Who is dinah in the bible

In that atmosphere, I find it troubling to turn a story of rape into a romance. But we know that at the very least, her brothers care enough to protect her, and go against an entire society — and indeed their own father- to bring her home. Like this post? Rabbis Without Borders. JOFA's Torch. We use cookies to improve your experience on our site and bring you ads that might interest you. Rabbis Without Borders Rabbis Without Borders is a dynamic forum for exploring contemporary issues in the Jewish world and beyond.

Join Our Newsletter Empower your Jewish discovery, daily. Sign Up. Discover More. From this description Shechem appears to be a man in love, not a man committing an exploitative act of rape. Rapists feel hostility and hatred toward their victims, not closeness and tenderness.

Shame, or intense humility, usually relates to failure to live up to societal goals and ideals. Because sexual relations should be part of marital bonding, it is shameful for an unmarried woman like Dinah to have sex. The declaration of love and desire for marriage comes after she and Shechem have sex. It is their behavior that is violent, hostile, and exploitative.

The tension between marriage within a group endogamy and marriage with outsiders exogamy is dramatized in this story of love and violence. JOFA's Torch. We use cookies to improve your experience on our site and bring you ads that might interest you. Wikimedia Commons. Join Our Newsletter Empower your Jewish discovery, daily. Stone knife with bone handle — a common tool in ancient times.

They ask that Shechem and all the able-bodied men of in his territory, all the men capable of going out to fight in an emergency, be circumcised. They seems unaware or unconcerned that they are demeaning the Covenant, and the significance of circumcision. They say that if the men of the city will agree to circumcision they will agree to the marriage, and will go so far as to settle there. Shechem agrees.

He is the eldest son of his family, next in line to rule the city of Shechem, so all the men the city agree to be circumcised.

He does not have to explain the reason for this uncomfortable operation: everyone knows what has happened. They know this is the opportune time, since the third day after circumcision is the most painful, and is also the time when a fever is likely. The men of the city will be unable to retaliate. Simeon and Levi kill every able-bodied man in the city, including Shechem and his father Hamor. They must have been accompanied by many of their tribesmen, because two men alone could not massacre so many, disabled or not.

Scholars have suggested that the massacre may have been carried out by all the brothers, but the curse Jacob put on them and their tribes in Genesis is directed at Simeon and Levi alone :. May I never come into their council; may I not be joined to their company — for in their anger they killed men,and at their whim they hamstrung oxen.

Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob,and scatter them in Israel. Now the other brothers of Dinah join in, plundering the city. They steal the flocks and herds, donkey, and whatever produce they can carry. Simeon and Levi murder the Sichemites; Jacob forces Dinah to watch. At the beginning of the story, Dinah is seized and dishonored. Only retribution in kind may be taken if an injury has been suffered. Jacob is angry, as well he might be.

He tells Simeon and Levi they have brought trouble on him. Now everyone will hate them and try to kill them.

His anger is stoked not by any ethical consideration, but by the fear that they have become pariahs who will be hunted down by allies of the city they have attacked. He does not like it when his sons do the same. The brothers respond: should they have let their sister be treated like a whore? A whore receives financial advantage for sex, and they reproach Jacob for suggesting that the honour of the family can be restored by favours from the people of Shechem.