We may not always remember the names of all twelve sons of Jacob, but at least we know that there were twelve of them. We might not remember Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob. She is the only daughter whose name was recorded (Genesis 30:21, 46:15), yet there is a mention of “all his daughters” later (37:35). She was born after the tenth son, Zebulun, and before the eleventh son, Joseph (30:20-24).

Some of the commentators on this story make it out to be Dinah’s fault that she got herself raped, blaming-the-victim because she did not have one or two of her brothers escorting her to keep her safe while she enjoyed some girl time with other young women (with ten older brothers and no sisters, girl time might feel like a precious commodity). But the first blame must fall on Shechem son of Hamor, prince of the land (34:2), who saw a pretty girl he had never seen before, and simply took her. It is an entitled attitude that says, “If I see something that is not mine, I have the right to take it, because I am the prince.” And how did Dinah feel about this? Shechem decided he wanted to keep Dinah rather than discard her (34:4); and how did Dinah feel about that? There is no indication that Shechem ever asked about her feelings.

Two of the oldest brothers, Simeon and Levi (29:32-34), were enraged and set about a treacherous plan for vengeance, telling Hamor and Shechem that they could not allow intermarriage to a group whose men were uncircumcised (34:13-17). The thought of all the wealth and cattle of Jacob’s household was a strong inducement, and Hamor and Shechem and their community circumcised themselves (34:18-24). Two days later, with the locals feeling the pain of their surgery, Simeon and Levi came and killed all the males of the city, plundered all its cattle and wealth, and took all the women and little children as slaves (34:25-29).

There probably could not be anything like a court trial seeking justice for Dinah, within that ancient culture: but it is hard to accept a vengeance this severe. If we judge that Shechem the prince deserves to die for his sin, do all the men of his city deserve to die as well? Do all the women and children deserve to be enslaved? It reminds me of Lamech’s boast to his wives that he had been avenged seventy-seven fold (4:23-24); Levi and Simeon seem to have wanted, and achieved, the same overwhelming vengeance.

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A high contrast saying from Jesus: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also” (Luke 6:27-29).

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The desire for revenge runs deep in us, O Lord; we claim that we want to get even, but what we really want is overkill. Yet as we saw with the Noah story, the slay-all-the-sinners strategy doesn’t work. We destroy the innocent along with the guilty, and we who slay the sinners forget that we are sinners, too.

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