Daily Lectionary | Genesis 34 & John 18:1-27
Genesis 34
Summary
In Genesis, there is a war on women, which was announced as a result of the curse in Genesis 3:15. The woman and her seed are locked in a battle with Satan and his seed. The struggle of Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel to bring forth children may be seen in view of this struggle. The serpent attacks the woman. Do we have something similar in Genesis 34?
In Genesis 34, Dinah goes out to visit friends in Canaan. Shechem “sees” Dinah the daughter of Jacob and he forcibly takes her. He “seized her and lay with her and humiliated her” (Gen. 34:2). Shechem is “drawn to Dinah” and seeks to arrange a marriage. An intermarriage, however, would have been problematic.
Jacob hears about this the defilement, but it’s her brothers, Simeon and Levi who seek revenge. Pretending to agree to terms of a marriage, the sons propose that Hamor and all his people be circumcised. Perhaps to the sons surprise, Hamor agrees to this and calls all the men in his land to be circumcised, ensuring that they could live in peace with the house of Jacob. This would have been an effective conversion to the people of God!
But “on the third day,” which is a day of judgment in the Bible, Simeon and Levi come upon the men recovering from their circumcision, take out their swords and kill them all. They plundered the city.
Jacob is grieved by his sons for what they have done. Simeon and Levi have gone well beyond what justice requires. Later in Genesis 49 when Jacob blesses his sons, he’s still grieved by Simeon and Levi’s violence.
Reflection Questions
Consider how later Biblical law may have addressed a situation like this in Deuteronomy 22:28-29 and Exodus 22:16.
Genesis shows us righteous uses of deception (Abraham, concealing his wife’s identity; Rachel deceiving Laban, etc.). Simeon and Levi also use deception here. But do Simeon and Levi act righteously?
John 18:1-27
Summary
Jesus’ prayer in John 17 propels him into his greatest battle that begins in John 18, when he is arrested and betrayed. Jesus has prayed to the Father that he has kept his own and only “the son of destruction” has been lost. Now Judas, the lost disciple, shows the soldiers from the chief priest where Jesus is staying. Jesus asks whom they seek, and when Jesus responds, “I am he,” they all fell back, Judas included. On the face of it, it appears that Jesus’ speaks the divine name “I am” in such a way that he reveals a glimpse of his glory which causes his persecutors to fall down.
Jesus affirms his identity again and tells (commands?) the guard to let his disciples go, which John tells us is the fulfillment of his prayer in the previous chapter that he wouldn’t lose any of his own. Simon Peter, in a rash of violence, attempts to foment a battle and swings for the servant of the high priest’s head, lopping off his ear. Jesus tells Peter to put the sword away: no matter how zealous for righteousness you are it will not come by the sword. Interestingly, Simeon (ala Simon) in Genesis 34 responds to the defilement of his sister in a rash of violence with the sword and is condemned.
They lead Jesus to Annas, the father-in-law of the high priest Caiaphas who questions him about his teaching. Jesus responds that he has spoken publicly to the “world” and keeps no secrets. What do they want to know that he hasn’t already said? Meanwhile, Peter warms himself by a fire nearby and denies that he knows Jesus three times as Jesus predicted.
Reflection Questions
Consider the different ways Peter responds to the crisis at hand in this chapter?
Jesus says “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong…” Jesus is on trial, but how has Jesus been putting others and world on trial in his ministry?