Genesis 34:1-2 "And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her."
Genesis 34:6-9 "And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done. And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you."
Genesis 34:20-23 "And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us."
Let me begin by saying that I have no desire for anyone to misconstrue the lesson I see in these verses. Dinah was not “asking for it” by going out alone into this strange land. There is no justifiable reason for any man forcing his attention (intimate or otherwise) on any woman. May God bless us to see the spiritual lesson in this.
Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land. There is a danger to us when we go out to look upon the things of the world. Dinah had done nothing to deserve what happened to her. However, she failed to realize the danger she was in. She was taken and defiled.
As God’s people, we need to always be looking out for each other. We risk being defiled when we wander alone into the things of the world. It can happen to us even when that was not our intention or desire. And it does not matter how much the person or thing that defiled us claims to desire us. We are not theirs for the taking.
As Hamor proved, the world is never satisfied with just one or two conquests. Forsaking the worship of God now and then to go to the lake (or the ballgame, or golfing, etc.) is not really a big deal, is it? The more we are drawn into the defilement of the world, the more things we will find to draw us away.
Hamor was not satisfied with just asking for Israel to look the other way and allow Dinah to remain with his son, Shechem. He wanted Israel to give his daughters (which would include nieces, granddaughters, and others of his household) to Hamor’s people and to take daughters from Hamor’s people to become the wives of Israel’s sons. Hamor’s purpose was to intermingle Israel’s offspring with his own until Israel lost his identity. This thing ought not to be done (Genesis 34:7).
Precious child of God, guard your heart in this world of temptation. Rest assured that your Adversary does not desire just a little but would see the family of God lose its identity in this world if it were possible (Matthew 24:24). While the fulfillment of that desire is not possible, that does not mean that we cannot find ourselves defiled by wandering among “the daughters of the land.” May we cling to the Shepherd of our souls and dwell in safety.