Sleeping With the Enemy

It's not so long ago that I used to sit on the floor of our living room with my babies and watch them practice their motor movement with their toys. We had one of those round balls with shapes cut into its sides, and it came with pieces that fit into each shape... but no one piece could fit into a shape not designed for it. 

So my children, when they weren't putting the plastic shapes into their mouth or trying to put the plastic shapes into my mouth, tried to shove the pieces into the holes in the ball. Rarely did they succeed unless I helped them.

Square peg, round hole. There was no give in the hard plastic.

Jacob's family, now quite numerous, but still... just a family, has moved into the neighborhood of Shechem. Jacob has bought property from the sons of Hamor, and he's apparently intending to settle there for a while.

One of the sons of Hamor, from whom Jacob bought his property, is named Shechem (after the city). Hamor himself is the ruler of the area, and Shechem is his pride and joy, the "most honored of all his father's household" (Genesis 34:18). Kid's got status in both his father's household and in the city. He's politically expedient. What he says and what he wants... no matter how off the cuff it is... people will listen to him, as you'll see.

What Shechem saw, what he wanted... was Jacob's daughter Dinah. In Genesis 34:2-4, it says: "When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw [Dinah], he took her and violated her. His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. And Shechem said to his father Hamor, 'Get me this girl as my wife.'"

Hamor is thinking a little more clearly than love-struck Shechem. He sees a wealthy and powerful family move into the neighborhood. There's a lot of boys. One girl. A slew of manservants and maidservants. The beginnings of their own little community. He could either send this girl his son had violated back home to her family, shut the gates of the city, and line the walls with archers against the angry father and brothers... or he could solve the whole thing by "making it right," paying the bride-price for the girl.

Then he goes to Jacob and inquires about the idea. "Intermarry with us," he says. "We'll marry your daughters, your sons can marry our daughters. We'll all be one big happy family."

There was one fairly major issue: Jacob has set up his altar to El Elohe Israel, claimed the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, as his God. He is a part of the original covenant, and by extension, his sons are as well.

Neither Hamor, nor Shechem, nor anyone in the city acknowledge God as their God. So this intermarriage, this marrying of faith to non-faith, is dangerous and reminiscent of the hazards of assimilation we saw waaay back when Lot moved closer, and closer... and closer to Sodom, until he lived right in the city and sat at its gate with its elders and leaders.

Jacob faced a dilemma here: either he could be absorbed into the culture, or he could stand apart... and face hostility. There was no middle ground. It was tricky, and there was no diplomatic answer.

It turns out that he wasn't the one to give the answer. At the transaction site, at least some of Jacob's sons are present: Simeon and Levi are two likely candidates for being "in the room where it happens." (Another Hamilton reference, sorry), as they play a key role in what happens next. The brothers give Hamor his answer, not Jacob.

And they used faith as a false-front.

I'm sooo glad that doesn't happen today! Right?! I'm sooo glad that no one ever hides behind their faith to dodge the hard issues. I'm sooo glad no one would ever consider using faith to badger people they don't agree with. I mean, thank goodness we are so much more considerate today. 

Right?!

But Simeon and Levi tossed their faith into the discussion ring. "Actually, no, we can't agree to intermarry with uncircumcised. Our great-grandfather Abraham, yada yada, covenant of circumcision, yada yada, what a disgraceful connection, yada yada. BUT... if your whole city circumcises themselves, our faith-requirements for intermarriage will be met, and you can have our sister."

Words.

Between the lines, the plot thickens. Simeon and Levi have no intention of yielding their sister to the Shechemites. 

Hamor and his son Shechem go back to the gates of their city and talk to the elders and leaders. All Shechem can think about is how much he loves Dinah (I submit that what he was feeling was far more lust than love, and there was absolutely no justification for what he did to her). I'm not super familiar with the bridal customs of the day, but apparently, because Dinah was now officially "engaged" to marry Shechem, he got to take her along with him to his home. You'll see how much further this condemns Simeon and Levi in a second.

Hamor and Shechem lay out their proposition to the city leaders. "Here's the deal. We have a wealthy and large family and community living right outside our city walls. They seem peaceable enough. If we intermarry with them, assimilate them, buy and trade with them, they will increase our wealth considerably. One problem... they won't give Shechem their daughter unless we all get circumcised."

Apparently the bait was irresistible, because the men all agreed that this was a good idea. So... they all got circumcised.

"Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers (by Leah), took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem's house and left." They looted the place and took all the livestock and all the women and children. They obliterated the city.

Instead of honorably looking Shechem and Hamor in the face when they came to haggle about the bride-price and denouncing Shechem's actions (violation of Dinah) right there, they used deceit and trickery (like father, like son) to increase the payback ten-fold. 

In the end... they were no better than the people they'd denounced and destroyed.

Rather than being a square peg against a round hole, they slid right through the hole and dropped into the same tool box as the rest of the Canaanites, the ones who did not claim God as their God. God had called Israel to be separate and distinct. He had called them to be His people. 

The hypocrisy of this just astounds me. The sons of Jacob (it doesn't say it was only Simeon and Levi) threw the excuse into the ring that they were called to be separate and distinct because of their covenant with the Lord God... and then they used that covenant to dip into the exact same wicked practices of those who did not claim the Lord as their God.

My son is studying plate tectonics at school, where the plates of the earth shift, wedging against each other, pushing up land, pulling down land, causing earthquakes, etc. The plates do not meld together and become one plate; they are constantly in tension with each other, separate, distinct.

Paul calls out this difference in 2 Corinthians 6:14: "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" In verse 17: "'Therefore come out from them and be separate,' says the Lord." 

Is God saying, "Go hide in a hole until you see My Son coming in the clouds?"

Absolutely not. But He asks, no, demands difference. He demands holiness. He demands that we, as people of faith, be noteworthy. "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe" (Philippians 2:14-16).

In the inky blackness of night, stars hold their own intense brilliance, never mistaken for the same blackness that surrounds them. 

Be different. Let Christ be the Light that shines through you. Instead of mowing over people with your faith, bless people with how you serve them. Y'all, that's different. That's unusual. Don't be afraid to be the square peg.