Dinah Gets Into Trouble

DO YOU see who Diʹnah is going to visit? She is going to see some of the girls who live in the land of Caʹnaan. Would her father Jacob be happy about this? To help answer this question, try to remember what Abraham and Isaac thought about the women in Caʹnaan.

Did Abraham want his son Isaac to marry a girl from Caʹnaan? No, he did not. Did Isaac and Re·bekʹah want their son Jacob to marry a Caʹnaan·ite girl? No, they did not. Do you know why?

It was because these people in Caʹnaan worshiped false gods. They were not good people to have as husbands and wives, and they weren’t good people to have as close friends. So we can be sure that Jacob would not be pleased that his daughter was making friends with these Caʹnaan·ite girls.

Sure enough, Diʹnah got into trouble. Can you see that Caʹnaan·ite man in the picture who is looking at Diʹnah? His name is Sheʹchem. One day when Diʹnah came on a visit, Sheʹchem took Diʹnah and forced her to lie down with him. This was wrong, because only married men and women are supposed to lie down together. This bad thing that Sheʹchem did to Diʹnah led to a lot more trouble.

When Diʹnah’s brothers heard about what had happened, they were very angry. Two of them, Simʹe·on and Leʹvi, were so angry that they took swords and went into the city and caught the men by surprise. They and their brothers killed Sheʹchem and all the other men. Jacob was angry because his sons did this bad thing.

How did all this trouble get started? It was because Diʹnah made friends with people who did not obey God’s laws. We will not want to make such friends, will we?