XXXIV. (1) DINAH... WENT OUT TO SEE THE DAUGHTERS OF THE LAND. — Those commentators who imagine that Jacob sojourned only twenty years at Haran are obliged to suppose that he remained two or more years at Succoth, and some eight years at Shechem, before this event happened, leaving only one more yea... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TÔLDÔTH ISAAC (Genesis 25:19 to Genesis 35:29). THE BIRTH OF ISAAC’S SONS. Abraham begat Isaac — The _Tôldôth_ in its original form gave probably a complete genealogy of Isaac, tracing up his descent to Shem, and showing thereby that the right of primogeniture belonged to him; but the inspired... [ Continue Reading ]
JACOB HEARD. — As Dinah did not return home (Genesis 34:26), her father probably learned her dishonour from the maidservants who had gone out with her. But “he held his peace,” chiefly from his usual cautiousness, as being no match for the Hivites, but partly because Leah’s sons had the right to be... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HAD WROUGHT FOLLY IN ISRAEL. — The great anger of Jacob’s sons agrees as completely with the general harshness of their characters as the silence of the father with his habitual thoughtfulness; but it was aroused by a great wrong. The use, however, of the term _Israel_ to signify the family of Ja... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL DWELL WITH US. — Hamor proposes that Jacob’s family shall abandon their nomad life, and settle among the Hivites. and trade with them, and get possessions, not merely of cattle and movable goods, but of immovable property. He wished the two clans to coalesce into one community.... [ Continue Reading ]
DOWRY AND GIFT. — The word rendered _dowry_ (mohar) is the price paid to the parents and relatives of the bride, though taking the form of a present. The _gift_ (matthan) was the present made by the bridegroom to the bride herself. Besides this, her relatives were expected to give her presents, and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAID... AND THEY SAID. — These are two different verbs in the Hebrew, and should be translated _and spake_ (_because he had defiled Dinah their sister_)_, and said._ The intermediate words are parenthetical, and there is no reason for translating _spake_ by _plotted, laid a snare,_ as Gesenius a... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR WORDS PLEASED HAMOR. — We gather from this that circumcision was a rite not only well known, but regarded as something honourable; for otherwise they would not so readily have submitted to a thing so painful.... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US TAKE THEIR DAUGHTERS... — In a young community, such as this of the Hivites at Shechem appears to have been, the addition of a large number of women was a valuable increase of their strength, and one that brought the promise also of future extension. Jacob’s men were also chiefly of the Semit... [ Continue Reading ]
SIMEON AND LEVI, DINAH’S BRETHREN. — As born of the same mother, they, with Reuben and Judah, were especially bound to espouse their sister’s cause, but the method they took was cruel in the extreme. And it seems that these two were the leaders in the plot, having probably excluded Reuben from it, a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SONS OF JACOB. — After slaying Hamor and Shechem, the two brothers “took Dinah and went out.” It was after this that Jacob’s sons generally — though not without exceptions, for several of them were still very young — joined in seizing the spoil.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR LITTLE ONES. — Heb., _their taf._ (See Note on Genesis 17:13.) How erroneous is the translation “little-ones” may be seen from Numbers 31:17, which in the Heb. is, “Now, therefore, kill every male in the _taf_... and all the _taf_ of women that are unmarried.” It would be monstrous to suppose... [ Continue Reading ]
YE HAVE TROUBLED ME. — Jacob’s timidity led him to think first of the danger that would result from the conduct of his sons, and only afterwards of the cruelty and treacherousness of their deed. He commented upon this on his dying bed in words of fitting reprobation, but his reproof now is singularl... [ Continue Reading ]