After his encounters with the angel wrestler and Esau, Jacob "came safely" to Shechem (Gen 33:18), back home in the land of Canaan. The word for "safely" is shalem, indicating more than just physical safety. Jacob has reached a state of well-being
- physically, after surviving the wrestling match;
- materially, with substantial wealth;
- relationally, after reconciling with Esau;
- spiritually, having grown in his relationship with God.
Shechem is located about 35-40 miles north of Jerusalem. Archaeological evidence indicates that Shechem in that era covered about 6 acres and could have had a population of 500-1000 people (see e.g. John Walton's NIVAC commentary on Genesis). We don't know if this population estimate comes from sometime before or sometime after the events of Gen 34.
We are not told how long Jacob and his family stayed at Shechem. Some number of years may have gone by, but at some point Jacob's shalom was interrupted by problems with his neighbors.
Readers of Genesis will remember that leaders of Canaanite towns had a habit of abducting women that they considered available---think of the behavior of the Abimelechs in Gen 21 and Gen 26. In this case Shechem, son of town leader Hamor and accustomed to getting what he wanted, decided that he wanted Jacob's daughter Dinah. Gen 34:2 reports that Shechem "saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her" (ESV).
Two of the verbs in this verse also appear in 2 Sam 13:14, where David's daughter Tamar was raped by her brother Amnon, so Shechem may well have committed rape in this instance. The text makes clear that Shechem was determined to marry Dinah (vv 3-4, 11-12).
What had happened became public knowledge, and Jacob soon heard about it (v 5), as did his sons (v 7). Hamor then came to Jacob with a proposal that Jacob's family join the Shechem community (vv 8-10). There is no mention of Hamor's apologizing for Shechem's actions or acknowledging any wrongdoing on their part.
When Hamor and Shechem were negotiating with Jacob and his sons, Dinah was in Shechem. Usually a marriage agreement would be worked out with the prospective bride at her parents' home. In her book Biblical Seductions, Sandra Rapoport suggests that this discussion might be as much a hostage negotiation as a marriage negotiation.
Jacob's sons replied that they would be unwilling to go along with Hamor's proposal unless the men of Shechem were circumcised (vv 13-17). Surprisingly, the men of the town, desirous of the wealth of Jacob, were willing to go along with this condition (vv 18-24).
The influence that Hamor and Shechem had with the townspeople was also a factor. Verse 24 states, "And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city." One midrash on this verse proposes that men were not allowed to go out the gate until they had been circumcised.
At any rate, Jacob's sons took advantage of the weakened condition of the men of Shechem. Levi and Simeon led a group of men that rescued Dinah, killed the men of Shechem, and looted and destroyed the town (vv 25-29).
Jacob was not pleased with the actions of his sons, especially Simeon and Levi (v 30; see also Gen 49:5-7). Their actions may reflect tensions within the family. It has been suggested that Simeon and Levi, sons of Jacob's less-favored wife Leah, did not trust their father to stand up on behalf of a daughter of Leah. It has also been pointed out the Simeon and Levi, like their father, were deceivers and continued a cycle of deception for another generation.
When we read this account, we cringe to see Jacob's sons making deceptive use of the sign of the covenant and failing to live up to the family mission of spreading blessing to the nations. From a "missions" standpoint, their behavior was certainly disastrous.
In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on Nov 14, 2020, Kyle Kettering encouraged us to spread God's shalom to those around us.
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