◼ Was Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, raped by Shechem, and was it solely an act of violence, or did he want to marry her?

Evidently Shechem had sex relations with Dinah against her will.

The girls were Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and Tamar, the daughter of David.

Jacob’s daughter Dinah apparently was only in her early teens when she was forced into having sex relations.

39, 40. (a) What was the special occasion when Simeon and Levi used instruments of violence as their slaughter weapons? (b) How did they then answer their father on this matter?

³⁹ The special occasion when instruments of violence were their slaughter weapons was when they took it arbitrarily upon themselves to avenge the honor of their full-sister Dinah.

When the patriarch Jacob’s encampment was near the city of Shechem in the Promised Land, Dinah’s virginity was violated.

Main characters: Dinah, Shechem, Jacob, Simeon, and Levi

Summary: Dinah is violated by Shechem, and her outraged brothers seek vengeance.

13-15. (a) What experience did Dinah have, illustrating what? (b) Why is association with fellow Christians a protection?

¹³ Jacob’s daughter Dinah was an example of one who got into serious trouble because of associating with worldly companions.

Recall the outcome of Dinah’s association with these people.

Dinah overlooked this possibility in her association with the young daughters of the Canaanites.

Joseph, Dinah’s brother, chose the wise course while he was enslaved in Egypt.

The example of Dinah illustrates a risk of steering too close to danger.

Perhaps curiosity and a desire to have a good time moved Dinah to seek companionship with Canaanite girls, whose morals were undoubtedly lax.

For example, there is the case of Dinah recorded at Genesis chapter 34.

Thus evil was done to Dinah.

Consider what happened when Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi took vengeance on Shechem for having violated their sister Dinah.

They did all of this not only because of Dinah but likely also because it was a question of pride, of losing face.

Dinah, his daughter, sought out companions among the Canaanite girls of Shechem.

Dinah, who was then still young, left the safety of her family’s tents and began to visit the nearby city, making friends there.

Some years later, however, after Jacob had moved into the land of Canaan, he apparently was unaware that his daughter Dinah had developed the dangerous habit of associating with the pagan Canaanites.a (Genesis 34:1)

At any rate, after the tragic rape of Dinah by a Canaanite, Jacob took decisive action.

Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, went to visit the Canaanite girls in the land.

What resulted from Dinah’s laxness as to her associations?

Years earlier, Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, had been raped by a Canaanite man named Shechem.

Dinah

For example, the Bible tells us that when the sons of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob learned that the Canaanite Shechem had violated their sister Dinah, they “became hurt in their feelings and they grew very angry.” (Genesis 34:1-7)

The events surrounding Dinah’s rape highlight an important lesson.

Almost 4,000 years ago, for example, the patriarch Jacob had a daughter named Dinah who was doubtless very pretty.

An example of a man who was not ensnared by his masculine beauty was Joseph, the younger half brother of Dinah. (Genesis 30:20-24)

Their sister Dinah was raped by a young man named Shechem from a nearby city.

In the case of Simeon and Levi, which do you think had greater effect on the minds of the inhabitants of those regions​—the rape of Dinah, or the murder of all the men of the city?