Rape

In chapter 34, many years had passed, and Jacobs’s sons were not children anymore, they were grown men. Their sister Dinah wanted company and went out into the city to be with the girls there, and Shechem, the prince in the area, son of Hamor kidnapped Dinah and raped her. Dinah was different from all the other girls in the city, she was raised differently and had another spirit, and Shechem noticed it and asked his father Hamor to marry her.

The custom

Shechem had just offended Dinah, but he didn’t feel any remorse, this was a pagan culture with low morale, he just took a girl and slept with her, no big deal, and his father didn’t rebuke and reprimand him. This was obviously the custom in this pagan society.

Responsibility

Jacob heard about it but didn’t react towards Hamor; he wanted peace with his Nabors, which was Jacobs’s personality, always seeking a peaceful solution. This was Jacobs’s responsibility; he should have looked after his young girl in her teens, now he waited for his sons to return from the field.

Questions

1. Who are responsible for the children, how they behave and what they do?
2. What is moral, and where does it come from?