God Is Calling Men to Lead in Love and Righteousness

A Better Father, a Better Son
(Genesis 34, Preaching: Pastor Nathan Snyder, June 7, 2015)

Just when things seemed to be moving in a good direction for Jacob and his family, disaster strikes.  Jacob’s daughter Dinah takes a trip to visit the women of the land and is raped by Shechem.  To make matters worse for everyone, her brothers decide to get revenge by raping the entire city.  They use God’s sign of circumcision in a deceptive way to make all the men in the city weak, and having promised alliance with them, they come in and massacre all the men and plunder all the women, children, and wealth.  Jacob recognizes that their actions could lead to the other inhabitants of the land wiping him and his family out.  They are certainly outnumbered.  Thus the family through whom God has promised to bring salvation to the world have instead added to the world’s injustice, and they are now in danger of being extinguished.  Yet God’s promise will not be extinguished, despite the evil in the world, and despite the evil in his own people.  In 35:5 we learn that God protected Jacob and his family from being attacked by the surrounding peoples.

In chapter 34 no reference is made to God at all.  The absence seems to coincide with the sordid events of the chapter.  Dinah is the victim of a man’s lust and violence, like too many women still are today.  After violating Dinah, Shechem feels that he loves her and wants to marry her.  His father Hamor does not appear to do anything to reprimand his son for the rape, but he does seek to get the girl for his son.  Dinah’s own father, Jacob, himself does nothing to respond to all this.  His sons are the ones to respond with treacherous revenge, taking their sister back and dealing out punishment far exceeding the crime.  Jacob under reacts.  His sons overreact.  Even when Jacob confronts his sons over their actions, he seems more concerned about his safety than about the morality of their actions.  Later he will speak of the injustice of Levi and Simeon’s actions (49:5-7).  But now he seems only afraid.  In recent chapters it seemed Jacob was maturing in taking action when necessary, and maturing in trusting God rather than succumbing to fear.  Yet here again his passivity and fear come out.  I think all of us have certain tendencies to sin that we must battle our whole lives.  Without constant vigilance and dependence on God, our old tendencies often keep showing themselves.

This story shows men at their worst.  Are not the sinful tendencies of the men in this chapter the same sinful tendencies we see in men today?  Praise God that in him we have a better Father and a better Son.  Our Father in heaven does not indulge our sin, yielding to the lusts of his children.  Nor is he passive in our lives.  He is constantly active in shepherding, protecting, teaching, and correcting us.  I know it often seems he is negligent.  After all, how could God allow Dinah to be raped.  I do not have the answers to why God allows such horrific things to happen to his children.  But I do know that he sent his Son Jesus to the cross for our eternal salvation.  We can trust our Father even when we don’t understand.  He is active at all times working for our eternal good.  And thank God that his Son is not a man who seeks to violently satisfy his selfish desires at our expense.  Rather he came to earth in purest love to pursue his bride, not by violently taking, but by giving himself to be violently killed and humiliated in the place of his bride.  Like the sons of Jacob, God’s Son will bring justice for all the sins done against his people.  But unlike Jacob’s sons, God’s Son will execute perfect justice.  Jesus will not under react, nor will he overreact in his justice.  We can trust him to do what is right.

Put the Word to Work:  Put your trust in our heavenly Father and in his Son for perfect love and perfect justice.  Men, look to God’s strength and take the lead in love and righteousness.  As far as it depends on you, protect your daughters, and raise your sons to be men of love, self-control, and courage.

Memory Verse from the Psalms of Ascents: Psalm 131:3  O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.

Gospel Reading: Matthew 22:15-22 – Paying taxes to Caesar