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A Narrative About Dinah, The Daughter Of Jacob And Leah

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Genesis 34 tells a narrative about Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah. Dinah went to visit the women of the area. As she was out visiting, the prince of the region, Shechem, saw her from afar. Shechem went to Dinah and raped her because of his infatuation with her. Shechem loved Dinah and spoke sweetly to her so that she would be charmed by him. Shechem went to his father, Hamor King of the Hivites. Shechem expressed to his father that he needed Dinah to become his wife.
By this time, Jacob had heard that Shechem had caused his daughter to become impure. Jacob waited until his sons were home from working in the fields to tell them of the news about Dinah and Shechem. Just as Jacob’s sons arrived Hamor was asking Jacob for marriage arrangements for Shechem. When Jacob’s sons heard was Shechem had done to Dinah they were enraged. According to the law in Israel, what Shechem had done was intolerable. Despite this, Hamor pleaded for his son to have Dinah as his wife. Hamor said that if Jacob gives him his daughters, then Hamor would give Jacob’s sons his daughters. Hamor went on to say that the land will become partially theirs. Hamor promised to give Jacob and his sons whatever they could possibly ask for if Shechem could marry Dinah. The sons of Jacob said they could not possibly allow Dinah to be wedded to Shechem because he was not circumcised. The matrimony would cause much disgrace to Jacob and his family as a result of Shechem’s uncirumcision. In order to permit the

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