Gen. 34-36: “Men Rape Jacob’s Daughter Dinah And Simeon And Levi Kill All The Men Of The City / In The Move to Bethel Rachel Dies In Childbirth / Esau’s Descendants”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1. INTRO:

1.1. In our last study we looked at Genesis chapters 31-33.

1.1.1. Jacob fled with his family and livestock from his uncle Laban in Haran and headed towards the land of Canaan.

1.1.2. God delivered Jacob from uncle Laban and the men with him when God warned Laban in a dream not to bother Jacob in any way.

1.1.3. Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord all night long as he prepared to head into Canaan and meet up with his brother Esau whom he thought might be wanting to kill him.

1.1.4. Jacob and Esau met up and Jacob realized that his prayers had been answered and God had worked in Esau’s heart and turned him away from any thoughts of vengeance towards Jacob for tricking him out of his blessing.

1.2. Today, we will look at Genesis chapters 34-36.

1.2.1. While Israel’s family are living in the city of Succoth Jacob’s daughter incurs a great tragedy because a man who is the prince of the city rapes her. Then, the man and his father try to get Jacob to accept a marriage proposal for him to take Dinah as his wife.

1.2.2. Jacob’s sons trick the men of the city offering to accept the marriage proposal if the men will become circumcised. Then, when the men are in pain on the third day after the surgery two of Jacob’s sons go and kill every man in the city with the sword, taking their possessions and women and children as booty.

1.2.3. The Lord then appears to Jacob and tells him to go again to Bethel, and so he goes.

1.2.4. Later, Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin as they are traveling south to Hebron.

1.2.5. We will see the generations of Esau listed for us.

2. VS 34:1-12 - “¹ Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. ² When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. ³ He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young girl for a wife.” ⁵ Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent until they came in. ⁶ Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. ⁷ Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done. ⁸ But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage. ⁹ “Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ “Thus you shall live with us, and the land shall be open before you; live and trade in it and acquire property in it.” ¹¹ Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me. ¹² “Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; but give me the girl in marriage.”” - One of the men of the city, Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, raped Dinah the daughter of Jacob, then Shechem’s father, Hamor, came with Shechem with a marriage proposal to ask for the hand of Dinah in marriage for Shechem, but Jacob deferred answering the man until he discussed the matter with his sons

2.1. Just as we thought that we had seen all of the patriarchal blunders that could occur after reading about Jacob’s polygamis household, chapter 34 shows us even greater failures on the part of those who are God’s people, namely, the sons of Jacob.

2.2. Jacob and his family were in a precarious position living in Succoth and among the peoples of the land of Canaan. Jacob had 11 sons who needed to marry but the young women in the land were idolaters. The one daughter of the family likewise needed to find a husband for herself among this idolatrous people. It would really not be practical or expedient to try to find spouses from Abraham’s people in Haran, so the family realizes that they must find spouses among the Canaanites.

2.3. Another problem for the family was the fact that the local people were immoral and evidently in the community women were used and abused for sexual purposes by men and no one really seemed to have a problem with this.

2.4. Jacob’s daughter Dinah was evidently very beautiful. A young man who was a prince of the city, Shechem, rapes Dinah when she goes to visit the daughters of Canaan. The text here says that Schechem forced himself upon her so this wasn’t simply a statutory rape type of situation between two who had mutually consented to have sex together.

2.5. Shechem really does love Dinah though and he wants to have her for a wife. So, he and his father Hamor come to Jacob and give him a marriage proposal for Dinah. Hamor says that heart of his son longs for Dinah.

2.6. Shechem says that he will pay for a dowry for Dinah, any amount that Jacobs deems is fair. Being the prince of the city he evidently was a man of some means, as this statement reflects.

2.7. Note something that is very significant here. We do not see Shechem apologizing for raping Dinah. There is no admission in any sense that he has done anything wrong. Rape seems to have been something that was accepted and happened often in this community. This omission is probably also what most enraged the brothers of Dinah.

3. VS 34:13-24 - “¹³ But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ “Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you be circumcised, ¹⁶ then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. ¹⁷ “But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.” ¹⁸ Now their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. ¹⁹ The young man did not delay to do the thing, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father. ²⁰ So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, ²¹ “These men are friendly with us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage, and give our daughters to them. ²² “Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. ²³ “Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us.” ²⁴ All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.” - Jacob’s sons conceive a plan and using deception tell Shechem and his father Hamor that they will let Shechem marry their sister and marry the daughters of the city as well if the men of the city will submit themselves to be circumcised, Shechem and Hamor agree and then go and try to convince the men of the city to be circumcised

3.1. Jacob’s sons are enraged that such a vile and shameful act has been done to their sister Dinah. Though their family was a polygamy they none the less understood the importance of fidelity and faithfulness in a marriage. Anything less than fidelity they saw as degrading and sinful and grievous to the Lord.

3.2. Jacob errored in letting his sons take care of this sitation. He deferred to his sons to make the decision about what ought to be done concerning this great offense to his daughter of rape. Jacob greatly miscalculated how his sons would react in this situation and he abrogated his leadership role in the family. In any case, Jacob had the ability on this day to direct his sons and keep a great tragedy from happening and yet he didn’t act as a spiritual leader and intervene as he should have done and thus he was primarily responsible for the consequences.

3.2.1. Fathers, don’t abrogate your responsibility as spiritual leaders of your households. The consequences for doing this are never good. Our wives and children look to us to lead them spiritually and protect them.

3.3. Jacob’s sons knew well what a man would go through if he were circumcised since circumcision had been their seal of separation from the people since the days of Abraham. They knew that if a man was circumcised that the third day afterwards he would be in great pain and practically incapacitated. They plan to get all of the men of the city to be circumcised so that on the third day they can come upon them with the sword and slay them all.

3.4. Hamor and Shechem go to the men of the city and convinced them that if they simply submitted to this silly rite of circumcision that they would in time be able to assimilate with Jacob’s family and in doing so take away all of Jacob’s wealth. The men of the city agree to be circumcised thinking that this was a small price for what they would be able to gain by it.

4. VS 34:25-31 - “²⁵ Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came upon the city unawares, and killed every male. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went forth. ²⁷ Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister. 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; ²⁹ and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even all that was in the houses. ³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household.” ³¹ But they said, “Should he treat our sister as a harlot?”” - On the third day after their circumcision when the men of the city were in the greatest pain, Simeon and Levi came upon the men of the city with the sword one house at a time and slew every man in the city, then they took all of the wealth of the city as booty, along with the women and children

4.1. I find it amazing that Simeon and Levi were able to join together to slay an entire city with the sword, even if the men of the city were sore in the you know place.

4.2. Why did all of Jacob’s sons plan this mischief and yet only Simeon and Levi carried the attack? Did the rest of Jacob’s sons back out of the plot at the last minute but then Simeon and Levi were very headstrong and self-willed and went ahead and carried out the attack by himself.

4.3. Simeon and Levi not only slay all of the men of the city, they also loot the entire city and take all of its wealth plus all of the women and children as booty. The problem of finding brides for the sons of Jacob to marry was taken care of in one brutal show of mayhem. Now, each son could marry. But, this happened at a great cost to human life, not to mention the loss of dignity that that these sons of Jacob experienced. They had defiled their lives and defiled even the very land they lived on.

4.3.1. We Christians need to be very careful in our actions. Sometimes in our tactics we can mimic our persecutors and be as wrong as those we oppose. Christians have sometimes done just as much evil as those whom they have condemned for being evil.

4.4. This attack by Simeon and Levi was not proportional to what had been done to Dinah. All of the men of the city did not deserve to die. Simeon and Levi show a gross lack of temperance and judgment by this action of killing all of the men of the city.

4.5. Jacob is unhappy with Simeon and Levi and tells them that by killing all of the men of the city in the way that they did that they had brought trouble upon him by making him odious among all of the inhabitants of the land. Jacob was now afraid that all of the peoples in the land of Canaan would band together and come and attack him.

4.5.1. We Christians need to beware of having “misguided zeal” for the Lord.

4.6. This is nothing but “misguided zeal” by Simeon and Levi, once again in action. Simeon and Levi react in anger trying to defend the Lord and His righteousness as well as their sister but in the end they just end up defiling themselves by shedding innocent blood. Instead of representing the Lord properly they bring shame to the Name of the Lord.

4.7. This was not justice carried out by these sons of Jacob either. It was “genocidal vigilantism.”

5. VS 35:1-7 - “¹ Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” ² So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments; ³ and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” ⁴ So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem. ⁵ As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶ So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. ⁷ He built an altar there, and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother.” - The Lord tells Jacob to go up to Bethel and to make an alter there to God, and so Jacob tells all of his household to put away from themselves all of their foreign gods and to purify themselves, and then they journeyed to Bethel and as they went the people in the cities were greatly afraid of them

5.1. It was time for Jacob and his family to leave Succoth and the Lord confirms this by telling Jacob to leave. The area of Succoth would only bring bad memories back to the family and the people in the environs might join together and attempt some sort of attack against them since they were probably fearful that Jacob’s sons might come upon them one day and kill them as they did in Succoth.

5.2. I believe that after the brash surprise attack against the men of Succoth by his two sons, and knowing that he had the opportunity to stop it from occurring and didn’t, that Jacob is now concerned that in this action by his sons he is reaping the consequences of his actions in not being the spiritual leader of the house he should be. He is also worried about having allowed false worship into his household. The women and children of Succoth perhaps had idols which they worshipped and thus he was commanding everyone to get rid of their idols though. But, had anyone ever gotten rid of the household idols that Rachel brought with her from Haran? Had Jacob’s sons begun to worship pagan idols and even bought or created more of them?

5.3. Jacob desperately wanted his family to be dedicated to the Lord in every sense of the word. He wanted to be sure that he fulfilled his calling by God and that the promises of the Abrahammic covenant were kept by him in the most honorable way. He wanted to know that he had God’s blessing on his family because he knew they had stayed strayed far from God’s will and righteousness in their life.

5.3.1. Do you need to rededicate your life and home to God? Are there things that you have been allowing to occur in your home or even condoning which need to be repented of and turned over to God?

5.4. Jacob came with his family again to Bethel and built an altar for worship to the Lord. He now called that place ‘El-Bethel,’ which means “house of God.”

6. VS 35:8-15 - “⁸ Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named Allon-bacuth. ⁹ Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. ¹⁰ God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.” Thus He called him Israel. ¹¹ God also said to him, “I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you. ¹² “The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you.” ¹³ Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him. ¹⁴ Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. ¹⁵ So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.” - Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse died and they buried her in Bethel, and then the Lord appeared to Jacob and again recited the Abrahammic covenant promises that He had made to Jacob, and then, Jacob set up a memorial pillar on that spot

6.1. After the death of his mother Rebekah, Jacob felt a responsibility for his mother’s nurse, the one who had breast fed him growing up, so he took her and provided for her. However, she was now very old and passed away. Jacob buried her right in Bethel, under the oak tree.

6.2. The Lord appeared to Jacob again there at Bethel, just as He had appeared to him and showed him in a dream Jacob’s ladder that extended up to heaven, when Jacob had been fleeing from Canaan and his brother to go to Haran.

6.3. The Lord repeated yet again the Abrahammic covenant promises to Jacob. Then, the Lord ‘went up from him’ on the very ladder than Jacob had seen in that same place those thirty or more years before.

7. VS 35:16-20 - “¹⁶ Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe labor. ¹⁷ When she was in severe labor the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for now you have another son.” ¹⁸ It came about as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. ¹⁹ So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.” - As they were journeying from Bethel, Rachel went into labor and died giving birth to Benjamin, but before she died she named him Beno-oni, and Jacob buried Rachel

7.1. Rachel was truly the love of Jacob’s life. Leah and the two concubines were part of the family but Jacob’s heart was always with Rachel. Now, as Rachel is pregnant with this twelfth son of Jacob, she ends up suffering ‘severe labor.’ This ends up being fatal for her.

7.2. Rachel dies and evidently Jacob and possible his sons were no where around. Rachel tells the midwife with her that the name of the son shall be, ‘Ben-oni,’ which means “son of my sorrow.” Jacob later modified the name Rachel gave to this son to be ‘Benjamin,’ which means “son of the right hand.” Jacob honored Rachel through this last son giving him a name that indicated his special importance to Jacob.

7.3. When Moses wrote this book the pillar that Jacob set over Rachel’s grave was still standing.

8. VS 35:21-26 - “²¹ Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. ²² It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. ²³ the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun; ²⁴ the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; ²⁵ and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali; ²⁶ and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.” - Jacob (Israel) journeyed on and pitched his tent by Eder, however while there his son Reuben lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Jacob heard about it; the names of the sons of Jacob are recited

8.1. A very sad event happened when the Israelites camped beyond the tower of Eder. We don’t know how things came about but Reuben ended up having sexual relations with his father’s concubine Bilhah. She had been given to Rachel by her father Laban when married Jacob. She was the mother of his brothers Dan and Naphtali.

8.2. The consequences of Reuben’s act ended up with his losing of the eldest son’s birthright: Gen. 49:3-4.

9. VS 35:27-29 - “²⁷ Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre of Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. ²⁸ Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years. ²⁹ Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, an old man of ripe age; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.” - Jacob came to his father, Isaac, in Hebron, and then at the age of 180 Isaac dies and Jacob and Esau bury him

9.1. Isaac really had underestimated his health 40+ years before when he thought he was at the end of his life and determined that he should give a blessing to Esau his eldest son, the blessing that Jacob and his mother tricked Esau out of. Now, Isaac was 180 years old when he finally passed away.

9.2. Notice that when Isaac died that he didn’t just cease to exist. The text here says that he ‘was gathered to his people.’ In other words, Isaac went down to Abraham’s Bosom and stayed with his father Abraham in that place where Old Testament saints waited for the resurrection and to come and dwell forever in God’s presence.

10. VS 36:1-5 - “¹ Now these are the records of the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). ² Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; ³ also Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. ⁴ Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath bore Reuel, ⁵ and Oholibamah bore Jeush and Jalam and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.” - Esau’s descendants are recounted her, beginning with his two Canaanite wives and then Basemath Ishmael’s daughter, and the children born to them

10.1. We have a problem right away here with the recounting of the names of the wives that Esau took to himself.

10.1.1.In Gen. 26:34 the two Canaanite wives were named Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon. Here they are called Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.

10.1.2.In Gen. 28:9 Esau married Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. Here he married Basemath, the daughter of Ishmael.

10.2. The sons born to Esau in the land of Canaan are recounted here as well.

11. VS 36:6-28 - “⁶ Then Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters and all his household, and his livestock and all his cattle and all his goods which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another land away from his brother Jacob. ⁷ For their property had become too great for them to live together, and the land where they sojourned could not sustain them because of their livestock. ⁸ So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom. ⁹ These then are the records of the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. ¹⁰ These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Esau’s wife Adah, Reuel the son of Esau’s wife Basemath. ¹¹ The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho and Gatam and Kenaz. ¹² Timna was a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These are the sons of Esau’s wife Adah. ¹³ These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath. ¹⁴ These were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon: she bore to Esau, Jeush and Jalam and Korah. ¹⁵ These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, are chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, ¹⁶ chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek. These are the chiefs descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. ¹⁷ These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs descended from Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath. ¹⁸ These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah. These are the chiefs descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. ¹⁹ These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs. ²⁰ These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah, ²¹ and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan. These are the chiefs descended from the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. ²² The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna. ²³ These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam. ²⁴ These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah—he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness when he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon. ²⁵ These are the children of Anah: Dishon, and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah. ²⁶ These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Cheran. ²⁷ These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan and Zaavan and Akan. ²⁸ These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.” - Esau took his family and livestock and went to live in another land in the hill country of Seir, that is Edom, away from his brother Jacob, because their property had become too great for them to live together on the same land

12. VS 36:29-43 - “²⁹ These are the chiefs descended from the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, ³⁰ chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan. These are the chiefs descended from the Horites, according to their various chiefs in the land of Seir. ³¹ Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the sons of Israel. ³² Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. ³³ Then Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah became king in his place. ³⁴ Then Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites became king in his place. ³⁵ Then Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the field of Moab, became king in his place; and the name of his city was Avith. ³⁶ Then Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah became king in his place. ³⁷ Then Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates River became king in his place. ³⁸ Then Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor became king in his place. ³⁹ Then Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar became king in his place; and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab. ⁴⁰ Now these are the names of the chiefs descended from Esau, according to their families and their localities, by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth, ⁴¹ chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, ⁴² chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, ⁴³ chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of the Edomites), according to their habitations in the land of their possession.” - The chiefs descended from the Horites are recounted for us, followed by the chiefs of Esau

12.1. The Horite chiefs from the land of Seir have their names listed: Lotan, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, Dishan.

12.2. Next, the kings that lived in the land of Edom before the Israelites had a king are listed.

12.3. Finally, the chiefs that descended from Esau are listed: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram.

13. CONCLUSIONS:

13.1. Beware of misguided zeal for the Lord.

13.2. As Jacob didn’t take control of the situation and tell his sons how to handle the situation with Dinah being raped, fathers don’t abrogate your responsibilities to your children to lead them and guide them. Be the spiritual leader in your home that your family needs you to be.

13.3. Do you need to rededicate your life and home to the Lord?

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