Bible Commentaries

And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

Went out to see the daughters of the land. — Who went abroad at this time, with timbrels, to play, say the Hebrews; kept a solemn feast, saith Josephus. Hence Dinah’s desire to see them. But what saith St Bernard? Si tu otiose spectas, otiose non spectaris: tu curiose spectas, sed curiosius spectaris. Dinah’s wanton gadding, and gazing on others, gave occasion to the adulterer to look and lust after her. See the fruit of her needless getting abroad to see fashions and novelties. The name of a virgin, in the original tongues, áúåìú ; of áú a house; òìîä ; of òìí to hide; èìéúà ; of èìì to shadow. Pαρθενος ; of παραθειναι , to lay up. Kορη , a virgin, and the apple of thc eye. is derived from the house hiding; shadow; locked treasure; apple of the eye: to teach them to refrain ill company, and idle gadding. Young women are taught "to be keepers at home". Titus 2:5 As when they come abroad among men, they must be, if not veiled, as at Venice, yet clothed, and in their right minds, as that demoniac in Luke 8:35 . And this not only in winter, that they take no cold; but in the summer, that others take no heat from them, - which may rather burn them, than warm them, - as Shechem here did.

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And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.

Saw her, he look her, and lay with her. — Ut vidit, periit. By those windows of the eyes and ears, sin and death often enter: through them the devil throws balls of wild fire into the soul, and sets all into a combustion. Visus, colloquium, contactus, osculum, concubitus, do too oft one succeed another. Mars videt hanc, visamque cupit, potiturque cupita. - Ovid. See to the five senses, if ye would keep out the enemy. Shut up the five windows, if ye would have the house, the heart, full of light, saith the Arabian proverb. Joseph’s mistress cast her eyes upon him; but when she laid hands on him, she was the more inflamed, and set agog, as it were. The viewing, touching, or familiar talking with a woman, either without necessary occasion, or then, without prayer for holy affection, is dangerous, saith a grave divine. Time Well Spent, by Ezek. Culverwel, p. 53. Thou mayest not look intently upon what thou mayest not love. Democritus the philosopher pulled out his eyes, that he might not look upon forbidden beauties. This was no part of his wisdom: but it shall be ours, by mortification, to pluck the wanton eye out of old Adam, and to set it sober into the new man: to get that occulum irretortum, that well-ordered eye, that Job had; Job 31:1 that Joseph had; that Gregory Nazianzen had, who could σοφρονιζειν τους οφθαλμους , tutor his eyes; that Charles V, Emperor of Germany, had, who would shut the casements, when at any time he saw fair women afar off, or heard that such were to pass by his window Saepe clausit fenestram, ne inspiceret formosiores foeminas, … - Par., Hist. Profan., p. 908. It is not safe to pry into the beauty of a fair woman. Circe In Greek and Latin mythology the name of an enchantress who dwelt in the island of Aea, and transformed all who drank of her cup into swine. often used allusively. may enchant us, the cockatrice slay us with her sight. "Let her not take thee with her eyelids," saith Solomon; Proverbs 6:25 as larks, while they gaze in a glass, are taken in a hunter’s net. See Trapp on " Genesis 6:2 " See Trapp on " Genesis 26:7 "

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And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.

And his soul clave unto Dinah. — He kicked her not out of doors, as Amnon did Tamar, far sweeter to him in the ambition, than in the fruition; but to make amends, as they call it, by marriage, he seeks to go by the old rule in that case, Et doter, et ducat. Howbeit, marriage, God’s ordinance, is not to be entered into through the devil’s portal.

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And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.

Ver. 4: Get me this damsel to wife. — This is praise worthy in Shechem, as bad as he was, that he correcteth his base-born love, or lust rather, by seeking to make her his wife; not without consent of parents on both sides; which, in the Church of Rome, is ofttimes not regarded. Children are a principal part of their parents’ possessions, as Job’s children were accounted by Satan; yea, a piece of themselves. "Have mercy upon me," that is, "upon my daughter". Matthew 15:22 Fit it is, therefore, that they should by the parents be disposed of in marriage.

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And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come.

And Jacob heard. — To his very great grief and regret: for she was his only daughter; a damsel of not more than fifteen years of age. The Hebrews say she was afterwards given to Job in marriage; but that is not likely; for she is reckoned anong those that went down to Egypt. Genesis 46:15

And Jacob held his peace. — He felt God’s hand upon his back; he therefore lays his own hand upon his mouth. And herein he did better in "ruling his own spirit," than his sons did, that "took the city." Proverbs 16:32 "He sitteth alone, and is silent," Lamentations 3:28 saith the prophet of the afflicted person. So was Aaron; Leviticus 10:3 so was David; Psalms 39:9 so was the Lord Christ, as a sheep dumb before the shearer. The Romans placed the image of their goddess Angeronia upon the altar of Volupia, with her mouth shut, and sealed up; to signify, saith Macrobius, Macrob., lib. i., in Som. Scip . that they that bridle their grief, and say nothing, shall, by their patience, soon attain to greatest pleasure. Patience in the soul, as the town clerk at Ephesus, Acts 19:35-36 sends away mutinous thoughts, as he did the many headed multitude; it quiets the boiling spirit, as Christ becalmed the raging sea, with ‘"Peace," and "Be still"; it makes a David dumb - a dumb show, but a very good one; it says, Cedamus: leve fit, quod bene fertur onus.

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And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him.

And Hamor the father of Shechem, — Unruly youth put their aged parents, many times, to much travail and trouble; as Samson, Shechem, Paris, … Green wood is ever shrinking and warping; whereas the well-seasoned holds a constant firmness.

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And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard [it]: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done.

The men were grieved, and very wroth. — A pair of unruly passions, when combined, especially: they ride one upon the back of another, as kine do in a strait passage; and will make an Alexander kill his best friends, such as he would afterwards have revived, with the best and warmest blood in his own heart.

“Qui non moderabitur irae,

Infectum velit esse, dolor quod suaserit, et mens.”

• Horat.

Because he had wrought folly in Israel. — That is, in the Church, where fornication should "not be once named," much less committed. Ephesians 5:3 Sin is odious anywhere; most of all among saints. A thistle is unseemly in a garden, filthiness in a vestal, baseness in a prince. And yet, by the malice of Satan, there are, many times, more scandals in the Church than else where: such incest at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 5:1 as not among heathens; such folly in Jacob’s family, as not at Shechem, or Seir. "Sodom, thy sister, hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters." Ezekiel 16:48 This is lamentable!

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And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife.

And Hamor communed with them. — A fond father seeks to satisfy the lust of a loose son, whom he should severely have punished; such parents are peremptores potius quam parentes, saith Bernard; like apes, that kill their young with culling them. They show their love as little, as if, by clapping their hands on their children’s mouths, to keep the cold wind from them, they should strangle them to death. A fair hand, here, maketh a foul wound; when correction would be a kind of cure. Severitas tamen non sit tetra, sed tetrica, saith Sidonius. Sidonius, lib, iv. epist. 9. For, as a cur by trying waxeth fiercer, and as new wine breaketh weak vessels; so too much severity overthroweth, and quite spilleth a tender mind.

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