Exploiting the Things of God - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Genesis 34:13-17,

"Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob's sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. They said to them, 'We can't do such a thing; we can't give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. We will enter into an agreement with you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We'll settle among you and become one people with you. But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we'll take our sister and go.'"

Here are some thoughts I had about this passage in February, 2020:

This is one wild story! Dinah, the sister of the twelve brothers that became the twelve tribes of Israel was raped by a local named Shechem. Shechem loved her and sought to get her as his wife and so he and his father approached Jacob and his sons to get her. Her brothers were enraged their sister had been raped and when approached, the above was how they responded.

But it was a ruse. Shechem approached the men of the town and somehow got them to agree to get circumcised with the promise of looting Jacob and all he had at a later date, "Won't their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us agree to their terms, and they will settle among us." Verse 23.

Consequently, after the men of the town got circumcised and they were still yet in pain, Jacob's sons came into town and slaughtered them all as they were unable to defend themselves! They exploited circumcision, the rite God commanded Abraham and his descendants as a sign and seal of the covenant they had entered into with God.

Although I admire their creativity and craftiness, circumcision was not given by God for that purpose. Jacob was unhappy his sons had done it, but his unhappiness had to do with the trouble it would create for him, "You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed." Verse 30.

I wonder how God felt about it... but it does bring to mind how some things of God are used for that which is unintended in our day. I'll bet you can come up with a few observations of how the things of God are exploited...  I know I can.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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