Reading Genesis 32-36 in Family Worship
Genesis 25:19-37:1 (The Generations of Isaac)
This week we are looking at part three of the “Generations of Isaac.” The “Generations of Isaac” can be seen in three basic movements:
Genesis 25:19-28:22 — Jacob and Esau
Genesis 29:1-31:55 — Jacob in Paddan-Aram
Genesis 32:1-37:1 — Jacob and Esau
Genesis 32
Jacob now returns to the Promised Land — well aware that his brother Esau may still harbor resentment against him. So he sends a message to Esau, using language calculated to appease him (referring to Esau as “my lord”). In the same way, he offers gifts and presents “to my lord Esau.”
Why is Jacob doing this? He has purchased the birthright and obtained the blessing of Isaac — so he would have the “right” to insist that Esau bow to him. But as we saw at the beginning of the Jacob narrative, Jacob is a blameless man. He does not seek earthly glory. He does not insist upon his “rights.” He seeks the blessing of Yahweh — a blessing which will only bear fruit for future generations.
You see this in Jacob’s prayer in verses 9-12 — and again in Jacob’s wrestling with God. Sure, God has given him material blessings, but he is willing to forego those in order that the blessing of God may come to pass. And so the LORD blesses him, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
But Esau is coming with 400 men. Abraham had 318 trained servants. Esau has 400. In other words, it would appear that the servants of Abraham and Isaac are now serving Esau. Jacob may have received the birthright and the blessing, but Esau controls all the property of Isaac.
What is happening in Genesis 32? Jacob is renouncing his right to Isaac’s stuff. After all, that was never what this was about. What Jacob wants is the blessing.
Genesis 33
And instead of coming in wrath, Esau runs to meet Jacob (when you think of Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son, you cannot help but see in Esau the example of a wise older brother who runs to meet his long-lost younger brother). And further, Esau makes it clear that he has renounced the Promised Land — as he has settled in Seir (south of the Dead Sea).
So the brothers come to a mutually acceptable compromise. Esau takes the material possessions of Isaac to Seir. Jacob gets the Promise. And because Jacob is the Seed of Abraham, Jacob does what his grandfather did: Jacob builds an altar to the LORD and called it “God is the God of Israel.”
Genesis 34
But that does not mean that everything goes smoothly for Jacob. If you choose to follow the way of Abraham — if you seek the blessing of the God of Abraham — then you can expect trouble.
And trouble comes in the worst of ways: the rape of his daughter, Dinah.
Genesis 34 is one of the most difficult chapters in the book of Genesis. It’s hard to find the “good guy” here (besides Dinah!). Shechem is a rapist. Jacob seems remarkably passive and willing to allow him to get away with it. Levi and Simeon are somewhat heroic in avenging the honor of their sister — but they receive their father’s curse because of their actions.
We want to see the silver lining — what is the “happy ending”? But Genesis 34 is not that sort of story. At the end of the story, Dinah is defiled, Hamor and Shechem are dead, Simeon and Levi are disinherited, and Jacob stinks in the nostrils of the Canaanites.
But notice what the text does do: the text does not blame Dinah (scripture does not blame the victim). Rather, the blame is placed on Shechem — the son of the prince. Rape is fundamentally about the use of sex as a means to increase wealth and power (the basic logic of Shechem and his father, Hamor, is that they can use this rape as a means of extorting a marriage that will bring all of Jacob’s wealth under their control). And the text clearly expresses the outrage of her brothers over the heinousness of the act.
But the language of Genesis 34 goes a step further. Shechem “sees” Dinah and “takes” her — just as Eve “saw” the fruit and “took” it — just as the sons of God “saw” the daughters of men and “took” them. This is what the seed of the serpent does: it sees and it takes.
Likewise, it’s important to see what Hamor and Shechem are offering Jacob and his sons. In the marriage treaty they are offered property rights. They can skip the 400 years of waiting for God to give them the land! If they accept this marriage treaty, they can become landowners in the Promised Land. All they have to do is overlook the rape of their daughter/sister. (And in light of the seeing/taking language, we are probably supposed to hear echoes of the serpent here as well — and a preview of the temptation of our Lord to “skip” the cross).
So the sons of Jacob propose a solution: if the people of Hamor are all circumcised, then we will join with them. It is possible that Jacob went along with this under the idea that if the people of Hamor are circumcised, then they would be accepting the Abrahamic Covenant, and thus the blessing of Abraham would come upon them. But Levi and Simeon had no such idea! They wanted Shechem to pay — and in the member with which he sinned! After all, Shechem has cursed the Seed of Abraham in how he treated Dinah — therefore he will now receive the covenant curse.
In one sense, Genesis 34 seems to portray the action of Levi and Simeon favorably: they defended the honor of their sister. The only problem is that Jacob disagrees with this — and in Genesis 49, Jacob’s blessing of his sons will explicitly curse them for their actions at Shechem, disinheriting them and giving them no independent portion in the Promised Land.
So what do we do with this chapter? Well, what does God say? Nothing. God is silent. This is what happens when God is silent. When God is silent, Dinah is raped, Jacob is paralyzed, the people of Shechem are brutally murdered, and Simeon and Levi are disinherited. When God is silent, even our Lord Jesus will cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!” What we need is for God to speak.
Genesis 35-36
And God finally speaks in chapter 35 — calling Jacob to return to Bethel (where the LORD had appeared to Jacob back in chapter 28). And God renews his covenant and promise there at Bethel.
The language used of “put away the foreign gods” is language taken over into the baptismal liturgy of the Christian church — renouncing the world, the flesh, and the devil. You cannot serve two masters. Notice that Jacob does not melt down the gold and sell it. You should not seek to profit from your idolatry (in the same way that the magic books of the Ephesian Christians were burned in the fire).
Rachel then dies in childbirth as she gives birth to her second son, Benjamin.
Reuben then sleeps with one of his father’s concubines (so that the three oldest sons of Jacob are now compromised — leaving Judah as the oldest son without a serious black mark against his character.
Then Isaac dies.
And chapter 36 consists of the genealogy of the chiefs of Edom (the heirs of Esau) — a great opportunity to have fun with a “repeat-after-me” with the kids! (Oholibamah has always been a favorite of ours…)
