Today's Scripture Reading (October 15, 2024): Genesis 34
Maybe one of the most common mistakes we make is
believing that everyone believes as we believe. Several years ago, I was taking
several teens and young adults on a trip to a foreign country, and one of the
biggest concerns I had with the group's older members was trying to convince
them that not everywhere would they be considered adults. There were people,
mostly guys between 18-20 years, who didn't understand that the idea that 18
was the age of majority was not a universal given. Where we were going, the age
of majority was 21; by voluntarily leaving our country, we were saying that we
would live by the laws of the country we were visiting.
We do the same thing every time we go to any foreign
country. It doesn't matter what it is like at home, we have to abide by the
laws in place of where we are going. In some places, that means your rights
might be curtailed if you are a woman. Breaking traffic laws might end up in
jail time instead of a fine. And if you are unwilling to abide by their rules,
don't go. But don't expect foreign countries to abide by your expectations of
what is right and wrong.
Jacob moved his family into an area where women were
property, and men did what they wanted with them. Everything that happened to
Dinah seemed to be according to local expectations. That may not be the way it was
in Jacob's family or where Jacob and his family had lived before, but it was
the way the people lived here. You took what you wanted and then took steps to
make it legal, or more precisely, claim it as your property.
This situation has three problems beyond the situation
of violence committed against Dinah in the city. First,
Jacob does nothing. Jacob knows what has happened, but he doesn't tell his
sons; he allows them to find out in their own way. He doesn't take action
against the perpetrator; he isn't in discussion with the city; he doesn't have
a plan. Jacob does nothing. Maybe he realizes that this is actually on him,
that he should have at least had a serious conversation about the dangers of
the city with his daughter, but even better, he should never have come here in
the first place. But whatever the reason, Jacob remains inactive, and his
inactivity gives his sons the impression that the response is up to them.
Second,
the brothers are dishonest. They go into the city as if searching for a positive
solution to the problem. But that is the farthest thing from their minds. They
are looking for blood. We would agree. But that doesn't mean that our response
is proper. We have a strange idea of justification. If I am righting a wrong,
then whatever I do is acceptable, but that is not true in secular law, let
alone sacred law. It is the response that has historically resulted in multiple
wrongs and feuds. When we take a wrong and try to correct it by committing a
second wrong, we start a chain reaction that will quickly get out of control.
And yet that is precisely what the brothers have decided to do.
Lastly, the brothers become committed
to a ruse. The suggestion is that if the men of the city will follow
Jacob's rules and traditions, the family of Jacob will also follow the rules
and traditions of the city. Commit to following our laws, and you will benefit,
not just by being able to marry our sister but by becoming economically
connected with us. It is a temptation that is much too great for the city not
to take advantage. They agreed, making them vulnerable to the evil that Dinah's
brothers were about to visit on the city.
Tomorrow's
Scripture Reading: Genesis 35
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