How does the proposal to marry Dina lead to the attack on the city and Jacob’s warning?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

After Sichem rapes Dina, her brothers answer the marriage proposal deceitfully, requiring every male to be circumcised. On the third day Simeon and Levi kill the men, and the other brothers plunder the city. Jacob warns that their actions have made his small household a target; the brothers answer by pointing to the abuse of their sister.

Chapter breakdown

Dina, the daughter of Lia, goes out to see the women of the country. Sichem, son of Hemor the Hevite and prince of that land, sees her and is in love with her. He takes her away and rapes her. He becomes deeply attached to her, and, seeing that she is sad, comforts her with sweet words. He asks his father Hemor to obtain the young woman as his wife.

Jacob hears what has happened but remains silent until his sons return, since they are away feeding the cattle. Hemor comes out to speak to him. Jacob’s sons return from the field and hear the account. They are very angry because Sichem has done a foul thing in Israel and committed an unlawful act by raping Jacob’s daughter.

Hemor says that his son Sichem longs for their daughter and asks that she be given to him as a wife. He proposes marriages between the two groups: Jacob’s family would give daughters to Hemor’s people and take their daughters in return. He invites them to live there, with the land at their command to farm, trade and possess. Sichem asks Dina’s father and brothers to show him favour. He offers whatever they appoint, telling them to raise the dowry and ask for gifts. He will gladly give what they demand if they will give him Dina as his wife.

Jacob’s sons answer Sichem and his father deceitfully. The account states that they are enraged by the rape of their sister.

Challoner’s note calls the sons’ actions a grave sin for two reasons: falsely pretending religion and taking excessive revenge. It also says that their zeal against such a foul crime was otherwise commendable. The note thus distinguishes their opposition to the crime from the sinful means they used.

The brothers say they cannot give their sister to an uncircumcised man, calling that unlawful and abominable among them. They offer an alliance if the others become like them and every male is circumcised. Then they will exchange daughters in marriage, live together and become one people. If the others refuse circumcision, they will take their daughter and leave. These are the terms of the brothers’ deceitful answer.

The offer pleases Hemor and Sichem. Sichem fulfils the requirement without delay because he loves the young woman greatly; he is also the greatest man in his father’s household. Father and son go to the city gate and speak to the people. They describe Jacob’s men as peaceable and willing to live with them. Their large, wide land needs people to farm it, they say, so Jacob’s men should be allowed to trade and farm there. They also repeat the exchange of daughters in marriage. They say that one condition holds up this good: every male among them must be circumcised, following the other nation’s practice. They further claim that Jacob’s people’s property, cattle and all their possessions will become theirs if they agree and live together as one people. The people agree, and all the males are circumcised.

On the third day, when the pain of the wound is greatest, Simeon and Levi, two of Jacob’s sons and brothers of Dina, take their swords and enter the city boldly. They kill all the men, including Hemor and Sichem. They take their sister Dina away from Sichem’s house.

After Simeon and Levi leave, the other sons of Jacob come upon the slain and plunder the city in revenge for the rape. They take the sheep, herds and donkeys, laying waste to what the people have in their houses and fields. They take the children and wives captive.

After these acts, Jacob tells Simeon and Levi that they have troubled him and made him hateful to the Chanaanites and Pherezites who live in the land. His household is few in number. He warns that these people will gather, kill him, and destroy both him and his household. This is his warning about what may follow, not a report that such an attack has happened. The brothers answer, “Should they abuse our sister as a strumpet?” Here strumpet means prostitute. Their question points back to the treatment of their sister; the chapter ends without another reply from Jacob.

The story inside

The city-gate speech is the link between a family’s proposal and a decision affecting every male in the city. Hemor begins by asking Jacob’s family for a wife for Sichem and offering shared marriages, land use and trade. The brothers give a deceitful answer that makes circumcision the condition for joining them. At the gate, Hemor and Sichem pass that condition to the citizens, but also offer them a material reason to agree: they say that Jacob’s family’s property and cattle will become theirs. All the males are then circumcised. The third-day attack follows at the time the source names as the height of the wound’s pain. The claimed shared future ends instead in killings, plunder and captives. Jacob’s final warning names the possible danger to his household, while the brothers’ question returns to Dina’s abuse. Challoner separately condemns false religion and excessive revenge while preserving the distinction between those actions and opposition to the crime.

Lessons worth keeping

1
An offer must be read with the account of how it is made. The brothers promise shared marriages and one people, but the narrator calls their answer deceitful. Preserving that description prevents their words from being treated as a sincere agreement.
2
The crime against Dina does not make every response to it right. Challoner says their zeal against the crime was commendable, yet condemns both their false religious pretence and their excessive revenge. Keeping both parts of the note avoids excusing the attack or dismissing the wrong done to Dina.
3
The consequences reach beyond Sichem: Hemor and all the men are killed, property is plundered, and wives and children are taken captive. Jacob then warns of danger from the Chanaanites and Pherezites to his own small household. His warning adds a further possible consequence without claiming that it has already occurred.

Test your recall

What condition do the brothers put on the marriage proposal, what arguments do Hemor and Sichem use at the city gate, and how do the attack and plunder lead to Jacob’s warning?

Show answer

The brothers deceitfully require every male in the city to be circumcised before the families can intermarry. Hemor and Sichem tell the townspeople that trade, settlement, marriages, and access to the newcomers’ goods will benefit them. On the third day, Simeon and Levi kill the men; the other brothers plunder goods and take wives and children captive. Jacob warns that this has made his small household hateful to neighboring peoples, who could unite and destroy it. Challoner condemns the religious deceit and excessive revenge.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 3856–3872
Genesis Chapter 34 Dina is ravished, for which the Sichemites are destroyed. 34:1. And Dina the daughter of Lia went out to see the women of that country. 34:2. And when Sichem the son of Hemor the Hevite, the prince of that land, saw her, he was in love with her: and took her away, and lay with her, ravishing the virgin. 34:3. And his soul was fast knit unto her; and whereas she was sad, he comforted her with sweet words. 34:4. And going to Hemor his father, he said: Get me this damsel to wife.
Lines 3873–3882
34:5. But when Jacob had heard this, his sons being absent, and employed in feeding the cattle, he held his peace till they came back. 34:6. And when Hemor the father of Sichem was come out to speak to Jacob, 34:7. Behold his sons came from the field: and hearing what had passed, they were exceeding angry, because he had done a foul thing in Israel, and committed an unlawful act, in ravishing Jacob’s daughter.
Lines 3883–3897
34:8. And Hemor spoke to them: The soul of my son Sichem has a longing for your daughter: give her him to wife: 34:9. And let us contract marriages one with another: give us your daughters, and take you our daughters. 34:10. And dwell with us: the land is at your command, till, trade, and possess it. 34:11. Sichem also said to her father and to her brethren: Let me find favour in your sight, and whatsoever you shall appoint I will give: 34:12. Raise the dowry, and ask gifts, and I will gladly give what you shall demand: only give me this damsel to wife.
Lines 3898–3900
34:13. The sons of Jacob answered Sichem and his father deceitfully, being enraged at the deflowering of their sister:
Lines 3901–3905
Deceitfully.... The sons of Jacob, on this occasion, were guilty of a grievous sin, as well by falsely pretending religion, as by excess of revenge: though otherwise their zeal against so foul a crime was commendable.
Lines 3906–3917
34:14. We cannot do what you demand, nor give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; which with us is unlawful and abominable. 34:15. But in this we may be allied with you, if you will be like us, and all the male sex among you be circumcised: 34:16. Then will we mutually give and take your daughters, and ours; and we will dwell with you, and will be one people: 34:17. But if you will not be circumcised, we will take our daughter and depart.
Lines 3918–3940
34:18. Their offer pleased Hemor, and Sichem, his son: 34:19. And the young man made no delay, but forthwith fulfilled what was required: for he loved the damsel exceedingly, and he was the greatest man in all his father’s house. 34:20. And going into the gate of the city, they spoke to the people: 34:21. These men are peaceable, and are willing to dwell with us: let them trade in the land, and till it, which being large and wide wanteth men to till it: we shall take their daughters for wives, and we will give them ours. 34:22. One thing there is for which so great a good is deferred: We must circumcise every male among us, following the manner of the nation. 34:23. And their substance, and cattle, and all that they possess, shall be ours; only in this let us condescend, and by dwelling together, we shall make one people. 34:24. And they all agreed, and circumcised all the males.
Lines 3941–3948
34:25. And behold the third day, when the pain of the wound was greatest: two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, the brothers of Dina, taking their swords, entered boldly into the city and slew all the men. 34:26. And they killed also Hemor and Sichem, and took away their sister Dina out of Sichem’s house.
Lines 3949–3956
34:27. And when they were gone out, the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain; and plundered the city in revenge of the rape. 34:28. And they took their sheep, and their herds, and their asses, wasting all they had in their houses and in their fields. 34:29. And their children and wives they took captive.
Lines 3957–3965
34:30. And when they had boldly perpetrated these things, Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: You have troubled me, and made me hateful to the Chanaanites and Pherezites, the inhabitants of this land. We are few: they will gather themselves together and kill me; and both I, and my house shall be destroyed. 34:31. They answered: Should they abuse our sister as a strumpet?