The Dinah Incident

I am finding myself in the Book of Genesis these days in my morning devotional reading, and today I came across “The Dinah Incident.” You’ll find it in Genesis 34 and there are some good lessons to be found here for the followers of Jesus.

Ge 34:1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

In other words, Dinah went clubbing. The urban dictionary defines clubbing as “when women go out to dance in circles and men go out to hunt them.”  Obviously, “clubbing”  has been around for a long time.  What could go wrong? A lot! Especially if alcohol is involved. We don’t know if alcohol was involved in Dinah’s case, but things went wrong in a hurry!

Ge 34:2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her.

Evidently, date rape has also been around for a long time! Certainly, a danger to consider before heading out to the club, especially in a world that sees nothing wrong with the sin of fornication (sex outside the bounds of marriage.)

Well, it was wrong to the Israelites, (God’s children) then,  Ge 34:7 And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, a thing which ought not to be done.

And it’s wrong for followers of Jesus now! Eph 5:3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;

The sin of fornication is the norm in the world and I fear it is becoming more and more accommodated in the church. It seems that the church at large is afraid to talk about it as sin, lest they offend anyone.  But what are we to do with this passage in Ephesians, “it is not fitting for saints.”

Perhaps you have been caught up in this sin and the convenient thing to do is just continue to live together. Well, pilgrim, sometimes following the Lord is inconvenient, but God’s ways are always ultimately for our good.

The sin of fornication is no different from any other sin in the Bible and God has given us the way to deal with it. Confess it as sin, turn from it! Ac 3:19 says,  "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,”

And remember,  there is no sin that Jesus didn’t pay for on the cross. Confess it, receive His forgiveness, and forsake it. What did Jesus say to the woman caught in the act of adultery? After assuring her of His forgiveness, He said, “Go and sin no more.”

There are other lessons to be learned in this chapter from Genesis. Things like the importance of marrying a believer, (v 14) the dangers of covetousness (v23),  even the attitude of accommodating sin in the church lest we offend the world (v30)

It’s timeless material, like so many other things in Scripture. Let us learn to read and heed!