Chapter 34 - 36: The pain of Jacob
Dinah was an out-going person and mixed well with the local ladies. Prince Shechem was infatuated by her and raped her. Shechem decided to ask Jacob for her hand in marriage. So his father, Hamor, the king, proposed to Jacob that he should make the land his home. Jacob was a wealthy man with a great flock of sheep and goats and the land could offer him great opportunity.
Jacob called for a family meeting to discuss the matter. The sons were very angry with Shechem. In deceit they agreed to Hamor's preposition on one condition. Every Hivite males should be circumcised. Hamor and Shechem called a meeting of the elders (at the gate of the city). "The people of Israel were friendly and prosperous. They could make a great contribution to the economics of the nation". So the people accepted the condition and all the men in the city came forward to be circumcised.
On the third day, when the men were still recovering for the circumcision, Simeon and Levi massacred all the males in the city, including Hamor and Shechem. They also plundered the city, and took the children and women hostage. When Jacob came to know of this he knew it was political suicide. The inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, would feel threaten and attack them.
God told Jacob, "Escape to Bethel and renew your vow with God". It was at Bethel that God answered him in his day of distress (Chap 28). The first thing Jacob did was to bury all the foreign gods at Shechem, purified everyone, and changed their garments. As they began to move, a terror from God came upon the city so that the people did not pursue them. He built an altar at Bethel and called it El-bethel (the God of Bethel). The El Shaddai God again assured him of the covenant of Abraham.
Unlike Abraham and Isaac, Jacob was not a particularly religious person. He was more of a businessman.
As they were moving towards Ephrath (Bethlehem), Rachel gave birth to Benjamin (son of my right hand) and died. Rachel named him Ben-oni (son of my sorrow) before she passed away and Jacob buried her at Ephrath (or Bethlehem).
Jacob's tragedy did not end there. One day Reuben has sex with Bilhah, his stepmother and Jacob heard of it. The subject ended abruptly and switched to what seemed like a passing topic. It gave me the feeling that God would rather not relate the pain of Jacob.
Jacob eventually arrived at Hebron where Isaac was. After Isaac's death Esau moved his family to the hill country of Seir, since Hebron was unable to support both Jacob's and his cattle.
In those days the people formed tribes, each under a chief. There were 14 chiefs of Esau and 7 chiefs of Seir, the Horite. There was also a king, whose throne would go to the one with sufficient power to claim it.
After chapter 36, the Bible focused on Joseph and mentioned Jacob in between. In all cases they were about more sufferings. He had to suffer the lost of Joseph and anxiety of losing Benjamin.
When Abraham died, the Bible had this to say. "He died in a good old age, an old man and full of years." (Genesis 25:8). The Bible said the same for Isaac, "old and full of days." (Genesis 35:29. In his hour of glory when Pharaoh asked Jacob how life was with him, Jacob said, "few and evil have been the days of the years of my life. It is not as fulfilling as that of my forefathers." (Genesis 47:9).
The New Testament was silent on Jacob, except in Hebrew chapter 11, where the Bible stated Jacob had faith in God.
Jacob was a man of the world. Very self centred and manipulative, and has great entrepreneurship. He was a goal getter. However he continued to run out of options and had to come to God for solutions.
The God of Jacob was a merciful and steadfast God. He could not abandon Jacob because He had made a covenant with Abraham and Isaac.
Similarly today God had made a covenant with humanity. Those who believed in Him and His salvation would be saved. He will keep His covenant. The God of Jacob is also my God too.
The other lesson from the study of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is; Christians are saved but might be living from crisis to crisis, all because they refused to believe that they could trust God to make it better. We for some strange reason tried to keep God out of our daily lives and think we can do better. Finally in our old age you would look back and mourn, like I do, "few and evil have been the days of my life."
