20 Then Hamor and Shechem, his son, went to the meeting-place of their town, and said to the men of the town, 21 It is the desire of these men to be at peace with us; let them then go on living in this country and doing trade here, for the country is wide open before them; let us take their daughters as wives and let us give them our daughters. 22 But these men will make an agreement with us to go on living with us and to become one people, only on the condition that every male among us undergoes circumcision as they have done. 23 Then will not their cattle and their goods and all their beasts be ours? so let us come to an agreement with them so that they may go on living with us. 24 Then all the men of the town gave ear to the words of Hamor and Shechem his son; and every male in the town underwent circumcision.
25 But on the third day after, before the wounds were well, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came into the town by surprise and put all the males to death. 26 And Hamor and his son they put to death with the sword, and they took Dinah from Shechem's house and went away. 27 And the sons of Jacob came on them when they were wounded and made waste the town because of what had been done to their sister; 28 They took their flocks and their herds and their asses and everything in their town and in their fields, 29 And all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives; everything in their houses they took and made them waste. 30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have made trouble for me and given me a bad name among the people of this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and because we are small in number they will come together against me and make war on me; and it will be the end of me and all my people. 31 But they said, Were we to let him make use of our sister as a loose woman?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 34:20-31
Commentary on Genesis 34:20-31
(Read Genesis 34:20-31)
The Shechemites submitted to the sacred rite, only to serve a turn, to please their prince, and to enrich themselves, and it was just with God to bring punishment upon them. As nothing secures us better than true religion, so nothing exposes us more than religion only pretended to. But Simeon and Levi were most unrighteous. Those who act wickedly, under the pretext of religion, are the worst enemies of the truth, and harden the hearts of many to destruction. The crimes of others form no excuse for us. Alas! how one sin leads on to another, and, like flames of fire, spread desolation in every direction! Foolish pleasures lead to seduction; seduction produces wrath; wrath thirsts for revenge; the thirst of revenge has recourse to treachery; treachery issues in murder; and murder is followed by other lawless actions. Were we to trace the history of unlawful commerce between the sexes, we should find it, more than any other sin, ending in blood.