Godless

Day eighty-four

Well it's Friday which means chores (not one of my favorite things to do) and running errands.  Although I don't always enjoy the actual cleaning part, I do enjoy the clean house, which makes it worth it.  My prayer today was filled with gratitude for having the blessings to do my chores, a home and family, and a request that my family would work well together as we tackle the list of things to do. 

Genesis 34

This is a difficult chapter to study.  It is filled with rape, deceit, revenge, and murder.  This is one of those chapters that says it like it is, there is no sugar coating here.  What can we learn from such events?

One of the first things I noticed is that there is no mention of God in this chapter.  No one is praying and seeking out God, instead it is all based on the laws and feelings of men.  There are no visits from angels or hearing the Lord's voice, even for Jacob.  This must have been a dark time for Jacob and his family, and it shows in their actions.

Dinah (Gen. 34:1-3)
Dinah is Jacob's teenage daughter from his wife Leah.  This chapter starts off with Dinah going out to see the daughters of the land. A little background information here is helpful.  The people of Canaan are not righteous people, they do not worship Jehovah, and their society is very immoral. Dinah is putting herself in a bad situation by going to mingle with these people.  Also, it is not likely that her family would have let her go by herself, there were rules regarding these things, she should have had a chaperon with her.  Her safety would have been important to her brothers in particular, since tradition puts them in charge of her safety.  The disregard for the rules and traditions of her family would lead to distress not only for her, but brings shame to her whole family.  

There is a good lesson to the youth in this story: There are rules for a reason and the consequences of your actions can have a rippling effect on your family and others.  Think twice before you put yourself and your family in a compromising situation, it will save you a lot of grief.

Simeon and Levi (Gen 34:13-29)
As the brother's of Dinah, their desire for justice for her rape makes sense.  However, their actions of deceiving the people of the land using a sign of the covenant (circumcision), to provide a way for them to murder all the males does not seem like justice, but more like revenge.  Justice is the quality of being just and fair, while revenge is a harmful action against a person or group as a response to a real or perceived grievance.  The harmful actions of these two brothers would lead some of the other brothers to come and participate in the act.  The darkness spreads.  Are their actions any better than the lust that led to these events?

Lesson:  What is the motivation behind your action?  Unrighteous behavior, fought with more unrighteous behavior, does not lead to a good outcome, only pain and suffering for all involved comes from such behavior.

Jacob
The actions of his children bring Jacob much distress.  He is concerned that their actions will lead to retaliation by the surrounding people and ultimately to his death.  The safety of his family is in jeopardy and the reputation of his family is in question.  It is strange to me that the only reaction we have from Jacob at the time is in verse 30 when he states that they have troubled him and he discusses his concerns about their safety and reputation.  We know that these sons loose their birthright and that Jacob thought of their acts as cruel (Gen 49:5-7), but what happened inbetween these chapters?  Maybe someday we will find out.

We do find in chapter 35 that God is once again active in Jacob's life.  He must have turned to the Lord once again. 

This made me think about the times in my life that felt Godless; were my actions to blame for this lack of involvement from God?  The answer is yes.  I too had to turn to the Lord and get myself back on track like Jacob.  I think that is my favorite lesson of this chapter:  God cannot be with us if our actions are not in line with His will, but there is hope, we can turn to Him again and receive blessings.