“Feeling the Absence of God”

Genesis 33:18-20 & 34:1-7

 

We are currently in the third and final act of Jacob’s life. He has returned home from exile and has set up camp with his family within sight of the city of Shechem in Canaan.

 

As a reminder, the first act of Jacob’s life began with the birth of the twins, when even before birth Jacob was grabbing for first place. We next read a story of Jacob’s father, Isaac who plays the deceiver trying to save his life by putting his wife on the line by saying she was his sister. Which was a family lie passed down from his father Abraham. Rebekah, Jacob’s mother assists Jacob in deceiving Isaac which forces Jacob to go into exile. 

In act two, Jacob flees and has a dream of Heaven and Earth uniting. Jacob then lives 20 years of deception upon deception. And who were the people who suffered most because of the deceptions? Jacob’s wives, Rachel and Leah. Upon returning from exile Jacob eventually Jacob has more dreams of Heaven and Earth uniting. 

 

In the center of the third act we will have the sons of Jacob replaying the deception of all their generations. Because of what? Because of the story we read today, of sexual abuse of Leah’s seventh child, Dinah. 

 

Why on earth is this story, or for that matter, any story of abuse, in the Bible? 

 

Any story of sexual abuse is unpleasant and extremely sad. 

 

As we look at the architecture of the story we will try to work our way through it as carefully as we can. I recognize the topic of abuse is difficult for many. Yet, this story forces us to look at a part of the portrait of how humans operate. I pray it will give us wisdom for how to see and understand and live better, in our day. 

 

The story actually spreads across our chapter divisions, beginning at verse 18 in chapter 33 all the way to verse 31 in chapter 34. We are reading just the first part of the story today. 

 

It begins with Jacob coming to the city and buying a piece of land named Shechem. He builds an altar there and pitches some tents which represent Eden imagery. There he actually worships God. 

 

The next story will begin with God appearing to Jacob in that place and He will tell him, “Okay, go up to the next Eden spot and make an altar and worship me there.” These two times of worship place a frame around the story we are beginning today. 

 

Let me summarize today’s story. Jacob and his family have pitched tents outside the city of Shechem which is ruled by a Canaanite father and his son, who is also named “Shechem.” This guy named Shechem sees, desires and rapes, Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. Jacob does nothing. However, when her brothers heard about it, they were angry and made a plan of revenge. In the center of the story there is a long deceptive conversation. What we have come to know as a “snake” moment. This time Jacob’s sons will be the deceivers. The conversation will happen in three steps, all paralleling each other. 

The brothers create the ultimate perversion of blessing the nations because they begin their deception with, “Hey, join our people. Enter into a covenant with us by circumcision and we will become one people.” When their ultimate plan, all along, is to murder the nations rather than reconcile with them.

 

There we have the highlights of the story. As we read through it we will encounter key hyperlinks that will illuminate little puzzles within the story. 

 

Let’s begin. 

 

The story begins with Jacob coming in peace to settle down. He purchases a piece of land, fair and square. He sets up his tents, builds an altar and calls the place, “El Elohim of Israel.” Check it out. Up to this point, Jacob has been calling Yahweh the God of his fathers. This is the first time he adopts God as his own God. 

We have read another story of this family purchasing land, back in Genesis chapter 23. You may recall, Sarah died and Abraham went to the Hittites and asked to purchase a piece of land to bury her. They wanted to give it to him because they saw him as a mighty exalted one, but Abraham insisted on paying for it. The property had a cave in it and the Hebrew word for “cave” is the same root word for “nakedness.” The name of the cave, “Machpelah” means “couple.” Abraham purchased land referring to a “naked couple.” Definitely an “Eden” clue. 

 

Now in chapter 33 we have Jacob replaying with his own purchase of a bit of what is meant to be like the seedbed of the new Eden, from a ruler of the land, named Hamor. So the story starts off great, with an Eden essence and Jacob making Yahweh his God. 

 

What could go wrong? 

Dinah, the daughter of Leah, goes out to visit with the women of the land. When Shechem, an exalted ruler, the son of Hamor the Hivite, sees Dinah, decides to take her and rapes her. The word used here also means, “oppressed”; it is the same word used to describe what Abraham and Sarah do to Hagar. It is also the same word used to describe what Pharoah will do when he enslaves the Israelites in Egypt, later in Genesis. It’s an abuse that takes advantage of.  To make the story even more twisted, after he took advantage of Dinah, then his heart was drawn to her, then he loved her and spoke tenderly to her.  At this point, Shechem goes to his father, Hamor and demands his father “Get this girl as my wife.” 

 

The narrative portrays the opposite of how things should properly occur in their cultural setting. What should have happened was: 

 

First, the man becomes attracted to the girl, 

then they fall in love, 

then he ask his dad to help arrange a marriage, 

then they consummate the marriage. 

 

Shechem does exactly the opposite. Notice, right before we are told what Shechem does, we were told he was “the ruler of the area.” It’s the social status that is highlighted that sets off the series of events. 

 

Next we read that Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled. Let’s stop for a second and put this into context. The idea that a woman has been raped is an uncomfortable detail in any culture. The story takes place in a patriarchal setting where wives and daughters and animals are considered property. Daughters were seen as money makers. You could marry them off for a bride price. 

So, if another man has slept with your daughter outside of an arranged marriage, then he has just devalued your property, she’s worthless. That is what this language is communicating to the Hebrew reader. 

 

Jacob hears the news. His sons were in the field, so Jacob did nothing. He remains silent until they return. Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to talk with Jacob. Seems like it should have been the other way around. Meanwhile, as soon as Jacob’s sons hear the news, they come in from the field. Which means, Jacob didn’t tell them, they had to have found out some other way. 

 

We have a portrait of Jacob where he doesn’t tell his sons, he doesn’t go to Hamor and remember, Dinah was the daughter of which wife? Leah. Oh, yeah Leah. The wife he didn’t have a lot of affection for. All of this is part of the mix. 

Check it out. Eventually, someone has an appropriate response. The brothers were shocked and furious. In Hebrew the word for furious means, “hot with anger.” 

 

Why? 

 

Because Shechem had done an outrageous thing. The narrator puts his own two cents in and states, “a thing that should not be done.” 

 

There we have it. Dinah goes to visit with the women of the land, a man in a high-powered position inverts the proper order of getting a wife. Not just a cultural proper order, but an Eden proper order as well, of a man leaving his father and mother and being joined to his wife. The very same wording is used here as in Genesis 2:24. The whole thing is a nightmare Eden, or anti-Eden sequence. And where is Jacob in all of this? 

Doing nothing. 

Ultimate failure where he does nothing to advocate for his daughter. 

Check in time. 

One can definitely understand why many Christian traditions avoid reading and discussing passages like this. For many readers, this story is extremely difficult. 

For what it’s worth, this is a story that clearly forces one to deal with such issues. If we choose to dismiss it or avoid it we are avoiding the opportunity to recognize these things happen and are part of real life for many individuals. 

Some questions immediately come to mind for me.

Where is God in all of this? 

 “How could God let this happen? 

And then, Jacob, what’s wrong with you?                         Why aren’t you doing something?

Did you notice? God hasn’t been mentioned at all in this story. It’s just human nature, on display. When you begin to look at it, there are many places in Scripture where God appears absent and silent, combined with the venting of a lot of emotion and frustration. 

 

Then there are other stories like the story of Joseph, being sold into slavery and from that point on going down, down, down, until at the end of his story he says something that reveals God was in the middle of all his mess. 

Not willing it, 

it was the will of humans, 

but transforming it when humans did wrong. 

However, in this story, there is no redemptive arc. There is just a mess. Which takes us to a place to recognize that sometimes the Bible tries to get us into the mindset of a wrestling match with God by portraying the absence of God, trying to move us towards lament. The Bible guides us towards reflection, guiding us and shaping us through our everyday experiences. 

Stop and think…. Have you ever experienced a time when you wondered if God wasn’t paying attention?             When you’ve prayed, “God where are you?” 

Today’s story presents a situation where the reader should automatically ask, “Where is God in all of this?” This story is what literature calls “a tragedy.” A tragedy is meant to force the reader to stare at the reality of the human condition in all of its ugliness and discomfort and to grapple with our response. 

Many of us wrestle with owning our feelings of anger and wanting to do something, combined with the feeling of self preservation 

and we end up acting like Jacob, doing nothing.

What will it take for us to trust God and not fall into that trap, but to reach out and do something to assist the marginalized. If God lives in us and works through us, isn’t that what He would do? 

Again, the Bible is not a book of fairy tales. We are not always promised a happy ending. However, we do need to fit this story into the larger story. We serve a God who had compassion on Leah, a God who delivered Hagar in the wilderness. A God that is described like this in 1 Samuel 2:8 ,

 

 

He raises the poor from the dust

    and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

he seats them with princes

    and has them inherit a throne of honor.

Unfortunately, we are not in heaven, we are still on earth, where evil exists. 

Yet, to make sure God’s voice is heard, 

God uses us. 

May we be ready and willing to do His will. 

Let’s pray.