Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Genesis 34: Bad Ideas

Genesis 34 is full of ideas that probably seemed justified at the time, but, in retrospect, were not that wise.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for Shechem to take Dinah by force?

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for Shechem and Hamor to promise "anything" in exchange for her hand in marriage?

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for her family to approve of marrying her off to her rapist if he and his community would just undergo circumcision?

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for Shechem and Hamor to convince everyone to agree on the pretext that they would then be able to take over all of Israel's property?

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have all the men in the city circumcised at the same time? (After the rape, this is my nomination for the worst idea in this chapter.)

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for the sons of Israel to kill all the men while they were still in pain and thus alienate themselves to everyone else in their vicinity?

One thing we see in Genesis is that our ancestors didn't always think through to the consequences of their actions.  I'm so glad things are different today.

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