It’s never a good excuse when we have messed up to say, “Well, something had to be done!”
We’re not sure how long Jacob and his family camped at Succoth, but we are told he “built himself a house” there (Gen 33:17). Eventually they did cross the Jordan and headed up a natural corridor to Shechem formed by Wadi Fari’a, a seasonal river draining the central highlands. Shechem is strategically situated between two mountains—Gerizim to the south and Ebal to the north. The main trunk road through the mountains leads right by the town. The Vale of Shechem would become a large natural amphitheater for the nation of Israel in the days of Joshua, but long before it was the first place Abraham had built an altar to the Lord in the land. There Jacob bought some land from a man named Hamor; his son, namesake of the town, is ominously mentioned (v 19). Jacob also erected an altar and gave it the name “El Elohe Israel”—God, the God of Israel (remember that Israel was Jacob’s new name). Then Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, went for a walk to see the other girls in town. Well, boy meets girl. Shechem, seemingly spoiled, “saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her” (34:2). It seems his attraction to her survived his lustful crime, and he bluntly demanded of his father, “Get me this young woman as a wife” (v 4). Jacob’s sons were incensed, but decided to continue the family’s tendency to deceit. If we’re going to intermarry, they said to the inhabitants, all the men in town must be circumcised. So they did this and, as they were laid up “in pain” (v 25), Levi and Simeon arrived with swords—and cut significantly deeper! Not one male survived. The city was plundered and these two sons proved without a doubt that “the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (Jas 1:20). Consequences to follow!