The Case of Dinah's Rape By A Hittite

 Nadene Goldfoot     

                                                                 

                                                   Bethlehem Today: 

In 1948 had 10,000 population (7,500 Christians, 2,500 Moslems).  From 1948-1967 under Jordanian rule, captured by Israel in 1967.  In 1968-32,000 population.   
                                               

We have the case of proving that Dinah was either raped or was a voluntary partner to the king's wishes.

Dinah was the only daughter mentioned in the Torah of Jacob  and Leah because of this conundrum.  The situation happened before the Exodus, so the family of Jacob were not Jews, nor was their religion the Jewish religion as yet.  They followed the teachings of Abraham, who believed that there was only one G-d in the universe, one power of creation, not a multitude for every little reason that often times demanded the life of one of their citizens.  

Abram or Abraham, as he was called, was born in 1948 BCE in Ur of the Chaldees.  He was Dinah's great grandfather.  Abraham's sons were Esau and Isaac, twins.  Isaac was the father of Jacob, known for his 12 sons and Dinah, the daughter causing the problem of all problems.  

Much later, Moses was born to this line in 1391 BCE and died in 1271 BCE at the age of 120.  There is the difference between the birth of Abraham and Moses of 557 years!  This is a big difference.  Going back from 2022, we would look at how people in 1465 handled rape.  

Just think.  Around the period of 1600 BCE, Dinah was raped and her siblings were enraged.  It was a situation not unlike many that we read about today.  She was raped by a well-known man, Shechem, the prince of the town of Shechem which was later realized to be in Canaan. (He was like the son of the mayor of the town of Shechem.) He didn't demand that if she were now pregnant from their coupling, she lose it with help from the birthing ladies (abortion).   He wanted her for his own harem.  

Shechem was originally found to have walls that dated back to 2000 BCE.  Today it is called Nablus; a town originally situated between Mountains Gerizim and Ebal.  Back in those days, the towns were like a country;  city-states that ruled.  Hopefully there weren't many men populating Shechem, as there certainly wasn't many beautiful women to please the prince.  He had been so struck by Dinah's beauty that he couldn't control himself.  Canaan was called Eretz Yisrael by the Israelites (The Land of Israel).  The northern part was called Aram (Syria).  Today it is called Nablus, a Moslem city. 

His act is similar to that of gangs existing today; in that one gang cannot tolerate being humiliated by the other gang, and thus the bullets fly.  So it was with these two brothers of Dinah who first heard of the attack on her.  His problem was that in those days, a town was not populated by many people, so the news of the rape would soon be known by everyone.  

 When her brothers Simeon and Levi heard that she had been raped, they were the enraged siblings.  Her father was not available then to her.  Jacob had believed that at last he would find tranquility in Eretz Yisrael, but his family had to experience a moral outrage upon its own relatives from its beginning.   Genesis 34 tells that they responded by annihilating  all the people of Shechem!  

It happened this way.  Dinah went out to look over the daughters of the new land they had moved to.  Shechem, son of Hamor, this Hittite, the prince of the region, saw her.  He took her, lay with her, and violated her.  It is surprising that a daughter of Jacob would be walking alone in a new land.  

We remember that Abraham had purchased a cave at Machpelah from a Hittite while Esau took wives from among them.  The Hittites were one of the 7 peoples from whom the Israelites conquered Canaan.  Later, David had Hittite warriors, and Solomon, his son, had Hittite wives.  Though Simeon and Levi tried to stop the mixing of peoples with Dinah's attack, it happened later.  Some of our genes could be Hittite genes.  

We're not told much.  We read that Shechem became deeply attached to Dinah, daughter of Jacob;  he loved the maiden and appealed to the maiden's emotions.  So Shechem spoke to Hamor, his father, saying, "Take me this girl for a wife."  

Evidently he did more than take her.  He kept her, indicated by becoming so attached to her that he fell in love with her, and it sounded mutual as he appealed to Dinah's emotions. Dinah must have been somewhere between 13 and 15 years old, a time that she could have been a swooning teen-ager over a prince charming.  This is also the theory in the book, The Red Tent.  

Anita Diamant, in her book, The Red Tent, writes of the love affair they experienced after their initial accidental meeting.  She writes in the voice of Dinah, who will become more Canaanite and Egyptian after joining Shechem.   

Now Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter, Dinah, while his sons were with his cattle in the field;  so Jacob kept silent until their arrival.  He had undergone an emotional experience himself after he and Esau had parted and telling Esau that he just wanted Esau and he to be friends once again and part friends.  Jacob had journeyed to Succoth and built himself a house, and made shelters for his livestock.  He called the place, Succoth.  

Then he journeyed on and arrived intact at the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan.  He arrived from Paddann-Aram, and he encamped before the city.  He bought the parcel of land which he pitched his tent from  the children of Hamor, Shechem's father for 100 kesitahs.  He then set up an altar there and proclaimed, "God, the God of Israel.:  For his emotional experience was wrestling with an angel and receiving the name of Israel for doing so.  

Where Jacob hoped to rest in his new land, he was confronted with Hamor who knew how Simeon and Levi felt about Dinah and Shechem. They were indignant, for by their moral code, this was an outrage in Israel to lie with a daughter of Jacob without marriage---such a thing may not be done.   

Jacob's 2nd son, Simeon and 3rd son, Levi  were very close.  They decided together after getting the prince to concede that all males would be circumcised, to attack and kill them all when they were at their weakest.  If they were not joined in this together, one brother would not have tried such a thing.  Not only did they kill all the males on the 3rd day of their circumcision, but they plundered the city by taking all their flocks, their cattle, donkeys, whatever was in the town and in the field, all their wealth, and they also took their children and wives as captives and plundered everything in their house as well.                         

What was Jacob's reaction to this?  He cried out that his sons had discomposed him, making him odious among the inhabitants of the eland, among the Canaanite and among the Perizzite;  I am few in number and should they band together and attack me, I will be annihilated--I and my household.  (I wonder how Simeon and Levi could have been so stupid as to do such a horrible thing!  They must have been very young and without any sense--only muscles.  )  

Simeon and Levi cried out, "Should he treat our sister like a harlot?"

Jacob, guided by G-d, moved to Beth-el and lived there after this attack.  He made an altar to G-d-reminded that he had done so there when Esau's appearance would have been the end for him.  He was told to get rid of all alien gods in his family and to change his clothing.  They gave Jacob all their god-statues they carried and took out the rings in their ears and Jacob buried them underneath the terebinth near Shechem.  

The people of Shechem did not chase after them because they seemed to be hit by some virus (felled by by a Godly terror on the cities which were around them).  Dead bodies lying about would have attracted vermin and such; not a very sanitary situation when all the men had been slaughtered.  

                                    Tomb of Rachel

Jacob and his family came to Luz (Beth-el) in the land of Canaan.  He called it El-beth-el.  It was here that Deborah, the wet nurse of Rebecca (wife of Isaac and grandmother of Dinah), died and she was buried below Beth-el below the plateau;  and Jacob named it Allon-bachuth.  They journeyed from Bethel and they still had to continue on to get to Ephrath when Rachel went into labor, but she died giving birth to Benjamin.  She was buried along the road to Ephrath which is Bethlehem.  Jacob set up a monument for her.  Bethlehem is 5.25 miles South of Jerusalem, and will be the birthplace of David and the background of the Book of Ruth.  Jacob considered this the most horrible thing to happen to him personally.  Rachel was his great love, and she died while a young woman.  She may not have died had they not been forced to move during this dangerous time for her.  Rachel was the aunt of Dinah, her favorite aunt, possibly.  

When Jacob was dying, he gathered his sons and gave them his prophecy of what would happen to each of them.  Because of Simeon and Levi's act, told of the dispersion of the descendants of them among the other tribes.  

    The tribe of Simeon received territory in Eretz within the lot of Judah in 2 distinct localities of the Negev but was of minor importance.  In the reign of Hezekiah, they took possession of the Arab areas of Seir (I Chron. 4:24-43).  Some of them apparently settled in the Mountains of Ephraim (II chron: 15-9). Since Simeon was the oldest of the two, he may have been the original instigator.

    The tribe of Levi would be scattered throughout Israel (Gen:49-7). Nevertheless, in the 2nd Temple Period (from 538 BCE onward) when all contact with gentile women was eschewed (avoided) , the act of Levi and Simeon was extolled (praised). 

Jochebed, daughter Mirium and Moses in the bulrushes

 Levi had one daughter, Jochebed (mother of Moses) and 3 sons, Gershon, Kohath-whose son, Amram was the father of Moses, and Merari.  Levi died in Egypt at the age of 137.   

In Oregon, this could be statutory rape if the rapist is 18 or older and the victim in under 18 even if the sex was consensual as the victim would have been too young to give consensual consent.  Shechem was guilty even by today's standards, but not  to the punishment that Simeon and Levi gave out 3,622 years ago.  

Resource:

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Tanakh, Stone Edition (Old Testament-Genesis 34)

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia-Dinah