Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, Creator of the universe, You have set us apart with Your commandments and You have called us to internalize the words of the Torah. Please, YHVH, our Elohim, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of Your people, the family of Israel. May we and our offspring and the offspring of Your people, the house of Israel – all of us – know Your Name and study Your Torah for its own sake. Please uncover our eyes and open our hearts that we may carefully examine and receive the marvels and mysteries of Your Torah. Blessed are You, YHVH, who teaches Torah to His people Israel.
ויבא
ויבא יעקב שׁלם עיר שׁכם אשׁר בארץ
כנען
Gen 33:18 And Ya‛aqoḇ
came safely to the city of Sheḵem,
(modern day Nablus) which is in the land of Kena‛an, when he came from
Paddan Aram. (also called Haran or the region in northern Mesopotamia/Aram
where he lived with Laban) And he pitched his tent before the city. (modern
day Nablus –(800 km journey lasting about 3 -4 years, which included an approximate
stopover in Succoth of 18 to 36 months)
‘’The name "Shechem" specifically carries the
connotation of a "shoulder" or "upper back," highlighting
the city's geographical placement as a, representing a site of heavy, often
crucial responsibility’’ (we see a similar patterns of departure from Egypt and
from Paddam Aram, will we see a similar pattern for an end time called out
people? – we are called out of an idolatrous world system – find shelter –
Succoth – in the wilderness – Petra- after 42 months invited by Messiah into
his kingdom)
Mat
11:29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble
in heart, and you shall find rest for your beings.d Footnote: d Jer_6:16. Mat
11:30 Is 2:3) “For My yoke is gentle and My burden is light.”
"Yoke of the Torah," "yoke of the
commandments," or "yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven" was a common
rabbinic term and metaphor for submission to YHVH's authority and
obedience to the Torah.
Shechem makes its first appearance in Scripture when Abraham
enters the land of Canaan from Haran: (threshold covenant – entrance into
the promised land is by invitation ONLY)
In Genesis 12:6–7, Abram travels “through the land
as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem” (also called the oak
or terebinth of Moreh (אלון
מורה) – a place of divine encounter and covenant confirmation) At
that time, the Canaanites were still in the land.
There, YHVH appears to Abram for the first time in
Canaan and gives the foundational promise: “To your offspring I will give
this land.”
In response, Abraham builds an altar to YHVH—the
first altar mentioned in the Promised Land – and enters a threshold covenant,
common in ANE cultures) see Jn 3:5 – ‘’shvi shel Pesach’’)
This event marks Shechem as the initial entry point and a
place of divine encounter and covenant confirmation right at the start of
Abraham’s journey of faith in the land.
Jacob (Israel) at Shechem (where this weeks Torah
portion begins)
About 200 years later (after Gen 12:6,7 -chronologically
in the narrative), Jacob arrives at Shechem after his long exile in Paddan
Aram and his ‘’reconciliation’’ with Esau.
In Genesis 33:18, Jacob “came safely to the city
of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan,” pitches his tent before (or near)
the city, and buys a parcel of land from the sons of Hamor (father of Shechem)
for 100 pieces of silver/money.
He erects an altar there and names it El-Elohe-Israel
(“The mighty El, the El of Israel”), deliberately echoing and continuing the
worship tradition begun by his grandfather Abraham at the same location.
Jacob’s purchase represents one of the earliest recorded
acquisitions of land in Canaan by the patriarchs (the other major one being
Abraham’s purchase of the cave of Machpelah in Hebron for a burial site). It
signals an intent to settle.
The bones of Joseph (Jacob’s favoured son) are eventually
buried at Shechem in the very plot of ground Jacob had purchased- Josh 24:32
‘’Oak trees generally live for 100 to 300 years,
though many species commonly survive for 600 years or more in ideal conditions.
Some, like the English oak, can live over 1,000 years, while clonal colonies
like the Jurupa Oak are estimated to be over 13,000 years old.’’) oak wood was
extensively used to make ploughs in ancient times)
Under Joshua, the Israelites gather at Shechem for
covenant renewal, where Joshua challenges the people: “Choose this day whom you
will serve” (Joshua 24). He sets up a stone as a witness under the oak, and the
bones of Joseph are buried there—tying back to patriarchal roots.
It later becomes a city of refuge, a Levitical city, and
plays roles in the period of the Judges (e.g., the story of Abimelech) and the
divided monarchy.
And much later it became a meeting place for an encounter
between the Messiah and a Samaritan woman – John 4 - This is believed to be the
first, most direct, and explicit declaration by Yahshua that
He is the Messiah (the Anointed One) to any individual – to a ‘’sinful’’
rejected gentile woman. (about 1500 years after burial of Joseph)
Gen 33:19 And he bought the portion of the field
where he had pitched his tent, from the children of Ḥamor, Sheḵem’s
father, for one hundred qesitah.a Footnote: aA monetary unit of uncertain
value, perhaps in the form of a lamb.
Gen 33:20 And he set up a slaughter-place there and
called it Ěl Elohě Yisra’ěl.
The
Defiling of Dinah - The story remains one of the most ethically
complex in the Torah.
Gen
34:1 And
Dinah, the daughter of Lě’ah, whom she had borne to Ya‛aqoḇ, went out to see the daughters of
the land.
Gen
34:2 And Sheḵem, son of Ḥamor the Ḥiwwite, prince of the land, saw her and took her and lay with her, and
humbled her.
Gen
34:3 And his being clung to Dinah the daughter of Ya‛aqoḇ, and he loved the girl and spoke
kindly to the girl.
Gen
34:4 And Sheḵem spoke to his father Ḥamor, saying, “Take this girl for me for a
wife.”
Gen
34:5 And Ya‛aqoḇ heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with
his livestock in the field, so Ya‛aqoḇ kept silent until they came.
Gen
34:6 And Ḥamor, the father of Sheḵem, went out to Ya‛aqoḇ to speak with him.
Gen
34:7 And the sons of Ya‛aqoḇ came in from the field when they heard it.
And the men were grieved and very wroth, because he had done a senseless deed
in Yisra’ěl by lying with Ya‛aqoḇ’s daughter, which should not be done.
Gen
34:8 But Ḥamor spoke with them, saying, “My son Sheḵem’s being longs for your
daughter. Please give her to him for a wife.
Gen
34:9 “And intermarry with us, give us your daughters and take our
daughters for yourselves,
Gen
34:10 and dwell with us, and let the land be before you. Dwell and move
about in it, and have possessions in it.”
Gen
34:11 And Sheḵem said to her father and her brothers, “Let me find favour in your
eyes, and whatever you say to me I give.
Gen
34:12 “Ask of me a bride price and gift ever so high, and I give
according to what you say to me, but give me the girl for a wife.” (maybe
Chamor was a ‘’good’’ Hivvite)
Gen
34:13 But the sons of Ya‛aqoḇ answered Sheḵem and Ḥamor his father, and spoke with
deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.
Gen
34:14 And they said to them, “We are not able to do this matter, to give
our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a reproach to
us.
Gen
34:15 “Only on this condition would we agree to you: If you become
as we are, to have every male of you circumcised,
Gen
34:16 then we shall give our daughters to you, and take your daughters to
us. And we shall dwell with you, and shall become one people.
Gen
34:17 “But if you do not listen to us and be circumcised, we shall take
our daughter and go.”
Gen
34:18 And their words pleased Ḥamor and Sheḵem, Ḥamor’s son.
Gen
34:19 And the young man did not delay to do this because he delighted in
Ya‛aqoḇ’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his
father.
Gen
34:20 And Ḥamor and Sheḵem his son came to the gate of their city, and spoke with the men of
their city, saying,
Gen
34:21 “These men are at peace with us, so let them dwell in the land and
move about in it. And see, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their
daughters for us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.
Gen
34:22 “Only on this condition would the men agree to dwell with
us, to be one people: if every male among us is circumcised as they are
circumcised.
Gen
34:23 “Their herds and their possessions, and all their beasts, should
they not be ours? Only let us agree with them, and let them dwell with us.” (was
this deceitful?)
Gen
34:24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Ḥamor and Sheḵem his son; every male was
circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
Gen
34:25 And it came to be on the third day, when they were in pain, that
two of the sons of Ya‛aqoḇ, Shim‛on and Lěwi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came
boldly upon the city and killed all the males.
Gen
34:26 And they killed Ḥamor and Sheḵem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Sheḵem’s house, and went out.
Gen
34:27 The sons of Ya‛aqoḇ came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled
their sister.
Gen
34:28 They took their flocks and their herds, and their donkeys, and that
which was in the city and that which was in the field,
According to Genesis 49:5-6, Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi
hamstrung bulls (or oxen) during their vengeful attack on the men of Shechem.
This act of crippling animals was done in anger following the rape of their
sister, Dinah, and was condemned by their father, Jacob, as a reckless act of
violence and wanton destruction.
Gen
34:28 They took their flocks and their herds, and their donkeys, and that
which was in the city and that which was in the field,
Gen
34:29 and all their wealth. And all their little ones and their wives
they took captive, and they plundered all that was in the houses.
Gen
34:30 And Ya‛aqoḇ said to Shim‛on and Lěwi, “You have troubled me by making me a stench
among the inhabitants of the land, among the Kena‛anites and the Perizzites.
And I am few in number, they shall gather themselves against me and shall
strike me, and I shall be destroyed, my household and I.”
Gen
34:31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a whore?”
Many midrashim and commentators defend the brothers’
zeal: Shechem committed a capital crime (rape of an Israelite woman), and the
entire city was complicit by not protesting or judging the wrong (a form of
collective responsibility under Noahide laws, according to some views).
Rashi on 34:25 notes they are called “Dinah’s
brothers” specifically because they risked their lives for her honor.
Some sources (e.g., in Jubilees, which influences some
rabbinic thought) portray Simeon and Levi’s action more positively, as
righteous zeal.
Later Consequences and Broader Themes
Jacob’s deathbed rebuke (Genesis 49:5–7): “Simeon
and Levi are brothers; instruments of violence are their swords... Cursed be
their anger... I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.” The
sages connect this directly to the Shechem incident — their uncontrolled zeal
led to tribal dispersion (Levi became scattered as priests; Simeon’s territory
was absorbed into Judah)
Some
midrashim add positive or redemptive elements: e.g., Dinah later married Job,
or bore a daughter Asenath (who married Joseph and became mother of Ephraim and
Manasseh). These fill in Dinah’s otherwise silent story.
Overall theme: The story warns against
intermarriage and assimilation with Canaanites, stresses the danger of “going
out” unprotected into foreign culture, and grapples with balancing justice/zeal
versus prudence and peace. It also shows family dysfunction and the cost of
unchecked anger.
The question scholars have is ‘’was this incident
commanded by YHVH or was it mans effort to attempt to solve a serious transgression
and to seek justice, or simply an act of revenge’’?
Why would Mose later pass
a law that the Hivites were to be exterminated? – Midrash!
Deu 7:1 “When יהוה your Elohim brings you into the land which you go to possess,
He shall also clear away many nations before you: the Ḥittites and the
Girgashites and the Amorites and the Kena‛anites and the Perizzites and the Ḥiwwites
and the Yeḇusites, seven nations greater and mightier
than you.
Deu 7:2 “And when יהוה your Elohim gives them over to you, you shall strike them and
put them under the ban, completely. Make no covenant with them, and show them
no favour.
Deu 7:3 “And do not
intermarry with them – you do not give your daughter to his son, and you do not
take his daughter for your son,
Deu 7:4 for he turns
your sons away from following Me, to serve other mighty ones. Then the
displeasure of יהוה shall burn against you and promptly
destroy you.
Deu 7:5 “But this is
what you do to them: Break down their slaughter-places, and smash their
pillars, and cut down their Ashěrim, and burn their carved images with
fire.
Deu 7:6 “For you are
a set-apart people to יהוה your Elohim. יהוה your Elohim has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a
treasured possession above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
YHVH
Blesses and Renames Jacob
Gen
35:1 And
Elohim said to Ya‛aqoḇ, “Arise, go up to Běyth Ěl and dwell there. And make a slaughter-place
there to Ěl who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Ěsaw your
brother.”
Gen
35:2 And Ya‛aqoḇ said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the
foreign mighty ones that are among you, and cleanse yourselves, and change your
garments.
Gen
35:3 “And let us arise and go up to Běyth Ěl, and let me make there a
slaughter-place to Ěl, who answered me in the day of my distress, and has been
with me in the way which I have gone.”
Gen
35:4 So they gave Ya‛aqoḇ all the foreign mighty ones which were in their hands, and all their
earrings which were in their ears. And Ya‛aqoḇ hid them under the terebinth tree
which was near Sheḵem.
Gen
35:5 And they departed, and the fear of Elohim was upon the cities that
were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Ya‛aqoḇ.
Gen
35:6 And Ya‛aqoḇ came to Luz, that is Běyth Ěl, which is in the land of Kena‛an, he and
all the people who were with him.
Gen
35:7 And he built there a slaughter-place and called the place El Běyth Ěl,
because there Elohim appeared to him when he fled from the face of his
brother.
Bethel (or El-beth-el) in Genesis 35:7 is not Jerusalem,
nor is the altar Jacob built there located on the future Temple Mount. (Jacob's
Ladder is a dream recorded in Genesis 28:10-22)
Biblical Bethel lay approximately 10–12 miles north of
Jerusalem.
The very same Bethel from Genesis 35:7 (Jacob's altar
site) later became one of the two primary symbols of idolatry for the ten
northern tribes. Its strategic location made it a convenient alternative to
Jerusalem, but the Bible portrays this as a great spiritual failure that
contributed to the northern kingdom's eventual downfall. The patriarchal “House
of YHVH” ironically turned into a house of rival, calf-based worship.’’
What Happened at Bethel
‘’After King Solomon's death (around 931 BC), the kingdom
split. The ten northern tribes followed Jeroboam I as their king, while
Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to Rehoboam in the south (with the Temple in
Jerusalem).
Jeroboam feared that if his people continued traveling
south to worship at the Jerusalem Temple, their loyalty might shift back to the
Davidic line. To prevent this, he established two rival worship centers:
One at Dan (in the far north)
One at Bethel (near the southern border of his
kingdom, about 12 miles north of Jerusalem)
He made two golden calves, placing one in each
location, and declared: “Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out
of the land of Egypt.” He also appointed non-Levitical priests, built an altar,
and instituted new festivals’’ (Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?)
The prophets strongly condemned it:
Amos (who ministered in the north) denounced the
altar and rituals at Bethel (Amos 3:14; 4:4; 5:5–6), calling the people to seek
YHVH instead of relying on the shrine.
Hosea referred to it critically, sometimes playing
on the name as “Beth-aven” (“House of Wickedness” or “House of Evil”) instead
of “Bethel” (“House of YHVH”) due to the idolatry there (Hosea 4:15; 5:8; 10:5,
15).
Gen
35:8 And Deḇorah, Riḇqah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Běyth Ěl under the
terebinth tree. So the name of it was called Allon Baḵuth.
Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman
(in Genesis Rabbah 81:5) explains that “allon” in Greek means “another.” While
Jacob was still mourning Deborah, news arrived of his mother Rebekah’s
death. Thus, the place became “Allon-bacuth” “the oak of another weeping.”
Jacob never saw his mother again after fleeing from Esau,
and the Torah never explicitly records Rebekah’s death or burial (why?) The
sages say the family kept her death relatively quiet (to avoid public
embarrassment involving Esau, “the one who came forth from her womb”). Because
of this, Scripture alludes to it indirectly through the mourning for Deborah’’
Maybe ‘’another’’ meaning of Allon Baḵuth would point to how the 10
northern tribes of Israel would be dispersed among the nations and even ‘’divorced’’
by YHVH for their unrepented of idolatry. (Jer 3:8) Not an oak where a
covenant was made but an oak where the covenant was broken.
Perhaps
this points to another important message this Torah portion teaches us:
‘’From
the garden to the grave’’ mankind’s idolatry (doing what is right in your own
eyes) has produced enormous suffering and death on earth – and in these last
days it will become so out of control that YHVH will almost have to totally
destroy mankind on earth.
The survivors
of this apocalyptic destruction along with the resurrected set apart ones will
rule the earth with Messiah for 1000 years – where no form of idolatry will be
allowed or tolerated.
Blessed
are you YHVH, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of
truth and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, YHVH
giver of the Torah –
Additional
Midrash on suffering:
Why is life
so hard? Why do YHVH’s children suffer so much?
Joh 16:33
“These words I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace. In
the world you have pressure,( Thlipsis- θλίψις) but take
courage, I have overcome the world.”
meaning θλίψις -Literal Meaning: It refers to a
physical pressing together or narrowing (like a narrow place that "hems
someone in").
Figurative Meaning: It refers to the internal
pressure that causes someone to feel confined, burdened, or without options.
Acts 14:22 - YHVH’s people have their trials.( θλίψις) It
was never designed by YHVH, when he chose his people, that they should be an
untried people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were
never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the
pains of mortality was never promised them.
Heb 5:8
though being a Son, He learned obedience by what He suffered.
"Made Perfect" (Teleioo): This Greek
term means to complete a task, achieve a goal, or bring to maturity—not to
fix a moral defect.
Experiential Obedience: He learned what
obedience costs by obeying YHVH under extreme suffering, making Him a
sympathetic High Priest.
Why many
called few chosen – Mat 22:14
The verse is Isaiah 48:10, which reads:
"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested [or chosen]
you in the furnace of affliction" It signifies that YHVH refines and
selects His people through trials, hardships, and suffering, treating
affliction as a purifying process.
Isa 53:7
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, but He did not open His mouth. He was
led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
but He did not open His mouth.
How
well do you and I suffer?
2Co 4:7 And we have this treasure in earthen
vessels, so that the excellence of the power might be of Elohim, and not of us –
2Co 4:8 being hard pressed on every side,b but not
crushed; being perplexed, but not in despair; Footnote: bSee 1Co_1:8.
2Co 4:9 being persecuted, but not forsaken; being
thrown down, but not destroyed;
2Co 4:10 always bearing about in the body the dying
of the Master יהושע,
that the life of יהושע
might also be manifested in our body.
2Co 4:11 For we, the living, are always delivered
to death for the sake of יהושע,
that the life of יהושע
might also be manifested in our mortal flesh,
2Co 4:12 so that death indeed is working in us, but
the life in you.
2Co 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but even
if our outward man is perishing, the inward man is being renewed day by
day.
2Co 4:17 For this slight momentary pressure is
working for us a far more exceeding and everlasting weight of esteem.
2Co 4:18 We are not looking on what is seen, but on
what is not seen. For what is seen passes away, but what is not seen is
everlasting.c Footnote: cSee 2Co_5:7, Rom_8:24, Heb_11:1
and Heb_11:13.