Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #14 in Genesis 34, and we are going to read Genesis 34:17-24:

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. 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. And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.

We have been discussing in the last couple of studies the fact that this chapter is especially illustrating the horror of bringing a false gospel, a gospel that kills instead of blessing with life.  It is destructive.  It is a deceitful gospel.  We know that what Jacob’s sons said to Shechem was correct, as God did allow for Gentiles (even in the Old Testament) to enter into the family of God, as it were, through circumcision.  They could come into Israel and worship in Israel.

And God did save many Gentiles in the Old Testament.  Given how many people were saved in Nineveh, it is possible that God saved more Gentiles than Jews, or at least we could say that a large number of Gentiles were saved over the course of Old Testament times.  And they were not just Ninevites.  There was Rahab the harlot, Ruth the Moabitess, Nahum the Syrian, and certainly others that God saved, and they became a part of the eternal kingdom of God.  And some of them entered into the nation of Israel. 

The book of Joshua, for example, tells us about the inhabitants of Gibeon who had heard that Joshua had smitten Jericho and Ai, and they came to him pretending to be from a far country.  They made a league with Joshua, a type of Christ, and Joshua and the elders of Israel promised not to harm them.  Then it was discovered that they were actually from a nearby city, but the Israelites held up the agreement, and they did not destroy the Gibeonites.  They became part of the congregation of Israel, and yet they were delegated to being servants – hewers of wood and drawers of water.  But they were Gentiles.  Even when Israel came out of Egypt, we read that a “mixed multitude” came out with them, and they would have been Gentiles. 

So what we really have here is a historical parable illustrating God’s salvation program going to the nations, or to all the people of the world, without respect of persons. 

So the sons of Jacob  answered Shechem and Hamor, saying, “Be circumcised; then you will be as we are, and we will give you our daughters, and you can give us your daughters.  We can be one people.”  It really pictures the Gospel of God, and what the Gospel of God accomplished, especially during the New Testament era as it went forth into all the nations.  And as people were called, and as they entered into the churches and congregations, they became one family of Christians.  They became one people – at least with their profession – before God, whether they happened to be Jew or Gentile, regardless of what tongue they spoke.  None of that mattered.  There was one people, and they were “Christians.”

Here, Hamor and Shechem believed the children of Israel.  They believed what they were told.  They trusted them.  And they trusted them because of what we read in Genesis 34:20-21:

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.

Again, they said, “These men are peaceable with us.”  Since the time they had come to this area, and since Jacob purchased the land where they were now dwelling,  they had exemplified good character and good conduct.  They had been good neighbors.  They had not been rowdy or causing trouble.  There had not been robberies, and no one had been harmed or killed.  Every outward indicator was that they had been “peaceable” with the men of Shechem, and everyone would have recognized this fact.  They had lived close by, and there had been no difficulty, so that made the arrangement that was being presented acceptable.  If there had been trouble, and if they were of bad character that was evident, there would probably have been hesitation, and people would have said, “Hold it!  Remember when these people did this thing, or that thing?  I do not think I want to join with them.”  But no one raised a single concern.

And, you see, that is characteristic of God’s people, typically.  But we are living at the time of the end when all the churches are apostate, and the world has “gone mad,” and the Holy Spirit’s activity of restraining sin in the hearts of men  has been lifted, which would include those that profess to be His people, but they are not.  So, of course, it is all a different story today, and even the moral character or moral code that many in the churches live by is not a good “conversation,” as far as their behavior, actions, speech, or conduct. 

But for the most part, over the course of history those that were called entered into the churches and took upon themselves the name of “Christian,” did demonstrate basic moral character.  That is, they lived according to the Law of God written upon their hearts, as well as some of the main commandments that God gives in the Bible.

So the children of Israel would have been very much like that, and they were living uprightly.  We can say that.  They were carrying themselves in an upright manner.  Is that just speculation?  No, because of the use of the word “peaceable,” as this Hebrew word really has nothing to do with “peace” as far as how we would find that word used elsewhere in the Bible.  It is Strong’s #8003, and it is found 28 times in the Old Testament, and in 15 of the 28 places, it is translated as “perfect.”  For example, it is translated as “perfect” in several verses in 2Chronicles.  The first is found in 2Chronicles 15:17:

But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

Asa’s heart was perfect.  The Lord makes this statement a few times, and it is this same word.  On occasion God says that an individual’s heart is not perfect, and it is also this same word.

We read in 2Chronicles 16:9:

For the eyes of JEHOVAH run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

God shows Himself strong.  And before that, He searches the whole earth to find out those whose hearts are perfect toward Him, and the only way that is possible is if they have received a new heart because we know that every sinner’s heart is imperfect.  It is deceitful, desperately wicked, and dead.  It is only after God brings to pass a “heart transplant,” giving a new heart and new spirit, does a heart become “perfect,” as we read in 1John 3.  It is a new heart that cannot sin because it is born again, and never again will sin come forth from the heart of the individual who has become saved.  Any sin after salvation that is done while we still live on the earth resides only “in the flesh” of the elect child of God.

Also it says in 2Chronicles 19:9:

And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of JEHOVAH, faithfully, and with a perfect heart.

This is God’s commandment, and it does tie into “circumcision.”  The command to circumcise the foreskin of the flesh of the reproductive organ is really a spiritual command that teaches that one must have his sins cut away, and the way that is done is through the giving of a new heart.  God’s command to Israel is found in Deuteronomy 10:16:

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

It is an impossible command for anyone to do.  Later in Deuteronomy 30, the Lords says that He will circumcise the foreskin of your heart.  Again, that is a spiritual circumcision that is accomplished at the point of salvation.  That is what the physical sign of circumcision pointed to, just as water baptism points to the spiritual baptism by the Holy Spirit which takes place at the moment someone receives the new heart, or new spirit.  That is why the sign of circumcision of the Old Testament is very much  like the sign of water baptism of the New Testament.

Another verse is in 2Chronicles 8:16:

Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of JEHOVAH, and until it was finished. So the house of JEHHOVAH was perfected.

Here, we can see another aspect of this word “perfected.”  The house was perfected.  And by the way, that spiritually ties in with the children of God receiving a new heart and a new spirit, except it is looking at all of them as a spiritual house.  So that is one way it fits in with a perfect heart, but it is also showing us that this word “perfect” has to do with bringing something to completion, or fulfillment.  The house of God was perfected, or completed, and that is another thing that is in view.

This same word is also translated as “just,” being similar to the idea of  “righteous.”  It says in Proverbs 11:1:

A false balance is abomination to JEHOVAH: but a just weight is his delight.

In Deuteronomy, it is referred to as a “perfect” weight.   That is the idea.  It is equal on the balancing scale of justice, as well as payment.  The weight is perfect, and it is upright.  It is a proper weight.  This word is also translated as “whole” a few times, and as “full,” like where it says that the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. 

But only here in Genesis 34 is this word translated as “peaceable.”  So how do we understand this?  Again, Hamor and Shechem were communicating with the men of their city, and they said in Genesis 34:21:

These men are peaceable with us…

That is, “They are perfect with us.  They are just with us.”  The deal for the land was a fair deal.  Israel made payment.  Everything was according to a just weight.  They did not try to cheat or steal in that matter.  They had conducted themselves uprightly, in a perfect manner, as far as can be determined.  And that would relate to the witness of God’s people, or, at least, to the reputation of the witness of God’s people that the churches once had.  In times past, the Spirit of Christ dwelt in the midst of the congregations, so the churches had an honorable reputation.  They had honorable character, for the most part.  People had a respect for the churches and congregations, or for the pastor, the elders, and those that identified with the Word of God, the Bible, in the churches.  Neighbors would have been glad to have a church in their neighborhood, or to have the pastors and leaders of the church living in the neighborhood.  They would have been living in a “peaceable” manner.  We cannot say that this was always the case with every church, but in general they would have been living uprightly. So the children of Israel had that kind of reputation.