic reiteration of the divine promises and blessings. The erection of the pillar and the naming of Bethel (cf. 28.18–19; 35.7) also serve to highlight the association of Jacob as the founder of this important shrine. Interestingly, this is the only local shrine that has a foundation legend in P.

  35.16–20 Benjamin is the only child of Jacob born in the land of Canaan, in his own tribal territory, but Benjamin’s birth
is tragically colored by the death of his mother in childbirth. The simultaneous birth of Benjamin and death of Rachel set the stage for Jacob’s deep attachment to Rachel’s sons, Joseph and Benjamin, in the Joseph story. As Rachel was the beloved wife (see 29.20, 30), so her sons will be the beloved sons. But here the grief belongs to Rachel, as she dies with the birth name, Son of my sorrow (v. 18), on her lips. This is an E passage (cf. 48.7, P). Jacob’s erection of a pillar as Rachel’s memorial recalls the sacred pillar at Bethel (28.18, E) and the huge stone that he moved for Rachel when they first met (29.10, J).

  35.19 According to 1 Sam 10.2 (cf. Jer 31.14), Rachel’s tomb is in the territory of Benjamin, north of Jerusalem. This fits the location on the way to Ephrath from Bethel. The territory of the Judahite clan of Ephrath extended to Kiriath-jearim, on the border between Benjamin and Judah, northwest of Jerusalem (Josh 9.17; 1 Chr 2.50). The scribal gloss situating Rachel’s tomb in Bethlehem is probably a confusion based on the close association of Ephrath with the city of Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem, famous as the birthplace of David (see Mic 5.2).

  35.21–22a This brief passage from the J source tells of Jacob (now usually called Israel in J) journeying to an unknown location (tower of Eder means “Tower of the Flocks”), where his firstborn son, Reuben, has sex with Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. The J narrative seems be truncated here. This episode is referred to in 49.4 as the reason for Reuben’s loss of the status of the firstborn son. Having sex with a father’s concubine(s) is an act of rebellion in 2 Sam 16.21–22; 1 Kings 2.17–24. This transgression explains why the tribe of Reuben disappeared (see Deut 33.6).