Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #13 in Genesis 34, and we will be reading Genesis 34:13-19:

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 spending some time looking at Genesis 34:13:

And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully…

They justified their deceitful intention in this way, in Genesis 34:13:

… because he had defiled Dinah their sister:

This word “defiled” means that she was made “unclean.”  

So the sons of Jacob thought that justified it, but that was not true.  It was a further lie.  Even their justification for their evil act was itself a lie because God’s Law had made provision for this kind of situation.  If a man had taken a maid, a virgin, who was not betrothed, then he could pay a dowry of fifty shekels, and he could marry her and not put her away.  But they were not interested in that Law.  They just wanted to take vengeance, and they used the Word of God to do so.  They used the Bible to carry out their evil plan to slay those men.

You know, this is one of the most horrible acts that we can read in the Bible regarding the “sons of Israel,” or the children of Israel.  When I put it that way, I think we can see who is in view.  Yes, historically, it was the nation of Israel, the direct sons.  But their descendants that would later come would often do deceitful things, like telling lies.  They were a historical example, or type and figure, of the New Testament corporate churches.  So the children of Israel used the Word of God deceitfully in order to slay all of those men – they spared none.  There was no deliverance of any kind; there was no salvation.  And that is characteristic of an apostate church, we could say, even during the church age.  The Gospel being taught would not have saved anyone within that kind of congregation.  Or at the time of the end, the entire corporate church became apostate, and their gospel could not save anyone, and yet they present it as the truth.  They are using the Word of God.  They are wielding the “sword of the spirit” to slay their own congregation, including their own families and their own sons and daughters. 

So it is a terrible thing God is revealing in this historical event that took place thousands of years ago.  It was as though the children of Israel came upon this village as marauders, like Amalekite raiders that would slay all the men, take all their livestock, and take all the women and children captive.  It was truly a cruel act, an act that God was not pleased with in any way.  It was not according to His Law.  It was contrary to the Law of God.

We even see that Shechem was asking for grace.  “Let me find grace in your eyes.  Ask me ever so much dowry, and I will give it.”   He wanted to do the proper thing.  He was an honorable man.  Then they presented to him the Gospel. “Here is the Gospel.  Here is what you must do.  You are to be circumcised, and then you will be one of us.  We will be one people.”  Since the sons of Jacob were God’s people, they were telling him that he would be God’s people too.  “You will be part of the kingdom of God.”

And that is the usual call of the Gospel.  It is the “selling point” in the churches.  “Come into our church.  Be baptized.  You will be a Christian.  You will be a child of God.  You will have great blessings and riches as you come under the umbrella of God, and you will be protected by Him.”  And, of course, there is always the promise of life that the churches declare to those that are in the pews and to others around them to get them into the pews.  They present a false gospel, a lying gospel: “Do this and you will be saved.” 

And a false gospel is in view when they answered these men deceitfully.  It is revealing that they were being “false witnesses.”  In our last study we were looking at Proverbs 14:25:

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

And that is what they were doing – they were lying.  We can contrast that statement with what we read in Isaiah 53, a Messianic chapter that is referring to the Lord Jesus.  It says in Isaiah 53:9:

And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

That is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Word made flesh.  So all that Christ is can also be said of the Word of God, the Bible.  There is no deceit in the mouth of Christ.  There is no deceit in the Word of God, the Bible.  We, the people of God, are commanded (it is not an option) to declare the things the Bible says in a faithful manner, which means we try to “get ourselves out of the way,” and share the truth of the Word of God with people.  We do not alter it.  We do not change it.  We tell people exactly what it says in proper time and season, and there is no justification for declaring the Word of God while having some ulterior motive, and changing things according to our desire rather than according to the will of God.  We must speak the truth as we are told it by God through the process of comparing spiritual with spiritual.

This is especially of the utmost importance at this time of the end, as we read in 2Thessalonians 2 about the situation in the churches at the time of the end.  It says in 2Thessalonians 2:9-13:

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

It is a very definite way that God has established things concerning the two kingdoms.  The kingdom of God completely identifies with truth, and the kingdom of Satan completely identifies with falsehoods, lies, and deceitfulness. 

When these children of Israel, the sons of Jacob, determined to answer Shechem deceitfully, they were not representing God’s kingdom or the Lord Jesus Christ, but they were representing another.  Remember what Jesus said in John 8 to the Jews?  First He shook them up by saying that they were not the children of Abraham, as it says in John 8:38-45:

I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

Again, Christ said, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning…”  How was he a murderer from the beginning?  It was through the lie he spoke to Eve.  She first said, “God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it…lest ye die.”  Then he responded, “Ye shall not surely die.”  You see, he spoke outwardly what seemed to be very comfortable and encouraging words concerning eating of the tree.  His words were probably delivered with a voice of gentleness, kindness, and concern, so Eve and Adam decided to believe the lie rather than the truth, which was harsh, as God had said, “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”  So this sounded so much better as it was coming from the serpent: “Ye shall not surely die.”  They were told something they preferred to hear, and they believed it.  In believing it, they were slain by it: “…In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”  The lie they believed killed them.

And the lie told by the sons of Jacob was going to slay Shechem, Hamor, and all the men of the whole village.  It was belief of the lie.  And Satan will mix some truth in with the lie, which makes it all the more difficult to discern.

But here in John 8, Christ is speaking to the children of Israel.  He is speaking to the sons of Abraham, who would also be sons of Isaac and Jacob.  They are the twelve tribes of Israel.  They are the sons that are in view in Genesis 34, and it appears they were very comfortable in lying to these men, and it will result in their death.  It was just a terrible thing, and we can see why when we go to Genesis 49.   We looked at this before, and we are not going to get into an in-depth study of these verses, but it does explain a lot when we understand that the sons of Israel are presenting themselves in Genesis 34 as “false prophets” bringing a false gospel, as all false prophets use the Word of God deceitfully.  It says in Genesis 49:5-7:

Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

Again, it says, “…in their anger they slew a man.”  In verse 5, God said, “…instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.”   This word “cruelty is often translated as “violence.”  It is the word used in Genesis 6:11-13:

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

That is the word translated as “cruelty.”  Also, we read in Exodus 23:1:

Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

The word “unrighteous” is the word “cruelty.”   So we can see how God is connecting it in Exodus 23:1 with a “false report,” and an “unrighteous witness,” or a false witness, which completely identifies with speaking lies when it comes to the Bible, and not being faithful and true to the things the Bible says.  Spiritually, that causes “violence” in the sense that it is able to slay people. 

And we have proof that lies slays people because of what I just mentioned regarding Adam and Eve.  Satan slew mankind through the lie.  It was a very grievous death of dying in their souls, and we can see all the misery that has developed in the world because of it.

Also, it says in Deuteronomy 19:16-19:

If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before JEHOVAH, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.

The word “false” is the same word as “cruelty.”  It is a cruel thing to lie in any kind of way, but especially when it comes to the Bible because the Bible is the Word of life.  It is “quick and powerful,” and able to bring life to the hearer: “For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” but not if one is lying and not speaking the truth.  For example, when the Bible tells us that we are saved by faith, and it is the faith of Christ, but there are others that say, “We are saved by faith, and it is your faith.  You have to believe.  You have to accept Christ.  You have to make a decision.”  They promise them liberty, as we read in Ezekiel 13:22:

Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:

In essence, that would be slaying him because he was left in his wicked way which will lead to his utter destruction and eternal death because the false witness of the pastor, elder, deacon, or Bible teacher told him, “You can obtain eternal life, and here is how you do it.  You do these works.”  They do not say “works,” but they refer to “taking steps,” but those steps are works.  “Believing” is a work.  And when that man follows those steps, the works to believe, he has been promised liberty.  He has been promised life, and he is now under the assumption that he has that life, although he has never moved out of the way of wickedness.  He is still on the broad way that leads to destruction, and there he will remain.  So, yes, the lie has slain him.  It contributed to his death by not telling him the truth, and he goes merrily on his way to “hell,” or the grave.  And God holds the one who speaks the lie accountable.  They are guilty before God.  We read everywhere in the Bible that those that bring the Gospel have the duty and responsibility to faithfully bring it, and to be faithful stewards of the mysteries of God.  And for those that are unfaithful stewards, the Bible has very horrible things to tell us concerning their fate.