Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #15 of Genesis 34, and we are going to read Genesis 34:21-24: 

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.

In our last study, we were discussing the word “peaceable” in verse 21, as Hamor and Shechem told the men of their city, “These mean are peaceable with us.”  And we saw that this word really means to be “perfect,” or to be “just,” as far as having a fair weight on a scale.  When individuals would do business in ancient times, they would use a scale, and it was necessary to have a just or perfect weight.  So if they were weighing out silver, gold, or another product to be purchased, there could be agreement that it was the accurate weight for the deal being made.

And this Hebrew word is really being used here in the sense of their being of an upright character.  The children of Israel conducted themselves well in relationship to the people of this city.  They had a good reputation among them, so they were considered to be “peaceable” or “perfect.”  They were walking uprightly, for all intents and purposes, in their outward conduct toward the citizens of this area. 

We were discussing how that identifies with the witness of God’s people that are the true children of God.  Also, it was the character of many who had taken upon themselves the name of Christ, as they attempted to live decent, moral lives.  Many believed they were saved.  They believed intellectually in the Bible, and they took seriously the matter of being a Christian and living a Christian life.  Of course it is true that the vast majority of them were unsaved.  And, no, that is not a contradiction because unsaved people can live outwardly in a moral way, to a high degree, according to what other people can see.  And yet their hearts are far from God.  Even at this late date at the end of the world, there are people of other religions that are very friendly, very kind, and they are very good neighbors.  And there are professing Christians that are friendly, kind, and good neighbors, for the most part, although there are always exceptions. 

So those in the world can be fooled or deceived by this outward conduct, along with the identification with the true God of the Bible.  Of course the Muslims do not identify with the Bible, but the modern Christians (and Jews of the Old Testament) have identification with the God of the Bible, and their decent, moral behavior would often be accepted by the people of the world: “These people are true Christians.”

And yet, we know that these men of Israel – especially Levi and Simeon – were not honorable, and they were not being sincere when they told Hamor and Shechem, “You have to be circumcised, and then we can be one people; we can have intermarriage because we will be one people, and you will be like us through circumcision.  We will marry your daughters, and you can marry our daughters.”  And that was the lie because it was never their intent to follow through.  They were never going to give Dinah to be Shechem’s wife, and they were never going to marry their daughters to these people and become one people.  It was never going to happen, and therefore the whole thing was a lie.

In our present time it is very “old hat” to us that people who identify with God and profess to be Christians are often liars.  They are often false.  They are often deceivers.  And this is because it (deception) is everywhere we look.  The whole corporate Christian church, which may have as many as two billion people professed Christians within it, has been condemned by God for their errors, falsehoods, and lies.  And God has ended His relationship with them, and He has brought judgment upon them.   They are no longer His people.  This has already happened today in our time, and yet many were deceived and entered into the churches, and they continue to be deceived, and that is why they remain there.

And many in the world are deceived into thinking that this church, or that church, or these other churches are truly representatives of God when, in fact, they are not.  Remember what God tells us, especially of the time of the end in Matthew 24, a chapter describing the end state of earth’s history which we have been living through for the last few decades beginning with the Great Tribulation and judgment on the churches because of their apostacy, which then transitioned to judgment on the world, the time in which we are currently living.  In this chapter, there is much discussion of the falsehoods and lies of the churches and congregations at the time of the end, and we read in Matthew 24:21-24:

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

We can understand “false Christs” to be false gospels.  At one point, God uses “Christ,” “spirit,” and “Gospel” as synonyms, so “false Christs” are false gospels, and “false prophets” would be false professing Christians because all of God’s people are said to be prophets when we declare forth the Word of God.  So, these false prophets shall show great signs and wonders so much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.  If the lies that are being told are almost to the point of deceiving God’s people that have been given “ears to hear” and “eyes to see,” and discernment to recognize the voice of Christ, then what chance do the unsaved of the world have when they hear these false gospels to discern the lie from the truth?  And the answer is that they do not have any chance at all because they have none of these safeguards.  They do not have spiritual ears that are equipped to hear the voice of Christ and discern the voice of a “stranger,” and so forth. 

So they do not stand a chance, and that is what we are seeing in Genesis 34, especially given the upright behavior and conduct of the children of Israel:  “These men are peaceable with us, and they identify with JEHOVAH God.”  Certainly that fact would have shined through and become known, especially in that time period.  “What God do you worship, and how do you worship Him?”  That becomes very clear to people, and the children of Israel would have been observing Sabbath on the commanded day of the week, and so forth.  The lifestyle of the Christian today, just as the lifestyle of a child of God thousands of years ago, would have been very distinctive, and they would have shown traits of being part of God’s kingdom, as well as their honesty in their dealings, as we have already talked about.  That was very convincing.  That was all that was necessary for the men of Shechem.  Let us go back and read the rest of Genesis 34:21:

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…

Here, we see just how open to the Gospel (we could say) Shechem, his father, and the men of Shechem were.  They were wide open to it.  Not only were they going to have intermarriage and become willing to become circumcised, but they would allow them to “trade therein.”  And that word “trade” is really a word that identifies with the Gospel.  They were going to allow the Gospel to have free reign, or free access.  The children of Israel could come into their town and trade in their cities.  They could be merchants and trade their wares, and they could “buy and sell” anywhere in the city of Shechem.  These people would allow it.  They would open up their door and permit it to happen.

The more we read about this, the more we can see why God is highlighting this particular event in the lives of Jacob and Israel because we know that Israel can represent the churches.  You know, this is not very common in the Bible, and I think it is one of the reasons I was struggling earlier to find the deeper spiritual meaning: “Where is the Gospel in this?  Where is the type of Christ?  Where are the usual Gospel spiritual pictures?”   There are some leanings in that way – I will not say there is not.  There could still be much more to this chapter.  However, I am coming to the point of realizing that the main focus of this chapter has to do with the sharing of the Gospel, and how it is of the greatest importance that we are honest and faithful when we share the Word of God.  We must be “true men,” and we are not to be deceitful in the handling of the Word of life. 

It is a serious responsibility that we study and follow God’s methodology of comparing spiritual with spiritual, and that we take extra time and care to harmonize our conclusions with the whole of the Bible, that we may be upright.  Then our upright behavior and conduct – the things we say and do – might match with an upright Gospel.  Our life and Gospel must agree with one another, and there must be no hidden agendas, or any deep-down deceitfulness that will bring about the destruction and death of those we are witnessing to and sharing the Word of God with.  That is, finally, what I think is “hitting home” with all these studies as we look at this word “trade,” and, actually, this whole passage, as it goes on to say in Genesis 34:22:

Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people…

And that is a big statement.  That is a big statement that certainly points to what the Word of God accomplishes in the lives of those it reaches, and for those that respond to the Gospel.  Without question, for those that are truly saved, we enter into the kingdom of God, and we become “one nation” or “one people” of God’s elect, and part of His eternal kingdom.

We do not have time to continue on, but Lord willing, we will come back to this idea of trading in the land.  We will also talk more about “one people,” and I hope you will see (as I do) how the Lord is emphasizing the Gospel.  As we know the story, the children of Israel were unfaithful in this instance with the Gospel in regard to these poor people.