Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #12 of Genesis 34, and we will read Genesis 34:11-19:

And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife. And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister: And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us: But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised; Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone. And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor's son. And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter: and he was more honourable than all the house of his father.

In our last study, we were looking at the word “dowry” in Genesis 34:12.  Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brethren, “Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.”  We saw that this word “dowry” is used in Exodus 22.  It is only found three times in the Old Testament.  The second place it is found is in Exodus 22:16:

And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.

The word “endow” is a related word to “dowry.”  It goes on to say in Exodus 22:17:

If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.

That word is our word in Genesis 34.

We also saw a relationship with Deuteronomy 22:28-29:

If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.

Here it is the word “humbled” that is the same word that was translated as “defiled” in verse 2 where it said that Shechem had defiled her, or forced her, as it is translated in other Scripture.  A man that has humbled a virgin is to pay the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and that would be the dowry.  Typically, a dowry would be financial.  It would be silver or some type of money.

The word “dowry” is used three times, as I said earlier.  The third time is in 1Samuel 18, and in this chapter King David comes into view.  There were some that told him that the king had delight in him, and he should be the king’s son-in-law.  But David was concerned about the dowry.  He did not have great wealth to pay dowry for a king’s daughter.  We read in 1Samuel 18:22-27:

And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with David secretly, and say, Behold, the king hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee: now therefore be the king's son in law. And Saul's servants spake those words in the ears of David. And David said, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a king's son in law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed? And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner spake David. And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son in law: and the days were not expired. Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

We find here an interesting relationship to our account in Genesis 34.  And, again, the word “dowry” has led us here, but a usual dowry would be fifty shekels of silver, as we saw in Deuteronomy 22, and this was not given to Jacob by Shechem.  Instead of money, the sons of Jacob told Shechem and Hamor and all the males of their village that they must all be circumcised, and then they would give Dinah to be his wife.  So there is a similarity with this account of David upon hearing that the king would have him to be his son-in-law, and yet David was a poor man that had no money to give for a dowry for the king’s daughter.  So the king substituted one hundred foreskins of the Philistines in place of the (usual) dowry. 

The word “foreskins” can be translated as “uncircumcised,” and the Bible tells us that when the foreskin of the reproductive organ is cut off, that is the act of “circumcision.”  So Saul was saying that he wanted one hundred Philistines to be circumcised, and the only way that could happen was to first kill them.  And David and his men slew two hundred men, and they doubled what the king required.  After they were dead, they circumcised them, obtained the foreskins, and they brought them to King Saul and presented the “full tale.”  That is, the king received the one hundred (foreskins), plus another hundred, for a total of two hundred. 

That is interesting, and I am not sure of the spiritual meaning in our account in Genesis 34, and what is going on there.  But here, we can understand that David is a type of Christ.  He slayed the Philistines, the enemies of God and the kingdom of God  And God required of His people to be circumcised in the Old Testament, and physical circumcision was just a “sign,” or type and figure, of what God really had in mind which was the circumcision of the heart.  And in the book of Deuteronomy God commanded Israel: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart.”  Later on, He said, “And JEHOVAH thy God will circumcise thine heart…”  That is an impossible command for man to obey, just as it is an impossible command for the New Testament Christian to obey “baptism.”  Yes, we can become baptized with water.  But just as with circumcision, the deeper spiritual need was the need to be baptized of the Holy Spirit.  No man can do that, just as no man can circumcise his heart.

But in this case, David slayed the Philistines, so salvation is not in view.  He killed them, and then he circumcised them.  So we can learn the lesson that in death the sinner becomes circumcised because circumcision is a sign that points to the cutting away of sin.  So to circumcise your heart is to have sin removed from your heart.  There was to be the cutting off of sin, but with all unsaved people it does not happen while they live; they live their whole lives in rebellion against God.  But when God comes for them through their death, or when God comes in Judgment Day, He comes to punish them, and the Law of God comes to exact vengeance and obtain satisfaction for the sins committed against it.  In their death, payment has been made.  The sins are cut off because the penalty has been paid: “For the wages of sin is death.”  So the dead sinner is, as it were, circumcised through his death.  Of course the awful problem for that sinner is that he is a finite, tiny creature, and death has slain him eternally.  He cannot overcome it and arise like Christ did.  The Lord Jesus was only able to do so because He is Almighty God, and He is infinite.  And through the awesome power of God, He was able to obtain victory over death.  But again, the feeble, finite sinner cannot, and he remains dead.  However, he has been “circumcised” in that his sin is cut off and it is paid for through his death, and God no longer requires any further payment.

We can understand that, but it is very difficult in Genesis 34 to understand what is going on regarding the deeper spiritual meaning when the sons of Israel correctly told Shechem and all the men of Shechem that they must be circumcised in order for them to become one people with Israel, and that there could be intermarriage.  God’s Law forbade the Jew to marry someone from another nation, but if they took the sign of the covenant, they would become a Jew in essence, and they could enter into marriage.  That is all proper.  But as I pointed out earlier, the sons of Jacob were not sincere, as it says in Genesis 34:13:

And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:

What they did was to use the Law of God.  They used the Word of God.  As a matter of fact, we read of Shechem in Genesis 34:19:

And the young man deferred not to do the thing…

The term “deferred not” means that he did not slack to do the thing.  He did not tarry.  It is actually translated as “not to slack” or “not to tarry” in other Bible verses.  He was quick to act and respond with an affirmative action.  All they had to do was to talk to the men of their city and convince them.  But the young man deferred not to do the “thing.”  And the word translated as “thing” is the word “daw-bawr',” which is translated as “word.”  He deferred not to do the word. 

As far as what they told him, it was according to the Word of God.  It was in line with the Word of God.  It very much pictured the sending forth of the Word of God that went out to the Gentiles, the unsaved of the nations, and then the Word of God “called,” and many responded to the call.  They came into the kingdom of God, and they took the family name of God of “Christian,” and they became Christians.  It is the same idea as what is going on here.  They would take the sign of the covenant and be circumcised, while the Christian of the New Testament era would take the sign and be baptized.  They are very similar concepts, and God actually ties “circumcision” and “baptism” together in Colossians 2:11-12:

In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

We see that very natural transition from “circumcision” to “baptism.”  We are circumcised in Christ, and buried with Him in baptism.  So the message that the sons of Jacob were sharing with the people of this village was very much like the Gospel message that the New Testament elect believers and those in the churches declared to the people of the world.  And the response in this case is similar to those that entered into the churches and congregations.  “We hear the Word you are telling us, and we wish to become a Christian.  We want to take upon ourselves the sign of the Christian.”  That is how we can understand this, and that is why it is so tragic that we read in Genesis 34:13 that they answered these men deceitfully.  They were being deceitful about the whole thing. 

This word “deceitful” is a word that means exactly that.  For example, let us go to Proverbs 12 where it is found three times.  It says in Proverbs 12:5:

The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.

That is our word.  Then it says in Proverbs 12:17:

He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.

It says in Proverbs 12:20:

Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy.

There is deceit in the heart of them that imagine evil.

It is not the same word we find in Jeremiah 17:9, which is that very familiar and accurate statement of God: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”  That is a different Hebrew word, although it was translated as the same English word.  But it is a very similar idea as far as this word “deceit” that we are looking at in Genesis 34, or in Proverbs 12:20.  It is just an additional word to describe the spiritually dead heart of the sinner.  In the Bible there are many words for deceit, lies, and falsehoods because there is a need to describe the abounding iniquity of man in multiple ways because man is so full of evil.  So the Bible has many different words to describe it from various angles.

The word here in Genesis 34:13 is Strong’s #4820.  It is also found in Proverbs 14:25:

A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies.

That is what a deceitful witness is doing,  They are witnessing as if they are representing God.  The whole idea of bringing up “circumcision” deceitfully  is something one must not do: “We cannot consent to this marriage unless you are circumcised.”  They are presenting a truth of the kingdom of God, and yet there was no real desire on their part that these men submit to the statutes and commandments of God, or to do the will of God.  As a matter of fact, these sons of Jacob – especially Simeon and Levi – are intending to use the willingness of these men to submit to the Law of God regarding circumcision in order to slay them.  They are going to use the Word of God to kill them. 

You see, now we can see how the picture develops concerning these two.  Why are these two especially emphasized?  Yes, they were the main two that took the swords, went into the village, and slew all the males, but all the sons appear to share in the guilt.  But the number “two” is the number that identifies with the caretakers of the Word of God, which would further identify with the corporate church.  So these two (men) are representing the corporate church that is not bringing the true Gospel of the Bible, and they are not speaking the truth by sharing faithfully the Bible’s teaching.  However, they are making reference to the Bible and using the Bible in an unethical, immoral, and evil way that will bring death to the hearers.  And that is something we can certainly relate to our present time, the time of the end, and what went on (and continues to go on) in the churches and congregations.  They have taken the Word of God into their mouths in order to slay the members of their congregations.  They slay the men, women, and children, and they kill them with the “sword” of God’s Word.