Sexual Attack and Bloody Vengeance
Adapted from Jacob Returns to the Land. Brit-Am Commentary to the Book of Genesis.
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/genesis/gen32to36vayishlach.html
Contents:
1. Jacob Returns to Canaan.
2. Dinah is Raped.
3. The "Stockholm Syndrome."
4. Negotiations.
5. VENGEANCE.
6. Were Simeon and Levi Condemned?
7. What Happened to Dinah? Were Ephraim and Manasseh her Descendants? Good Results from Bad Beginnings. An Example.
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1. Jacob returns to Canaan.
The Bible describes how Jacob had fled from his brother Esau to Padan-Aram in northern Syria. He stayed in the House of Laban his uncle. From the daughters of Laban he begat 11 sons and one daughter Dinah. He returned with them to the Land of Canaan and became reconciled to some degree with Esau his brother. Another son, Benjami was born. The family were keepers of flocks. They came to the City of Shalem which was a settlement of the Kingdom of Schechem.
[Genesis 33:17] AND JACOB JOURNEYED TO SUCCOTH, AND BUILT HIM AN HOUSE, AND MADE BOOTHS FOR HIS CATTLE: THEREFORE THE NAME OF THE PLACE IS CALLED SUCCOTH.
[Genesis 33:18] AND JACOB CAME TO SHALEM, A CITY OF SHECHEM, WHICH IS IN THE LAND OF CANAAN, WHEN HE CAME FROM PADAN-ARAM; AND PITCHED HIS TENT BEFORE THE CITY.
[Genesis 33:19] AND HE BOUGHT A PARCEL OF A FIELD, WHERE HE HAD SPREAD HIS TENT, AT THE HAND OF THE CHILDREN OF HAMOR, SHECHEM'S FATHER, FOR AN HUNDRED PIECES OF MONEY.
"HAMOR" means donkey. We may think this a strange name to give somebody. But a male donkey has strength, stamina, persistence, virility, intelligence, and individuality. These are not negative qualities.
[Genesis 33:20] AND HE ERECTED THERE AN ALTAR, AND CALLED IT EL-ELOHE-ISRAEL.
"EL-ELOHE-ISRAEL" means God, the God Of Israel.
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s.5
2. Dinah is Raped. The "Stockholm Syndrome."
[Genesis 34:1] AND DINAH THE DAUGHTER OF LEAH, WHICH SHE BARE UNTO JACOB, WENT OUT TO SEE THE DAUGHTERS OF THE LAND.
Perhaps she should not have gone out? Even if she was to go out however she should not have been harmed. These days in some circles it has become fashionable to look for blame in the victim. Sometimes there is a point in this approach but even so it cannot absolve the victimizer. A person should not be provocative or make himself or herself susceptible. However even if they do so they have a right to protection and redress if wrong is done to them.
[Genesis 34:2] AND WHEN SHECHEM THE SON OF HAMOR THE HIVITE, PRINCE OF THE COUNTRY, SAW HER, HE TOOK HER, AND LAY WITH HER, AND DEFILED HER.
"HE TOOK HER, AND LAY WITH HER, AND DEFILED HER": The word for defile is derived from the word "inui" meaning oppression or torture. This was much worse than simple seduction. It was rape combined with sadism. Even simple seduction however was also an offence.
Incidentally the root of inui is ina or ana or alternatively anoi. In my opinion it is the source of the English word annoy.
[Genesis 34:3] AND HIS SOUL CLAVE UNTO DINAH THE DAUGHTER OF JACOB, AND HE LOVED THE DAMSEL, AND SPAKE KINDLY UNTO THE DAMSEL.
HE LOVED: after rape and affliction came love.
DAMSEL: she was very young at the time.
"SPAKE KINDLY": There have been a lot of case studies of young women being kidnapped, sometimes raped, and eventually being led to identify with their oppressors. There was the famous case of Patty Hearst that followed the said pattern. It happens that women in such situations do acquiesce after the fact.
In Hebrew Law if the beginning of the deed was forced it is considered rape even if the woman later agrees.
Psychologically we have case histories of people identifying with their oppressors.
This is known as the "Stockholm Syndrome".
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3. The "Stockholm Syndrome"
Stockholm Syndrome describes the behavior of kidnap victims who, over time, become sympathetic to their captors. The name derives from a 1973 hostage incident in Stockholm, Sweden. At the end of six days of captivity in a bank, several kidnap victims actually resisted rescue attempts, and afterwards refused to testify against their captors.
Stockholm Syndrome: Unequal Power Relationships
Katina Krasnec
On August 23rd 1973, Jan Olsson began a bank robbery that would add a new interpretation to the world's view of hostage situations, and the psychological effects behind unequal power relations. It started with the storming a local kreditbanke in downtown Stockholm, Sweden, and the shooting of the police officers who had gone in after Olsson. With this action, a six day ordeal and hostage situation known as the Norrmalmstorg Robbery began. Four hostages were taken into the bank's vault. Dynamite was strapped to them, and they were rigged to snare traps so that in case of a gas attack by the police, the hostages would be killed regardless of any rescue attempts. Three women and one man were confined to this small room, fighting to survive. (7) Yet when these captives were released, they had more sympathy for their captors than the police who had rescued them and went so far as to publicly decry their own rescue. Two of the hostages became friends with the captors, a fund was set up by them to help pay for the defense fees accrued through their trial, and continue to support their captors against the police even today. (8) Psychologist Nils Bejerot named the captives' attachment towards their abusers "Stockholm Syndrome," and from this case, a new behavioral attachment disorder began.
Jewish people in Israel who feel overdue sympathy for Palestinian terrorists are suffering from a form of this sickness. The same applies to American citizens who support the Arab cause.
The Nazis and Communists and other tyrants always found plenty of people to assist them amongst those they oppressed.
Somewhere within all of us there exists a tendency to respect force and to give in to the powers that be no matter what they do. In some cases this is necessary (as perhaps in the early stages of military training?) and justified but there are times when we are expected to resist to the extent of our capability. On the whole evil should always be resisted or at least kept away from and not acquiesced with.
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[Genesis 34:4] AND SHECHEM SPAKE UNTO HIS FATHER HAMOR, SAYING, GET ME THIS DAMSEL TO WIFE.
In some societies (such as certain areas of the Caucasus but also elsewhere) abduction followed by marriage is an accepted procedure.
[Genesis 34:5] AND JACOB HEARD THAT HE HAD DEFILED DINAH HIS DAUGHTER: NOW HIS SONS WERE WITH HIS CATTLE IN THE FIELD: AND JACOB HELD HIS PEACE UNTIL THEY WERE COME.
[Genesis 34:6] AND HAMOR THE FATHER OF SHECHEM WENT OUT UNTO JACOB TO COMMUNE WITH HIM.
[Genesis 34:7] AND THE SONS OF JACOB CAME OUT OF THE FIELD WHEN THEY HEARD IT: AND THE MEN WERE GRIEVED, AND THEY WERE VERY WROTH, BECAUSE HE HAD WROUGHT FOLLY IN ISRAEL IN LYING WITH JACOB'S DAUGHTER: WHICH THING OUGHT NOT TO BE DONE.
IN LYING WITH JACOB'S DAUGHTER: Even seduction is not tolerable. Even in modern terms Dinah was well underage at the time this event took place.
WHICH THING OUGHT NOT TO BE DONE: All of mankind are commanded to institute systems of justice. Raping and oppressing women are not to be tolerated.
[Genesis 34:8] AND HAMOR COMMUNED WITH THEM, SAYING, THE SOUL OF MY SON SHECHEM LONGETH FOR YOUR DAUGHTER: I PRAY YOU GIVE HER HIM TO WIFE.
[Genesis 34:9] AND MAKE YE MARRIAGES WITH US, AND GIVE YOUR DAUGHTERS UNTO US, AND TAKE OUR DAUGHTERS UNTO YOU.
The case is not as simple as it seems. Dinah was very young. She was a little girl from a family of traveling foreigners who had come temporarily to the city. She went out to pay a courtesy call to the females of the area. This may have been the custom of the time and may have been an expected thing to do. Schechem the local prince seized her, lay with her, oppressed and defiled her and KEPT HER with him in his house. She was abducted and abused. She had been disgraced. After that he tried to legalize the situation and took steps to retroactively make it more socially acceptable. The power was in his hands. The family of Jacob was being pressured to assimilate amongst the Canaanite natives of the area. From one point of view their survival as an independent self-respecting entity was at stake.
[Genesis 34:10] AND YE SHALL DWELL WITH US: AND THE LAND SHALL BE BEFORE YOU; DWELL AND TRADE YE THEREIN, AND GET YOU POSSESSIONS THEREIN.
Give us your daughters, take our women, live with us, and prosper. And if not? Dinah was already there.
[Genesis 34:11] AND SHECHEM SAID UNTO HER FATHER AND UNTO HER BRETHREN, LET ME FIND GRACE IN YOUR EYES, AND WHAT YE SHALL SAY UNTO ME I WILL GIVE.
[Genesis 34:12] ASK ME NEVER SO MUCH DOWRY AND GIFT, AND I WILL GIVE ACCORDING AS YE SHALL SAY UNTO ME: BUT GIVE ME THE DAMSEL TO WIFE.
[Genesis 34:13] AND THE SONS OF JACOB ANSWERED SHECHEM AND HAMOR HIS FATHER DECEITFULLY, AND SAID, BECAUSE HE HAD DEFILED DINAH THEIR SISTER:
The people of Hamor had the power. Jacob and his sons were just wayfarers, few in number, and aliens in the land. They had to resort to subterfuge.
[Genesis 34:14] AND THEY SAID UNTO THEM, WE CANNOT DO THIS THING, TO GIVE OUR SISTER TO ONE THAT IS UNCIRCUMCISED; FOR THAT WERE A REPROACH UNTO US:
[Genesis 34:15] BUT IN THIS WILL WE CONSENT UNTO YOU: IF YE WILL BE AS WE BE, THAT EVERY MALE OF YOU BE CIRCUMCISED;
Note they requested that these people be circumcised as if circumcision were simply a cultural matter without connection to religion.
[Genesis 34:16] THEN WILL WE GIVE OUR DAUGHTERS UNTO YOU, AND WE WILL TAKE YOUR DAUGHTERS TO US, AND WE WILL DWELL WITH YOU, AND WE WILL BECOME ONE PEOPLE.
[Genesis 34:17] BUT IF YE WILL NOT HEARKEN UNTO US, TO BE CIRCUMCISED; THEN WILL WE TAKE OUR DAUGHTER, AND WE WILL BE GONE.
[Genesis 34:18] AND THEIR WORDS PLEASED HAMOR, AND SHECHEM HAMOR'S SON.
[Genesis 34:19] AND THE YOUNG MAN DEFERRED NOT TO DO THE THING, BECAUSE HE HAD DELIGHT IN JACOB'S DAUGHTER: AND HE WAS MORE HONOURABLE THAN ALL THE HOUSE OF HIS FATHER.
BECAUSE HE HAD DELIGHT IN JACOB'S DAUGHTER: His motivation was to continue enjoying the fruits of what he had taken illegally and unjustly. All this time he kept her in his house. He did not send her home.
[Genesis 34:20] AND HAMOR AND SHECHEM HIS SON CAME UNTO THE GATE OF THEIR CITY, AND COMMUNED WITH THE MEN OF THEIR CITY, SAYING,
[Genesis 34:21] THESE MEN ARE PEACEABLE WITH US; THEREFORE LET THEM DWELL IN THE LAND, AND TRADE THEREIN; FOR THE LAND, BEHOLD, IT IS LARGE ENOUGH FOR THEM; LET US TAKE THEIR DAUGHTERS TO US FOR WIVES, AND LET US GIVE THEM OUR DAUGHTERS.
The Commentator Rashi points out that here when talking among themselves they say they will take the daughter for themselves and give their daughters to them but when Hamor made the proposal to the Hebrews he said "AND GIVE YOUR DAUGHTERS UNTO US, AND TAKE OUR DAUGHTERS UNTO YOU." Their is a
difference between giving and taking. Which side does what? It is implied when talking to the Hebrews that the Hebrews give what they wished and take what they wanted. On the other hand when speaking among themselves they say that they will take from the Hebrew (as they wish) and give tot hem as they see fit.
[Genesis 34:22] ONLY HEREIN WILL THE MEN CONSENT UNTO US FOR TO DWELL WITH US, TO BE ONE PEOPLE, IF EVERY MALE AMONG US BE CIRCUMCISED, AS THEY ARE CIRCUMCISED.
[Genesis 34:23] SHALL NOT THEIR CATTLE AND THEIR SUBSTANCE AND EVERY BEAST OF THEIR'S BE OUR'S? ONLY LET US CONSENT UNTO THEM, AND THEY WILL DWELL WITH US.
Notice the motivating factors that were appealed to: To obtain access to the maidens, to get hold of possessions and livestock. The people of the city apparently knew about the rape. They did not punish the rapist, nor do they seem to have condemned him. They seem pleased with the whole situation. This made them culpable. Their psychology was similar to that of the Arabs in Israel. In 1948 the Arabs in Palestine expected to defeat the Jews. They had agreed amongst themselves how to divide up the wives and daughters and possessions of the Jews. Even now they are prepared sometimes temporarily to do things legally in order to obtain what they want but as soon as a little power is in their hands they resort immediately to violence.
This is what they themselves say openly and publicly sometimes through their own media.
The Canaanite people of the City of Schechem were the same as the present-day Palestinians.
Read the passage carefully.
They said to themselves: We have already taken and defiled the daughter of the head man. Let us legalize the acquisition. Let us humor them and carry out this circumcision rite. They have plentiful herds and possessions. They will dwell with us. We will take their women and give some of our women to them. We will gain possession of all that is theirs if necessary by force in the same way as our prince took their princess. They also had in the back of their minds that they would kill all the males in the family of jacob when the oppotune moment arose. From that point view the actions of the Children of Jacob (meaning mainly Simeon and Levi, as we shall see) were merely pre-emptive measures.
[Genesis 34:24] AND UNTO HAMOR AND UNTO SHECHEM HIS SON HEARKENED ALL THAT WENT OUT OF THE GATE OF HIS CITY; AND EVERY MALE WAS CIRCUMCISED, ALL THAT WENT OUT OF THE GATE OF HIS CITY.
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5. VENGEANCE
[Genesis 34:25] AND IT CAME TO PASS ON THE THIRD DAY, WHEN THEY WERE SORE, THAT TWO OF THE SONS OF JACOB, SIMEON AND LEVI, DINAH'S BRETHREN, TOOK EACH MAN HIS SWORD, AND CAME UPON THE CITY BOLDLY, AND SLEW ALL THE MALES.
Two of Jacobs sons, Simeon and Levi, go into the city and execute all the males who had plotted to take their sisters and daughters and all that they had. When you consider the different characteristics of the Sons of Jacob you realize what variegated qualities were buried deep within Jacob himself.
Simeon and Levi were destined to become prominent amongst the Jews and amongst the Celtic peoples. Some of Simeon was also found amongst the Anglo-Saxons and other groups.
They came against the city and slew all the males. The males were suffering from the after effects of the operation but even so they would have been able to defend themselves to some degree. It was a frontal attack against a numerically superior enemy. The enemy had been weakened beforehand but not totally incapacitated.
[Genesis 34:26] AND THEY SLEW HAMOR AND SHECHEM HIS SON WITH THE EDGE OF THE SWORD, AND TOOK DINAH OUT OF SHECHEM'S HOUSE, AND WENT OUT.
[Genesis 34:27] THE SONS OF JACOB CAME UPON THE SLAIN, AND SPOILED THE CITY, BECAUSE THEY HAD DEFILED THEIR SISTER.
"THEY HAD DEFILED": From this Biblical testimony we learn that the whole city in some way was responsible for what had happened to Dinah.
[Genesis 34:28] THEY TOOK THEIR SHEEP, AND THEIR OXEN, AND THEIR ASSES, AND THAT WHICH WAS IN THE CITY, AND THAT WHICH WAS IN THE FIELD,
[Genesis 34:29] AND ALL THEIR WEALTH, AND ALL THEIR LITTLE ONES, AND THEIR WIVES TOOK THEY CAPTIVE, AND SPOILED EVEN ALL THAT WAS IN THE HOUSE.They did to others what others had intended to do to them.
Midrash Tanchuma:
A kind of jinx seems to have been attached to Shechem. in connection with Israel's sorrows. The capture of Dinah took place at Shechem. Joseph was sold there into slavery. David's kingdom was split in Shechem; and the advent of Jeroboam also took place in Shechem.
[Genesis 34:30] AND JACOB SAID TO SIMEON AND LEVI, YE HAVE TROUBLED ME TO MAKE ME TO STINK AMONG THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND, AMONG THE CANAANITES AND THE PERIZZITES: AND BEING FEW IN NUMBER, THEY SHALL GATHER THEMSELVES TOGETHER AGAINST ME, AND SLAY ME; AND I SHALL BE DESTROYED, I AND MY HOUSE.
Different Commentators take differing approaches to the actions of Simeon and Levi. Some justify it while others are critical. Jacob before he died appears to criticize the violent inclinations of this fraternal pair.
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6. Were Simeon and Levi Condemned?
SIMEON AND LEVI ARE BRETHREN; INSTRUMENTS OF CRUELTY ARE IN THEIR HABITATIONS [Genesis 49:5].
"INSTRUMENTS OF CRUELTY" in Hebrew clei chamas i.e. tools of violence.
O MY SOUL, COME NOT THOU INTO THEIR SECRET; UNTO THEIR ASSEMBLY, MINE HONOUR, BE NOT THOU UNITED: FOR IN THEIR ANGER THEY SLEW A MAN, AND IN THEIR SELFWILL THEY DIGGED DOWN A WALL [Genesis 49:6].
"THEY SLEW A MAN" i.e. the menfolk of Schechem?
"A WALL" in Hebrew "shor". The same word "shor" in Hebrew also means "bull" and a bull symbolizes Joseph. England is nicknamed "John Bull".
CURSED BE THEIR ANGER, FOR IT WAS FIERCE; AND THEIR WRATH, FOR IT WAS CRUEL: I WILL DIVIDE THEM IN JACOB, AND SCATTER THEM IN ISRAEL [Genesis 49:7].
Simeon and Levi destroyed the city of Schechem.
Simeon and Levi (and Simeon especially) are also considered as primarily responsible for the later selling and intended murder of Joseph. The question is which of these two offences was Jacob referring to?
At all events at this point the criticism of Jacob is more against the possible dangerous consequences of the deed rather than against the deed itself.
[Genesis 34:31] AND THEY SAID, SHOULD HE DEAL WITH OUR SISTER AS WITH AN HARLOT?
Israelite women should respect themselves and should be respected by others. Their menfolk should do what they can to ensure that such is the case.
[Genesis 35:1] AND GOD SAID UNTO JACOB, ARISE, GO UP TO BETHEL, AND DWELL THERE: AND MAKE THERE AN ALTAR UNTO GOD, THAT APPEARED UNTO THEE WHEN THOU FLEDDEST FROM THE FACE OF ESAU THY BROTHER.
God spoke to Jacob but he did not condemn the action of Simeon and Levi.
[Genesis 35:2] THEN JACOB SAID UNTO HIS HOUSEHOLD, AND TO ALL THAT WERE WITH HIM, PUT AWAY THE STRANGE GODS THAT ARE AMONG YOU, AND BE CLEAN, AND CHANGE YOUR GARMENTS:
STRANGE GODS: not necessarily for worship but good luck charms or what not associated with idolatry that they had picked up. These gods probably included a lot of the booty they had taken from the city. This booty would have included gold and silver statuettes inlaid with precious stones done in skillful workmanship and of great aesthetic appeal.
If you were in a similar situation and a priceless statuette by say someone like Michelangelo, had fallen into your hands, would you be in a hurry to get rid of it? Canaanite art work was at least as good as the Greek if not better. Even Greek architecture in a lot of ways really originated in Canaan or Israel.
The Family of Jacob was now in a dangerous situation and had to perform a strategically vulnerable evacuation. It was even more important than usual that nothing be with them that was liable to upset their receiving Divine Protection.
PUT AWAY THE STRANGE GODS in a symbolic sense can also refer to foreign non-Biblical habits and thought-processes such as those engendered by the media and certain social-psychological approaches. These beautiful ego-pleasing pseudo-scientific explanations allowing us to justify bad behavior will just have to be discarded at some stage or other.
In our times maybe he would have said to throw away the telly? And maybe not.
[Genesis 35:3] AND LET US ARISE, AND GO UP TO BETHEL; AND I WILL MAKE THERE AN ALTAR UNTO GOD, WHO ANSWERED ME IN THE DAY OF MY DISTRESS, AND WAS WITH ME IN THE WAY WHICH I WENT.
A lot of times when we genuinely pray God answers on the spot. At all events prayer is always heard. The problem is being able to pray which is not always easy. When we do succeed in praying well we should therefore do it for as long and as well as we can. A lot of times plain obvious miracles happen to us and we just do not see them or even would rather not do so.
Jacob and all his family were in terrible danger. Jacob showed us the way. When we are in trouble or bad things happen to us or threaten to happen let us become more humble, gather ourselves inward, put away whatever false gods that have accrued to us, ands get back to the place of favor the Almighty once held us in and answered us.
[Genesis 35:4] AND THEY GAVE UNTO JACOB ALL THE STRANGE GODS WHICH WERE IN THEIR HAND, AND ALL THEIR EARRINGS WHICH WERE IN THEIR EARS; AND JACOB HID THEM UNDER THE OAK WHICH WAS BY SHECHEM.
The Druids of Celtic Britain worshipped under oak trees. Is there a connection?
[Genesis 35:5] AND THEY JOURNEYED: AND THE TERROR OF GOD WAS UPON THE CITIES THAT WERE ROUND ABOUT THEM, AND THEY DID NOT PURSUE AFTER THE SONS OF JACOB.
They were in terrible danger. They were foreigners, a small band of itinerant livestock herders, almost like Gypsies. They came to a major city in the land, made a pact of friendship and then took advantage of the physical vulnerability they had induced to massacre all the males, took all the females, took all valuable and then just took off. The natural reaction of the kinsmen of Hamor and his people in neighboring cities would have been to seek vengeance or at least punish the perpetrators even if only out of an instinct of self-preservation. God cast fear in their hands and they were paralyzed.
[Genesis 35:6] SO JACOB CAME TO LUZ, WHICH IS IN THE LAND OF CANAAN, THAT IS, BETHEL, HE AND ALL THE PEOPLE THAT WERE WITH HIM.
Luz is another name for Beth-El. Beth-El was near the present settlement of Bet-el in Samaria. Yair Davidiy lived in that settlement for a while. It is a very beautiful very spiritual region: high up, mountainous, green, misty, wild herds of deer, numerous remains of ancient buildings in every direction. It was once one of the capitals of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The e-mail aspect of the Brit-Am Project began in Bet-el.
[Genesis 35:7] AND HE BUILT THERE AN ALTAR, AND CALLED THE PLACE ELBETHEL: BECAUSE THERE GOD APPEARED UNTO HIM, WHEN HE FLED FROM THE FACE OF HIS BROTHER.
ELBETHEL means EL-BETHEL = the God of Beth-El or The God of the house of God. Bethel is a Jewish settlement north of Jerusalem. I lived there for a while. Lost Israelite Identity was completed written and published from there (1996). It is an extremely beautiful area, wild, green, yellow, high-up, hilly, mountainous, healthy, moist air, a lot of dew, a lot of wild deer. A lot of ancient ruins and unexcavated Israelite remains are to be found in the area.
It was on the border between Benjamin and Ephraim. It was a center of King Jeroboam who set up one of his golden calves there.
The country is perhaps similar to the highlands of Scotland some of whom descend from Benjamin.
It is a very spiritual area.
The Canaanite Arabs cause a lot of trouble in that region. They are against the Jewish presence there and anywhere else.
The Bible tells us how after Jeroboam had led the split of Northern Israel away from the house of Judah he set up his own altars to golden calves one in Dan and one in Beth-el.
AND JEROBOAM ORDAINED A FEAST IN THE EIGHTH MONTH, ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH, LIKE UNTO THE FEAST THAT IS IN JUDAH, AND HE OFFERED UPON THE ALTAR. SO DID HE IN BETHEL, SACRIFICING UNTO THE CALVES THAT HE HAD MADE: AND HE PLACED IN BETHEL THE PRIESTS OF THE HIGH PLACES WHICH HE HAD MADE. [1-Kings 12:32] .
A Prophet of the Almighty "A MAN OF GOD OUT OF JUDAH" [1-Kings 13:1] came to Beth-el while Jeroboam was sacrificing to his idol.
"AND HE CRIED AGAINST THE ALTAR IN THE WORD OF THE LORD, AND SAID, O ALTAR, ALTAR, THUS SAITH THE LORD; BEHOLD, A CHILD SHALL BE BORN UNTO THE HOUSE OF DAVID, JOSIAH BY NAME; AND UPON THEE SHALL HE OFFER THE PRIESTS OF THE HIGH PLACES THAT BURN INCENSE UPON THEE, AND MEN'S BONES SHALL BE BURNT UPON THEE" [1-Kings 13:2].
Jeroboam was angry and he raised his hand and called upon his men to seize the Prophet. The arm of Jeroboam was frozen in its place so that he could move it. The altar was suddenly rent in sunder and the ashes spilled out. Jeroboam asked the Prophet to entreat God to heal his hand and the Prophet did so (1-Kings 13:6). Jeroboam then asked the Prophet to come with him to his house and receive a reward. The Prophet refused saying that he had been commanded to deliver his message and then return by a different route and not take anything from anybody. Another "Old" Prophet who lived in Beth-el was told what had happened by his sons. He got on his donkey and went after the Prophet from Judah. When he reached the Man from Judah he told him that he too had received a message from God via an angel saying to tell the Messenger from Judah that God had changed his mind and that he must now turn into the house of the "Old Prophet" from "Israel" and eat bead and drink water 1-Kings 13:18. The Man from Judah did so. After eating the Old Man told the emissary from Judah that because he had not obeyed the word of God but had relied on hearsay he would be punished. The Man from Judah went out and was killed by a lion (1-Kings 13:24). From this we learn that God does not change HIS mind!
[Genesis 35:8] BUT DEBORAH REBEKAH'S NURSE DIED, AND SHE WAS BURIED BENEATH BETHEL UNDER AN OAK: AND THE NAME OF IT WAS CALLED ALLONBACHUTH.
DEBORAH REBEKAH'S NURSE: The Scythians (who were at least partly from Israel) made this event part of their cultic world.
ALLONBACHUTH = ALLON-BACHUTH i.e. the oak of weeping. Note the continued association with oaks. The oak had great significance amongst the Celtic Druids.
BACHUTH also pronouncable as Baccus. The god Baccus (Dionysus) was linked with weeping, mourning, and wild behavior. The figure of this Greek god had Canaanite or Israelite origins. Baccus was also identified with Tammuz. Ezekiel (8:14) mentions women weeping for Tammuz. The ancient pagans had a spiritual world of their own with deep and powerful attractions of its own. In some ways we may be on a lower level than they were.
A castrated male who does not fornicate is less praiseworthy than a healthy male who refrains.
The trick is to have the ability but only use it in the right direction.
[Genesis 35:9] AND GOD APPEARED UNTO JACOB AGAIN, WHEN HE CAME OUT OF PADANARAM, AND BLESSED HIM.
[Genesis 35:10] AND GOD SAID UNTO HIM, THY NAME IS JACOB: THY NAME SHALL NOT BE CALLED ANY MORE JACOB, BUT ISRAEL SHALL BE THY NAME: AND HE CALLED HIS NAME ISRAEL.
Jacob became Israel. God confirmed the blessing Jacob had forced the guardian angel of Esau to give him.
[Genesis 35:11] AND GOD SAID UNTO HIM, I AM GOD ALMIGHTY: BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY; A NATION AND A COMPANY OF NATIONS SHALL BE OF THEE, AND KINGS SHALL COME OUT OF THY LOINS.
The Rabbis say that Jacob was afraid that perhaps innocent people had been killed in the city of Schechem and that God would be angry and take away the blessings. The contrary happened, God protected them and then came and confirmed the blessings and added to them.
BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY: we should try and have as many children as we can.
A NATION: The USA?
AND A COMPANY OF NATIONS the British Commonwealth and other Israelite nations?
AND/OR
A NATION = The Jews.
AND A COMPANY OF NATIONS the Lost Ten Tribes? This latter explanation is the most reasonable. The NATION means the Jews and the COMPANY OF NATIONS means the Lost Ten Tribes.
Notice that Jacob was critical of Simeon and Levi BUT God cast HIS fear on the surrounding peoples who did not pursue the Israelites. God also almost straight away blessed and renewed the blessings to Jacob.
In other cases in the Bible when someone had acted wrongly then the whole community suffered or had to make some form of atonement. In this case the Israelites were protected, blessed, the fear of them was on other peoples and they received an increase of possessions.
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7. What happened to Dinah? Were Ephraim and Manasseh her Descendants?
Dinah unfortunately had suffered and in some ways no complete rectification could be offered. Even very righeous people can be the victims of the wicked.
Different traditions concenring the ultimate fate of Dinah.
One tradition says that Dinah became the wife of Job. Job suffered undeservedly and his wife told him to give up hope. Maybe this advice was a reflection of her own bad experience?
Another tradition says that Dinah married Simeon. This would have been incest and is unlikely.
A third tradition says that from the union of Dinah and Schechem came a daughter who was adopted by Poti-Phera the Priest of On in Egypt and she married Joseph. This is also unlikely. As far as I can see the Bible does not recognize adoption. If it says that Osnath was the daughter of Poti-Phera then it means physical daughter.
Ginsbergs Legends:
In the same year, the year of Joseph's misfortune, all his other brethren married, too. Reuben's wife was named Elyoram, the daughter of the Canaanite Uzzi of Timnah. Simon married his sister Dinah first, and then a second wife. When Simon and Levi massacred the men of Shechem, Dinah refused to leave the city and follow her brethren, saying, "Whither shall I carry my shame?" But Simon swore he would marry her, as he did later, and when she died in Egypt, he took her body to the Holy Land and buried it there. Dinah bore her brother a son, and from her union with Shechem, the son of Hamor, sprang a daughter, Asenath by name, afterward the wife of Joseph. When this daughter was born to Dinah, her brethren, the sons of Jacob, wanted to kill her, that the finger of men might not point at the fruit of sin in their father's house. But Jacob took a piece of tin, inscribed the Holy Name upon it, and bound it about the neck of the girl, and he put her under a thornbush, and abandoned her there. An angel carried the babe down to Egypt, where Potiphar adopted her as his child, for his wife was barren. Years thereafter, when Joseph travelled through the land as viceroy, the maidens threw gifts at him, to make him turn his eyes in their direction and give them the opportunity of gazing upon his beauty. Asenath possessed nothing that would do as a present, therefore she took off the amulet suspended from her neck, and gave it to him. Thus Joseph became acquainted with her lineage, and he married her, seeing that she was not an Egyptian, but one connected with the house of Jacob through her mother.
Beside the son of Dinah, Simon had another son, whose name was Saul, by Bunah, the damsel he had taken captive in the campaign against Shechem.
There is a description of a 15th century English Poem about Asnath the wife of Joseph. It is interesting.
Excerpt:
Asneth's chambers are in a tower apart, but they have windows - three of them. She has a room with several views and can see in three directions. From her window she sees Joseph's arrival, immediately recognizes his chaste beauty, falls in love with him, and regrets her strong words. What pleases her about Joseph is his independence and his piety, which is manifested in his refusal to eat unclean food. He lives by a higher law which she yearns for but does not yet understand. When Joseph sees Asneth watching from her window, he scorns her as a designing woman, one of the hordes of Egyptian women who are trying to get into bed with him. But her father defends her, praises her chastity and cleanness, comparing her to Joseph himself - which pleases Joseph, who asks to meet her. But when Joseph refuses to kiss her because her mouth has touched unclean food, Asneth is humiliated and again withdraws to her room to enter into a seven day penitential fast, casting out the idols of her parents, covering herself with ashes and tears, and praying to the God of Joseph for forgiveness. Her prayer is a superbly modulated piece, resonant in the language of the penitential Psalms, a model of self-chastisement. If part of a young woman's training was the study of the Psalter, she would be especially receptive to this moment in the poem as she contemplated the verbal echoes.
Whether true or not these accounts are interesting.
One of them says that Dinah married Simeon her brother. In those days it was permitted.
Before that, she gave birth to Asenath from her union with Schechem.
Asenath went to Egypt and was adopted by Potiphar, and Egyptian official. Meanwhile Joseph was sold into Egypt and rose to become its effective ruler. Joseph then married Asenath.
From Asenath Joseph begat Ephraim and Manasseh.
This is only a legend. No prejudice was intended but descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, or those who believe they are such, may find this offensive.
Nevertheless, sometimes positive results emerge from bad things.
People should be judged as they are more than anything else.
Good Results from Bad Beginnings. An Example.
Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, (1848 - 1932), was the Chief Rabbi of the Ultra-Orthodox (Hareidi) community in Jerusalem, during the years of the British Mandate of Palestine.
He was a holy man. He once attended a wedding. In those days weddings were more or less public affairs and all the locals would attend. At the site of the wedding ceremony just before it was about to take place the prospective groom was told something negative that he had not heard before concerning the intended bride.
He declared that the wedding arrangement was based on misleading information and therefore he was not obliged by it and refused to go on.
Rabbi Sonnefeld walked over to group of young men standing there and asked which one of them was prepared to be the groom and in return receive a special blessing from him.
One of them agreed. The marriage was successful. The bride lived to be over a 100 years old and at her death had more than 1000 descendants including leading religious families in Israel.