The story about the taking of Dinah is amazing, and the implications of what had been done to her had significant ramifications. My previous understandings, if you can even call them that, which I had in my mind concerning this event were so far away from the reality of the situation that I am ashamed for thinking as I did.

And Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the land, saw her [וירא – raw-aw] and he took her [ויקח – law-kakh] and he laid with her [וישׁכב – shaw-kab], and he humbled her [ויענה – aw-naw]. (Gen 34:2)

When Shechem saw Dinah, took her, laid with her and humbled her – he treated her the way captives are to be treated in Israel after their coverings have been killed. I discus this at length in my teaching Israel’s booty – Midianite virgins and livestock.

“When you go out to war against your enemies, and Yehovah your Elohim [lawmaker and judge] delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive, and you see her [וראית – raw-aw] among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her [ולקחת – law-kakh] for your woman, then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. She shall put off the clothes of her captivity, remain in your house, and mourn her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her and be her master [ובעלתה – ba’al], and she shall be your woman. And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have humbled her [עניתה – aw-naw]. (Deu 21:10-14)

Yasher 33:10 And Shechem beheld Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and when he looked at her his soul became fixed upon Dinah.
11 And he sent and had her taken by force, and Dinah came to the house of Shechem and he seized her forcibly and lay with her and humbled her, and he loved her exceedingly and placed her in his house.

Shechem, in his taking of Dinah, treated her like a virgin captive taken in a battle with an enemy! He made her his concubine! He stole Dinah from her father! This is an adulterous action; Shechem took another man’s woman for himself.

Now add to that, the fact that Dinah was only 8 years old and the only daughter of Jacob (99) and the only sister of 10 older brothers (Joseph was younger and Benjamin had not yet been born). And, now that she has been defiled (made tamei), no righteous man will want her. And last but certainly not least, Dinah is still being held captive in Shechem’s house!

Yasher 33:12 And they came and told the thing unto Jacob, and when Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, Jacob sent twelve of his servants to fetch Dinah from the house of Shechem, and they went and came to the house of Shechem to take away Dinah from there.
13 And when they came Shechem went out to them with his men and drove them from his house, and he would not suffer them to come before Dinah, but Shechem was sitting with Dinah kissing and embracing her before their eyes.

Continue reading The Taking Of Dinah And The Fall Of Shechem →