Tribal Law
Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard about it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a [d]disgraceful thing in Israel by [e]sleeping with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done. Genesis 34:7 NASB
A disgraceful thing – The story of Dinah and Shechem marks a particularly cruel and treacherous episode among Jacob’s sons. In fact, the actions taken by Simeon and Levi, resulting in the slaughter and pillage of the entire male population, continued to haunt Jacob until his dying day. But we would be wrong if we thought that this retribution was about the rape of their sister. Clues in the text make it clear that something else in involved in this apparently excessive revenge. The Torah does not require the extermination of every male of a tribe simply because one man violates a woman of another family. In fact, measure-for-measure justice would have focused on Shechem alone. Why, then, do Simeon and Levi take it upon themselves to deceive the entire male population and subsequently kill them all? Consider the choice of words here in this verse in order to answer the question.
“A disgraceful thing” is the Hebrew nĕbālâ, derived from the verb nābal. You’ll probably recognize the word from the name of the man David encountered. You will also realize that nābal isn’t about sexual crime. It’s about disgust or contempt, especially an act of senseless foolishness. What this implies is that Simeon and Levi are not focused on the rape, but rather on the disrespect of tribal custom and acceptable practice. In fact, Shechem’s desire to legitimize the sexual encounter through marriage has no effect on the sons. Notice what they say about the offer of marriage. “We cannot do this thing, that is, give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us” (Genesis 34:14). Why would this marriage proposal be a disgrace? The reason offered is that women in Jacob’s house cannot be married to men who have not been circumcised. Of course, the sexual encounter has already happened and Shechem was uncircumcised, so it hardly makes sense to demand circumcision after the fact. What is really at stake here is a clash of cultural values.
“There is another reason that Shechem’s violation of Dinah is not ultimately handled in accordance with the legal tradition, and it brings us back to the aspect of the story that centers on intermarriage and relations between tribes. As Paul Keevers points out, laws are intended to regulate behavior between members of a single group who accept a common source of authority.”[1] The city of Shechem represents a different group with different laws and different authority. Simeon and Levi suggest that marriage must occur within a single group and, therefore, the men of Shechem must become part of the tribe of Jacob by adopting their sexual custom of circumcision. Whether a ploy or not, the requirement shows that the “law” governing this situation is embedded in the culture, not in some supernatural hierarchy. The “disgraceful thing” is the sexual union between an uncircumcised male and a tribal female. It’s not the act itself, it’s the violation of sexual norms. That’s why it’s senseless and foolish, not evil.
Why bother with this clarification of a story from ancient Isreal? What does it matter? Well, we might reflect on current societal divisions along tribal lines. When a civilization reverts to tribalism (as Victor Davis Hanson notes), the law and order of the society collapses into whatever norms govern each faction within the society. The society as a whole ceases to exist. It is replaced by independent tribal groups within the same civilization and that inevitably leads to conflict. Laws work only when the population agrees with the norms behind the legal structure. The laws governing Israel are still in place after thousands of years because the tribe of Jacob still adheres to the underlying norms (given my God). But this is not true of almost all other societies, particularly those who have embraced multiculturalism. Simeon and Levi’s solution stands on the horizon.
Topical Index: Dinah, rape, Shechem, law, norm, nĕbālâ, Genesis 34:7
[1] Eve Levavi Feinstein, Sexual Pollution in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford University Press, 2014), p. 88.
Yes… a perceptively keen realization of that which distinguishes the law—derived by and through God’s divine rule—“from whatever norms govern each faction within the society.” Such norms are the means by which society as a whole collapses… being destroyed by becoming destructive.