To get even, take back what was taken from us, while repaying the hurt doled out to us is our natural first response without thinking.  Just watch toddlers in the church nursery to prove this theory!  However, God reminds us that it is He who sees all hearts, all circumstances, and knows who needs His discipline in His way in His time.  God is the judge over all and in all.  His compassions they fail not for His people.  Great is His faithfulness!   

Genesis 34

Dinah and the Shechemites

Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. ² When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her. ³ His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ And Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as my wife.”

⁵ When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he did nothing about it until they came home.

⁶ Then Shechem’s father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob. ⁷ Meanwhile, Jacob’s sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and furious, because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done.

⁸ But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. ⁹ Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade in it, and acquire property in it.”

¹¹ Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask. ¹² Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, and I’ll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the young woman as my wife.”

¹³ Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob’s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We can’t do such a thing; we can’t give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ We will enter into an agreement with you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. ¹⁶ Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We’ll settle among you and become one people with you. ¹⁷ But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we’ll take our sister and go.”

¹⁸ Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. ¹⁹ The young man, who was the most honored of all his father’s family, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. ²⁰ So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak to the men of their city. ²¹ “These men are friendly toward us,” they said. “Let them live in our land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters and they can marry ours. ²² But the men will agree to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are. ²³ Won’t their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us agree to their terms, and they will settle among us.”

²⁴ All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised.

²⁵ Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. ²⁶ They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left. ²⁷ The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where their sister had been defiled. ²⁸ They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. ²⁹ They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.

³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

³¹ But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The defilement of Dinah was a sin of abusive, selfish behavior delivered by a spoiled son of a leader who demanded to have all he wanted even if that meant hurting someone else to satisfy his own desires.    

Dinah’s older, protective brothers, Levi and Simeon immediately sought revenge from the offending perpetrator.  It is certainly the first thought of most humans—to seek revenge.  Even though women were thought of as less than men with little to no rights, the defilement of Dinah was considered an “outrageous thing in Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done. But, as foreigners passing through, Jacob sought to deescalate the situation while broken hearted over what had been done to his daughter.  Before Jacob could do that, Simeon and Levi took matters into their own hands with a deceptive scheme to “get even,” escalating the matter which resulted in murdering the innocent along with the perpetrator.

Taking matters into our own hands is a sin unto itself.  Revenging and avenging means we don’t trust God and think we can do better than God.  When we “play God” we make always make matters worse.  We fall back on our sinful natural as our first instinctive response to our anger when offended. “Don’t sin in your anger” is written in God’s Word to warn us where anger can lead us. (Ephesians 4:26)

Righteous anger led to unrighteous responses.  Levi and Simeon’s out-of-control rage led them immediately to deceit for the purpose of murder of the offender along with all the people in the offender’s world.   “You have brought more trouble…”, says Jacob to Levi and Simeon who took the matter too far leaving a mess to clean up by God through his chosen leader, Jacob, their father.  

God will speak to Israel often about who is in charge over them and who will take care of their enemies;

“Have I not kept this in reserve
    and sealed it in my vaults?
It is mine to avenge; I will repay.
    In due time their foot will slip;
their day of disaster is near
    and their doom rushes upon them.”  Deuteronomy 32:34-35

Believers in Jesus must not play God and try to avenge themselves. Returning evil for evil, or good for good, is the way most people live. But Christians must live on a higher level and return good for evil. Of course, this requires extreme love of God in us; because our first inclination is to fight back. It also requires faith, believing that God can work and accomplish His will in our lives and in the lives of those who hurt us. We must let God sort it all out—all the wrongs, injustice, persecutions, and defilements, for only He can bring holy resolution.  Only God, not us, can see and know all the details of the matter.

Certainly, the rape and abuse of anyone should be brought to justice—in a court of law–but not by our own hands or we become just as guilty. 

In the day-to-day ways of life, Jesus tells us how to deal with our enemies of the faith: “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.” –Jesus, Matthew 5:44, MSG

Paul follows up Jesus’ teachings with how to respond to daily offense:  “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  Romans 12:17-21, (referring to Deuteronomy 32:35)

The only way to live this is effectively and successfully is by the power of God’s Holy Spirit living in us.  We cannot do life without His leading and His power to transform us. The first words in Romans 12 tells us how to yield to God in our on-going transformation:  “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  Romans 12:1-2 (Read all of chapter 12 for specific behaviors that please God and helps us mature in His love.)

There’s more to this story…stay tuned!

Lord,

Lesson learned.  You are God.  We are not.  Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls with your new tender mercies given daily, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within us as we look to you to help us be overcomers of evil in this world.  Help us to seek your justice, love your mercy, as we walk humbly with you in the lead.

In Jesus Name, Amen