Genesis 33:18-20

Jacob Moves Into the Land of Promise - Revenge for Dinah (Genesis 33:18 to Genesis 34:31)

Some years have passed and now Jacob feels the time has come to return to the land of the covenant. This particular record was made as a permanent record of the covenant between Hamor and Jacob which resulted in the establishment of a permanent altar to God and ownership of the land on which it was built. The episode that follows was seen as permanently connected with this arrangement. Alternately the central covenant may have been seen as the one between Hamor and Jacob in respect of Dinah (34:8-12). This may have been seen as necessary to establish Dinah's innocence. The ancients would view the central theme of the passage as totally justified, and indeed required to purify the tribe. This was what Hamor and Shechem, as Canaanites, failed to realise to their cost.

Genesis 33:18

‘And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and encamped by the city. And he bought the parcel of land where he had pitched his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of silver. And he erected there an altar and called it El-elohe-Israel (God the God of Israel).'

“The city of Shechem”. This may mean the city Shechem lived in, the city remaining unnamed, but Shechem was well known as a city elsewhere and it is therefore probable that the man Shechem was named after the city in which he dwelt as its potential ruler.

The stress that Jacob came in peace is never made elsewhere. The writer is preparing for what follows and stressing that in it all Jacob was guiltless. He had no intentions of belligerence. (The translation could, however, alternatively be ‘to Salem, a city of Shechem').

“When he came from Paddan-aram.” This is a general note referring to the fact that this is Jacob's first contact with the Promised Land after leaving Paddan-aram. It does not necessarily signify immediacy.

Jacob sets up camp by the city. He is so moved by the fact that he is now back in the land of God's covenant that he determines to set up a permanent shrine there. Thus he buys a piece of land so that he can build a permanent memorial. The fact that Hamor is willing to sell him land is a sign of the good relations between the two, although the purpose for which it was bought would influence the situation. This may well have brought Jacob into a position of indebtedness to Hamor for land did not usually pass in this way without feudal obligations.

“A hundred pieces of silver.” Strictly ‘money' is not correct as payment was made in quantities of silver. The uncommon Hebrew word probably indicates a weight measure.

“He built there an altar to El-elohe-Israel.” From this time on Shechem is a sacred place to the family tribe and later to Israel. It was in the neighbourhood of Mount Gerizim (Judges 9:7) in the hill country of Ephraim (Joshua 20:7). It was the place where God first revealed Himself to Abraham when he initially entered the land, and where he built his first altar to Yahweh (Genesis 12:6). That indeed may be why Jacob came there and why he was determined to establish a permanent altar to God. It was where Joshua would later renew the covenant and where the bones of Joseph would be buried (Joshua 24). By establishing this altar in the name of God the God of Israel Jacob is confirming his new name and applying it to the family tribe. From now on they will proudly call themselves ‘Israel' (Genesis 34:7)

In order to put the following story in context it is necessary to appreciate the strong feelings aroused by the sexual misuse of a prominent member of a tribe. Such an act was looked on as a raping of the tribe itself. Probably the people of Shechem, more used to sexual misbehaviour (the Canaanite religion was sexually debased) and to the behaviour of petty princes, did not appreciate the intense feeling that Shechem's act would arouse in a family tribe such as Jacob's. But to Dinah's two blood brothers, Simeon and Levi, there could be only one reply, justice and vengeance. Blood was required. By his cavalier behaviour Shechem brought deep shame on them, indeed sacrilege had been committed, and only his death could wipe it out.

We have already seen how careful the patriarchs were in finding wives for their sons. We need not doubt that they were as careful about their daughters. Thus what happened to Dinah was a dreadful blow to the family. Had it been a member of the covenant community some lesser penalty might have been possible as long as she was not betrothed to another (Deuteronomy 22:25). But they saw marriage to a Canaanite prince as out of the question. The only other possible penalty was death.

From the point of view of the story of the covenant, however, this was a moment of crisis. Absorption into the community at Shechem would have signalled the end of the covenant. The covenant people would have been absorbed into a community whose religious practises were debased. Thus the determination of the brothers to have justice done, and sacrilege dealt with, preserved the covenant community.