Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Dinah is seized and violated by Shechem. Hence, in verse 13, the sons of Jacob enter into a deceitful covenant with him, demanding that he and his people be circumcised, and so marry Dinah. Whence, in verse 25, Simeon and Levi attack and slaughter the Shechemites who were suffering from the circumcision. This is the fourth trial and cross of Jacob.
Vulgate Text: Genesis 34:1-31
1. Now Dinah, the daughter of Leah, went out to see the women of that region. 2. When Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of that land, saw her, he fell in love with her, and seized her, and lay with her, forcing the virgin. 3. And his soul clung to her, and he soothed her sadness with caresses. 4. And going to Hamor his father, he said: Get me this girl as my wife. 5. When Jacob heard this, his sons being absent and occupied in tending the flocks, he remained silent until they returned. 6. And when Hamor, the father of Shechem, had gone out to speak to Jacob, 7. behold his sons came from the field: and having heard what had happened, they were exceedingly angry because he had wrought a foul deed in Israel, and having violated the daughter of Jacob, had committed an unlawful act. 8. And so Hamor spoke to them: The soul of my son Shechem has clung to your daughter: give her to him as wife: 9. and let us enter into mutual marriages: give us your daughters, and take our daughters. 10. And dwell with us; the land is in your power: cultivate it, trade in it, and possess it. 11. And Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers: Let me find favor in your sight, and whatever you decide, I will give: 12. increase the dowry, and ask for gifts, and I will gladly give what you ask: only give me this girl as wife. 13. The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father deceitfully, raging on account of the defilement of their sister: 14. We cannot do what you ask, nor give our sister to an uncircumcised man: 15. But in this we will be able to make a covenant, if you are willing to become like us, and every male among you is circumcised; 16. then we will give and receive in turn your daughters and ours; and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people; 17. but if you are unwilling to be circumcised, we will take our daughter and depart. 18. Their offer pleased Hamor and his son Shechem: 19. nor did the young man delay in immediately fulfilling what was asked: for he loved the girl very much, and he himself was illustrious in all his father's house. 20. And entering the gate of the city, they spoke to the people: 21. These men are peaceable and wish to dwell with us: let them trade in the land and cultivate it, which being spacious and broad needs inhabitants; we will take their daughters as wives, and give them ours. 22. There is one thing by which so great a good is delayed: if we circumcise our males, imitating the custom of the nation. 23. And their substance, and flocks, and all that they possess, will be ours: only let us agree to this, and dwelling together, we will form one people. 24. And all agreed, all the males being circumcised. 25. And behold, on the third day, when the pain of wounds is most severe, two sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, brothers of Dinah, having seized their swords, entered the city boldly: and having killed all the males, 26. they slew Hamor and Shechem likewise, taking Dinah their sister from the house of Shechem. 27. And when they had gone out, the rest of the sons of Jacob rushed upon the slain and plundered the city in revenge for the defilement. 28. Their sheep, and herds, and donkeys, and everything that was in the houses and in the fields they laid waste; 29. and their little ones and wives they led away captive. 30. When these things had been boldly done, Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: You have troubled me and made me hateful to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the inhabitants of this land. We are few: they will gather together and strike me, and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. 31. They answered: Should they have been allowed to abuse our sister as a harlot?
Verse 1: The Occasion of Dinah's Fall
1. NOW DINAH WENT OUT -- The occasion of Dinah's fall was this going out. For it is the part of women to keep themselves at home, and there to occupy themselves with spinning, weaving, and embroidery. The ancients did this, and for this reason at weddings, when the bride was led in solemn procession from her father's house to the house of the bridegroom, immediately an adorned distaff with spindle and thread accompanied her among the Romans, as Brissonius teaches from Plutarch and Pliny in On the Rite of Marriage. Furthermore Pliny, book 8, chapter 48, assigns the cause and origin of this rite, when he says: "M. Varro attests that the wool with spindle and thread of Tanaquil, who was also called Caecilia, lasted in the temple of Sangus, and the wavy royal toga made by her in the temple of Fortuna, which Servius Tullius had used; and from this it came about that an adorned distaff with spindle and thread accompanied brides." Dinah, because she idly set aside the distaff, went out and ruined herself and the Shechemites. Concerning the seclusion of women I have spoken at Titus 2:5.
Rightly did Martial sing of Laevina, chaste and stern, but given to wandering: "While she now entrusts herself to the Lucrine, now to Avernus, etc. She fell into flames, and following a young man, having abandoned her husband, she came a Penelope and departed a Helen."
Verse 1: Moral Lesson on Flight from Men
Morally, let virgins learn here how much they ought to flee the eyes of men, so that they neither desire to be seen nor to see. Sophronius relates in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 179, of a certain virgin who, fleeing a suitor so that she would not scandalize him, withdrew into the desert, and there lived for 17 years; who for this flight received a double privilege from God: first, that while she could see everyone, she herself was seen by no one; second, that although she had brought little provisions with her into the desert, and ate from them continually, they were nevertheless not diminished.
The same author in chapter 60 relates a remarkable example of a nun who, fleeing a suitor, when she had asked him through messengers why he pursued her so, and what in her he most admired, and he had answered that he was captivated by her eyes: she immediately gouged out her own eyes and sent them to him, so that he might satisfy himself with them. Astounded by this act, the young man turned his desire into repentance and compunction, and renouncing allurements, embraced the monastic life. Do you want more recent examples? Listen.
St. Giles, one of the first companions of St. Francis, in an assembly of the brethren asked them: What do you do against temptations of the flesh? Rufinus answered: I commend myself to God and the Blessed Virgin, and prostrate myself on the ground as a suppliant. But Juniper said: When I feel such thoughts, I immediately say: Away, away, for the inn is taken. To whom Giles said: I agree with you; for it is best to flee: for chastity is a clear mirror, which is obscured by a mere look and breath.
From the same order, Brother Roger, a holy man, would look no woman in the face, not even his mother, and she an old woman. Asked why, he answered: "Because when a man does what is in his power, God in turn does what is His, and preserves the man from falling; but if a man exposes himself to danger, especially in so slippery a matter, God leaves him to his own strength, with which he cannot long resist." For just as a magnet draws iron, so his Agnes draws a man.
St. Xavier used to say that women are approached with greater danger to either chastity or reputation than with profit. Hence that prudent and strict rule of our Society that it is not permitted for us to visit women even for reasons of piety, except the sick and dying, and that only with a companion who can be a witness to everything that takes place.
Finally, hear what a harlot taught St. Ephrem: He was going from the desert to the city, to draw some pious instruction from encounters: a harlot met him, who stared fixedly at him; when Ephrem asked the reason, the harlot answered: What wonder if I look at you, since woman was made from man? But you, fix your eyes on your mother, that is, the earth from which you were formed. See more at Numbers 25, at the end.
Wisely therefore St. Martin said: "Let a woman keep herself within the protection of walls, whose first virtue and crowning victory is not to be seen," as Sulpitius relates, Dialogue 2.
Dinah's Age at the Time of Her Abduction
DINAH. -- Dinah was about fifteen years old when she was seized. This is clear from the fact that Dinah was born at almost the same time as Joseph, as is clear from Genesis 30:21 and 24. Now Joseph, who was sold shortly after this, was sixteen years old, as is clear from chapter 37, verse 2.
Again, this is clear from the fact that Simeon and Levi were then about twenty years old, as I shall say shortly: but they were five years older than Dinah and Joseph. Therefore this abduction of Dinah and the destruction of Shechem occurred about nine years after Jacob's departure from Haran and arrival in Canaan, when Jacob was in his 106th year of life, namely one year before the death of Rachel and the birth of Benjamin, about which see the next chapter, verse 18.
Verse 1: To See the Women
TO SEE THE WOMEN. -- In Hebrew banot, that is, daughters, namely virgins of her own age from that region, who had then gathered in great number and adorned for a solemn festival, if we believe Josephus; this was the curiosity of Dinah, which she paid for by her abduction and such infamous defilement. For, as Tertullian says: "The public exposure of a good virgin is the suffering of violation."
The same, alas, we see daily: virgins who go out walking with young men, go out as Penelopes and return as Helens; go out as virgins and return as women, indeed as harlots.
Verse 2: Prince of the Land
2. PRINCE OF THE LAND, -- son of the prince Hamor.
Verse 5: His Soul Clung to Her
5. HIS SOUL CLUNG TO HER, -- he loved her vehemently and desperately: for the soul of a lover is more where it loves than where it gives life.
Verse 7: In Israel
7. IN ISRAEL, -- against Israel, the father of Dinah.
Verse 11: To Her Father and to Her Brothers
11. TO HER FATHER (that is, of Dinah, namely to Jacob) AND TO HER BROTHERS, -- namely to Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and the other brothers of Dinah.
Verse 12: Increase the Dowry
12. INCREASE THE DOWRY, -- as if to say: I do not demand that Dinah as a bride bring a dowry, but I myself will endow her as much as you wish, and that in compensation for the injury inflicted on her and on you by my abduction.
Verse 13: In Deceit
13. IN DECEIT, -- because they feign peace while they plot the slaughter of the Shechemites. St. Thomas asks (q. 105, a. 3) whether it is lawful to use stratagems, that is, deceptions in war? And he answers that it is lawful, provided it is not done against justice and a given pledge of faith.
Verse 15: In This We Will Be Able to Make a Covenant
15. But in this we will be able to make a covenant. -- Not that they were advocating their own circumcision, but they were imposing it on the Shechemites so as to weaken them in this way.
Verse 17: If You Are Unwilling to Be Circumcised
17. But if you are unwilling to be circumcised. -- Not that the sons of Jacob truly wanted the Shechemites to be of their religion, but they demanded circumcision to weaken them, and thus more easily slaughter them.
Verse 19: Nor Did He Delay
19. NOR DID HE DELAY -- Note the ardor and vehemence of Shechem's love, who could not endure any delay.
Verse 21: These Men Are Peaceable
21. THESE MEN ARE PEACEABLE. -- Hence it is clear that Hamor and the Shechemites circumcised themselves not out of love for Jewish piety and religion, but in hope of profit and intermarriage with the Israelites.
LET THEM CULTIVATE IT. -- Through the practice of agriculture and pasturage.
Verse 23: Will Be Ours
23. WILL BE OURS, -- through mutual marriages and trade.
Verse 25: On the Third Day
25. ON THE THIRD DAY, WHEN THE PAIN OF WOUNDS IS MOST SEVERE. -- Josephus says incorrectly that the Shechemites were treacherously attacked by Simeon and Levi while they were indulging in feasting and wine.
Secondly, Calvin wrongly denies that on the third day the pain of wounds is most severe: for the contrary is taught, not by Simeon and Levi, from whose perspective and understanding Calvin thinks this is said, but by Moses himself, and Sacred Scripture itself here: for these are its words.
Hippocrates teaches the same, in his book On Fractures, and the reason is that on the first day, only the division in the wound itself is felt, which barely lasts; on the second day phlegm flows to the site of the wound, which is a gentle and mild humor; on the third day bile flows to the same place, which being sharp and hot provokes pain: then with the blood rushing in, inflammation, fever, etc. follow, which barely subside in the space of 24 hours. So says Francis Valesius, Sacred Philosophy, chapter 13.
Verse 25: Simeon and Levi
SIMEON AND LEVI, -- as leaders with a band of servants; for the other brothers did not take part in this slaughter, but after it was done they rushed in for the spoils, as is clear from verse 27. Simeon was then about 21 years old, Levi 20; so say St. Chrysostom, Abulensis, Cajetan, and Pererius, and this is gathered from what was said at verse 1.
Whether the Sons of Jacob Sinned
You may ask whether these sons of Jacob sinned in perpetrating this slaughter of the Shechemites? Some excuse them, on the grounds that they avenged with a just war and stratagem the injury inflicted on their sister and themselves. For since they were foreigners, having as it were a separate commonwealth, and could not drag Hamor and Shechem, being princes of their people, before any higher tribunal, they seem to have had the right of war against them, since by no other means than war and arms could they redress the injury done to them; and in this war, since they were few, they used deceit as a stratagem, saying: "Whether deceit or valor, who asks in dealing with an enemy?" But I answer that they sinned, because contrary to the pacts entered into with the Shechemites, verse 15, they attacked and slaughtered them.
Therefore they sinned, first, by a deceitful and pernicious lie, as is clear from verse 13. Second, by treachery: for they had already pardoned the injury, having received just satisfaction, and had given their pledge of a covenant, indeed of intermarriage. Third, by imprudence and disobedience, because as youths burning with anger they undertook so difficult and dangerous a matter without the counsel and authority of their father, whom they knew would be entirely displeased by this scheme. Hence they also sinned by the injustice of the war: for they waged this war against the Shechemites on private authority, not public; for this authority resided in Jacob, as the head and chief of the family, and not in these two sons of his. Fourth, by sacrilege: for they abused circumcision for their own deceit and unjust slaughter. Fifth, by cruelty, because they attacked men afflicted with pain on the third day and nearly dying. Sixth, by excess of vengeance: for they killed not only Shechem, but all the males of the city, among whom many were innocent; they took the children and women captive; they plundered all the fields and flocks, and even destroyed the walls of the city, as is sufficiently indicated in Genesis 49:6. Seventh, by recklessness and impiety, because they exposed their father Jacob and his entire family to the hatred, slaughter, and plundering of the Canaanites. So say St. Thomas, Cajetan, Pererius, and indeed Jacob himself in Genesis 49:5, where he says thus: "Simeon and Levi, vessels of iniquity waging war, let my soul not enter into their counsel, because in their fury they killed a man, and in their willfulness they undermined a wall: cursed be their fury, because it is obstinate; and their indignation, because it is harsh."
Judith's Praise of Simeon Explained
You will say: Judith, chapter 9, verse 2, seems to praise this deed and the zeal of Simeon and Levi; for she says: "O God of my father Simeon, who gave him the sword for the defense (in Greek ekdikisin, that is, vengeance) of foreigners, who were violators in their defilement, and uncovered the thigh of the virgin to her shame, and You gave their women as spoil, and their daughters into captivity, and the plunder for division among Your servants, who were zealous with Your zeal."
I answer: Judith here praises not the justice of Simeon, but of God, by which He permitted the impure Shechemites to be slaughtered, using for this purpose the boldness and strength as well as the crime and treachery of Simeon and Levi. For so God is said to give the sword to the Canaanites, Turks, and Pagans, when He uses their strength and arms to punish the sins of the faithful. So in Isaiah chapter 10, it is said: "The rod of My fury is Assyria." So Attila used to say he was the scourge of God. In the same way therefore God gave the sword, that is, strength, to Simeon and Levi for the avenging of Dinah's abduction, but not to be carried out in such a manner and with such treachery: for thus they abused it: for although they did it out of zeal, as Judith says, yet that zeal was against justice, because it was against the pacts entered into; yet God permitted all these things and directed them toward the punishment of the defilement by their prince.
He is therefore said to have given Simeon the sword of vengeance for two reasons: first, because He gave him the courage, strength, and arms, which however he treacherously misused; second, because He permitted this treachery, and by His purpose directed it toward the avenging of the defilement.
Again, by these words Judith insinuates that the people favored their prince in this crime, and aided, supported, and praised him in the abduction and detention of Dinah; and therefore by the just judgment of God, all were involved in this disaster.
Third, note here the divine vengeance for lust and defilement, which Judith rightly applies to herself and to her own deed by which she beheaded Holofernes.
Fourth, Judith says that God gave all the spoil of the Shechemites to His servants, namely Simeon and Levi, because they had zeal for chastity, insofar as this zeal was a zeal for chastity, but not insofar as it was indiscriminate, unjust, and mixed with treachery and other crimes. So God built houses for the midwives of the Egyptians who preserved the infants of the Hebrews by a lie, not on account of the lie, but for the pious affection and benefit bestowed on the infants: for in one and the same work, there is always something good, which God rewards; and something bad, which He hates and detests.
Verse 25: All the Males
ALL THE MALES. -- For most of them had applauded their prince the abductor, and had aided him in the abduction.
Vengeance for Defilement in History
Note that defilement and abduction have almost never been accomplished without great slaughter or war. The destruction of Troy testifies to this, on account of the abducted Helen. The slaughter of Amnon perpetrated by his brother Absalom testifies to this, on account of the violated Tamar. The slaughter of the entire tribe of Benjamin testifies to this, on account of the corrupted wife of the Levite, Judges chapter 20. Finally these Shechemites of ours testify to the same. Wherefore St. Chrysostom wisely warns parents and teachers, and gives them prudent counsel, homily 59: "Let us restrain," he says, "the impulses of our children, and attend to their chastity, etc.; knowing the fire of the furnace, before they are entangled in luxury, let us strive to join them in marriage according to the law of God." And near the end: "Therefore I pray that a hand be extended to our children, so that we may not even pay the penalties for what they have sinned, like Eli," 1 Kings 4.
Verse 26: Taking Dinah
26. TAKING DINAH: -- Rupert, following Philo, records that Dinah later married and was the wife of Job, about whom see Job 1. For Job was born shortly after Dinah, as will be clear in the next chapter, verse 36. But this is scarcely probable; nor is anything of the sort found in Philo or other ancient writers.
Tropological Interpretation: Dinah as the Curious Soul
Tropologically, Philo in On the Migration of Abraham says: Dinah is the curious soul, which is seized by brute nature toward sensual things, which are dangerous; whence it is violated and loses the purity of the mind, and becomes carnal and asinine: for Shechem the violator is the son of Hamor, that is, of the ass; but Levi and Simeon slay him, that is, prudence and fortitude of spirit, and thus they restore to the soul its integrity.
Verse 29: They Led the Wives Away Captive
29. THEY LED THE WIVES AWAY CAPTIVE. -- Since Jacob disapproves of this slaughter as treacherous and reckless, verse 30, there is no doubt that he immediately ordered that all captives be released and the plundered goods that remained be restored.
Verse 30: You Have Troubled Me
30. YOU HAVE TROUBLED ME. -- You have troubled my mind with fear and anguish, because you have made me anxious and frightened: for I greatly fear lest the Canaanites, seeking vengeance for their Shechemites, rise up against me and you. Second, you have troubled my reputation, because you have stained it with such infamous slaughter, and because you have made me hateful (in Hebrew 'stinking') to the Canaanites. Third, you have troubled the peace of my family, because you have exposed it to the danger of death and reciprocal plundering, among the neighboring Philistines round about.
On the Punishment of Treachery: Historical Examples
Note: Treachery, as also perjury, greatly disturbs the fellowship with God and the society of men, and therefore both God and men are accustomed to pursue and avenge it. So Zedekiah, violating the treaty entered into with Nebuchadnezzar, was captured by him, stripped of his kingdom, and blinded. So Saul, afflicting the Gibeonites contrary to the pledge given to them, became the cause of a general famine and the destruction of his own people, 2 Kings 21.
Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse, transgressed the oath given to his enemies, and having killed the captives, said laughing to his friends: "Now that we have dined, let us swear; let us vomit up the religious scruple of the oath;" but he paid dearly for this treachery.
Tissaphernes, the Persian general, violated the treaty entered into with Agesilaus out of fear, and declared war on him; which Agesilaus gladly seized upon, and told the envoys that he was greatly grateful to Tissaphernes, because by his perjury he had made both gods and men hostile to himself, but favorable to the opposing side, as Plutarch attests in Laconica.
Alexander the Great attacked certain Indians hostile to him, contrary to the pledge given, while on the march: hence a stain clung to him, and a brief and sorrowful end, as all know: Plutarch is the witness in his Life of Alexander.
The Carthaginian senate not only approved the destruction of Saguntum by Hannibal contrary to the treaty that Hasdrubal had struck with the Romans, but even defended it in the Roman senate. But this quibbling and treachery was avenged by the destruction of Carthage.
Theodatus, king of the Goths, pressed by war on every side, sent envoys to Emperor Justinian, seeking peace, and offered him the entire empire of the Gauls and Italians: but afterwards, emboldened by the death of Mundus, Justinian's general, he broke his pledge, took up arms; but he fell in them, and was killed by his own people in the third year of his reign. So say Procopius and Blondus.
Aistulph, king of the Lombards, because he was bearing arms against Pope Gregory III contrary to a given pledge, the Pope had a formula of peace suspended from the standard of the cross carried before the army, with all invoking God against the treacherous man: whence Aistulph, subdued by Pippin, miserably perished at last.
Charles of Burgundy, bold and invincible, in Lorraine hanged 250 Swiss whom he had treacherously deceived, and soon killed another 300 at Granson in the year of our Lord 1476; but three days later the Swiss attacked Charles and put him to flight, and finally the following year they utterly defeated and slew him.
Wherefore Valerius Maximus rightly says, book 9, chapter 6: "Treachery brings as much harm to the human race as good faith brings benefit. Let it therefore receive no less reproach than good faith obtains praise." And Tacitus, book 1 of the Annals: "Traitors are hateful even to those whom they prefer:" for they love the deed, not the doer. Augustus says brilliantly, as reported by Plutarch in the Apophthegms: "I love the treason, but do not approve the traitors." More pointedly Philip of Macedon, as reported by Stobaeus, sermon 52, said that he loved the betrayals, not the betrayers.