Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #19 in Genesis 34, and we going to read Genesis 34:25-31: 

And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister. They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house. And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?

I will stop reading there.  We have spent time in previous studies discussing circumcision and how circumcision is a picture of salvation, and of those that are circumcised being a figure of entering into the kingdom of God.  We also discussed how the sons of Jacob (particularly Simeon and Levi) used “circumcision” deceitfully in this historical incident.  They took something God had given, and it was a very serious matter to become circumcised to identify with the God of the Bible.  They took this sign of circumcision, and they used it to slay the men of Shechem.  They used it deceitfully to kill these men, and we talked about how that has a lot to do with false gospels as professed Christians handle the Word of God deceitfully, and they use the Word of God and the signs that God had given in the New Testament, like water baptism and the Lord’s table, to slay their hearers.  And it is still happening today.  It is happening far more often to far greater numbers, and it is happening in a far more terrible way because the men of Shechem were slain with the physical sword, but when false gospels are being presented, people are slain with a spiritual sword.  And that is what is in view here.

Again, it says in Genesis 34:25:

And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore…

We can understand that after circumcision, the third day is, in particular, a time of pain and discomfort (more so than the day of circumcision, or the day after).  So they picked that day because they had been circumcised themselves, and they knew that this would be the day when the men of Shechem would be in their weakest condition.  That was the day they selected to come upon the city and slay them with the sword. 

By the way, before we continue reading this verse, what does “the third day” signify?  The “third day” is mentioned numerous times in the Bible, and it was often used by the Lord Jesus Christ as He told His disciples, repeatedly, that He would be crucified, and on the third day He would rise.  That is what we read in Luke 24:6-7:

He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

We could read a number of other verses that say the same thing about Him rising on the third day.  There is also an interesting verse in Hosea 6:1-2:

Come, and let us return unto JEHOVAH: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

It is a “third day” resurrection.  And as far as circumcision and the spiritual meaning of having one’s sins cut off and entering into the kingdom of God (and all that identifies with), we can see the spiritual picture of being circumcised on the third day as a “hope of resurrection,” but only if it were true spiritual circumcision.  But instead our verse says that it came to pass on the third day when these men were sore, they were killed.  And we can see that picture that when false gospels bring their false tales that are believed by people, these people then have hope for a resurrection.  They think, “Well, I did what I was told by my pastor.  I listened to him, and I listened to the church.  I walked down the aisle, and I was baptized (which is a sign like circumcision), and now I have that promise of resurrection.  I will rise on that last day as the Bible promises me, and my pastor told me that this promise is mine to keep, and when Christ comes for His people, I will be raised up because I have accepted Him.”

So we are in the “third day,” and when that day comes, the elect children of God that are saved…and not by their own faith, but by the faith and work of Christ because He did all the work in saving them, and they did nothing at all…the elect will be exalted into the heavenlies.  But for the professed Christian that believed a lie, there is no “reward” for believing a lie.  Yes, we can pity them, but there is no turning around and saying, “Well, they believed them, and they were lied to, so it is not fair.”  No.  God allowed them to believe a lie.  He allowed them to go down that false road, just like He allows atheists to go down their false road, or the secularists to go down their false road, or the Buddhists, or the Muslims, or all the other thousands of false road on that wide way that leads to destruction.  God allows men to travel down all kinds of false roads, and they have all been lied to, in one way or another.  You see, there is a responsibility for each sinner to understand and know the truth.  God holds man accountable to know the truth because God is Truth, and if man does not know the truth, it is because of his sin and the perversion in his heart, which he alone is responsible for, and which has led him astray, and it will bring him to destruction, ultimately.  So the sinner bears responsibility for the things He believes and the things he follows. 

And, sadly, it is because of man’s perverted nature that he believes a lie over the truth.  He follows the lie instead of the truth, and he prefers the lie over the truth.  And that is what will lead to his destruction.  And that is what is in view in our verse on “the third day,” a day when there is hope of resurrection for those that have the true Gospel of the Bible, and who are the true elect people of God, but not for those who have been deceived.  They have engaged in the “works” that they were told to do by their fellow man, and those works lead to their death. 

And that is exactly what happened here, as it goes on to say in Genesis 34:25-26:

… that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out.

The “edge of the sword” is pointing to the Word of God, but the Word of God is being mishandled.  The Word of God was used in a lawless manner, and not used lawfully.  And the Bible tells us that the Bible must be used lawfully.  We read that in 1Timothy 1:6-8:

From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

Here, there is an implication.  The Law is good, of course.  The whole Bible is a Law book, and the Law is good, but only if a man use it lawfully.  If a man uses it unlawfully, then it is no longer good.  In other words, a lie mixed with the truth of the Word of God is able to “kill.”  It is able to deceive, destroy, and kill.  Again, that is why there is this reference to a sword, pointing to the misuse of the Word of God, the Bible, which is likened to a “twoedged sword.”

Simeon and Levi are two men, and “two” identifies with the Word of God.  And yet they are deceitful men, and they were using the Word of God deceitfully to kill, rather than as it was intended to be used, and so forth.  Again, everything is building up to this one major picture that God is impressing upon us in this chapter, which is that when we come to the Bible, we must be faithful.  We must be true men.  We must be diligent in study, and by God’s grace, and through His Spirit, we must tell the truth to our fellow man, or else awful tragedy can unfold as it has unfolded here in Genesis 34.

One other thing about verse 25 is that it says of these two men that each man took his sword, “and came upon the city boldly.”  The Hebrew word translated as “boldly” is Strong’s #983, and it is not the normal way it is translated.  This word is translated as “safely” in Proverbs 1:33:

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

It is also found in Proverbs 3:21-23:

My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.

Let us look at one more verse, in Proverbs 10:9:

He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

In each of these three verses that I read, “to walk in thy way safely” is when the Word of God is before your eyes.  Or to walk uprightly is to walk “surely.”  And it identifies with those that walk as the children of God.  They are walking as though they are a true child of God made righteous by Him, and upright in His sight.  And that is how they came upon the city “safely,” or surely and confidently as a child of God, or as a Christian who knows the Gospel.  You see, that is how we can relate it to those that are so confident and sure of themselves – they know how to be saved, and how to get you saved.  It is to “accept Christ,” and to “believe on Jesus,” and so forth.  We have all heard the cockiness and arrogance of those who say these things, and it is arrogant because it is a false understanding that they possess.  It is incorrect.  A true elect child of God is sure, and walks surely in the truth of the Word of God.  But in this case, they think they have the truth, and they do not.  And because they do not, it ends up in death and misery.

We will stop here at this time.  Lord willing, when we get together in our next study, we will try to finish Genesis 34.  Of particular interest is Jacob’s statement to Simeon and Levi in verse 30: “Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land.”  And that statement just sums up the whole chapter, and it lets us know that we have come to a correct understanding.  I think this chapter – more than any other – emphasizes “what not to do” as far as teaching the Bible, or sharing the Gospel.  Because it emphasizes “what not to do,” by implication it also emphasizes what we are to do.  There must be integrity, and honesty, and faithfulness when the Bible is presented and taught to others.