Connecting Scriptures:  Genesis 49:5-7, Deuteronomy 32:35-43, Romans 12:17-19, Lamentations 5:7, Genesis 17:10-14

Todays account pulls into mind a question.  What is righteous justice?  Did the sons of Jacob have a heart of justice or prideful revenge?  

We will find that many times in God’s Word, God will ask His people to devote to destruction whole towns and cities.  This is mostly found in the conquest of the promised land during Joshua’s time.  Scripture clearly states the reasoning for this is because of His judgment on a certain people and customs.  These were nations that rejected God fully, hated Israel and treated them horribly in the years of wandering, and because of their detestable pagan practices, didn’t value life or the things of God.  When Israel would battle these people, they had to destroy everything and everyone, and take no plunder or spoils of war.  The mood was somber and serious, there were no post battle celebrations to be had afterward.  Being the hand of God’s justice was a holy and heavy responsibility and not one, we will find, that Israel always gets right.

Chapter 34 shows a different kind of “justice”.  One that is devoid of council with God.  One that is lacking patriarchal leadership.  One that is being driven by what began as an honest reason, defending a broken sisters honor—but ultimately ends with young, hot headed brothers, with no wisdom, digging into sinfulness that is even greater than the offense.  

When young Dinah was horribly abused and misused by Shechem, shouldn’t it have been her father to take care of the situation?  A daughters first line of defense should be her dad, right?  Here we see Jacob waiting on his sons before he makes a decision.  I understand waiting, it is wise to not act on emotion when dealing with such a painful situation, but it seemed to me like he was waiting on his sons to take care of it.  I see a lot of his own father, Isaac, in this circumstance, who scripture describes (at least in his old age) as very hands off and uninvolved (thus why Rebekah had free rein to manipulate and twist how things turned out for them).  The sons of Jacob were young men here.  They did not have the benefit of age and wisdom, but they did have a large portion of their fathers old tricks of deceit.  In their anger, and in the name of defending Dinah, they devise a plan that takes advantage of the desperation of Shechem, and perverts the sign of the Abrahamic covenant.  

What results after Simeon and Levi slaughter a weakened town of men, is nothing short of horrific.  They plunder the city, taking all its wealth and enslaving the women and children.  Thankfully, Dinah is rescued, but at what lasting cost?  

Vengeance in our terms is nasty, messy, and rarely hits the mark.  That is because we do not have clean hands to actually accomplish the point of justice, which is to put what is wrong, right.  We are so deep in our own sinfulness, how can we handle such a holy task and not make a deeper offense?  That is what we see here in chapter 34.  Only Our Holy God can truly bring justice.  His hands are clean and He sees the true meaning of justice, whereas we cannot.  God claims it as His alone because He loves us and knows that we are not strong enough to make things right on our own.  We need a Savior.  Jesus is all justice for us.  On our behalf he settled the payment due over us which was the wrath of God.  Justice was satisfied by Jesus’ work on the cross and we don’t have to deal with it.  It is settled.  So, why try to meddle with work that is not ours?  No, we are given the role of reconciliatory ambassadors.  We should want others to have their sin settled in Christ, not have to pay it themselves.  If you are in Christ, you can trust that all wrongs will be put right.  Maybe not here on earth, but in eternity all debts will be settled.  

Because of their brutality with the men of Shechem, Jacob had to take his family away from the land they had settled in.  The consequence of such an offense would make what was once a respected and peaceful people, to now be one that caused cities around them to be fearful.  Mans’s justice does not bring peace to the situation, it only breeds more fear. 

Questions for Reflection:

1.  What makes it hard for us to trust God’s judgment over our own?

2.  What in your life needs to be handled over to God for His judgement?