What does Genesis 34:16 mean?
In the previous verse, Jacob's sons had given the one condition upon which they would allow Dinah's rapist Shechem to marry their sister (Genesis 34:1–12). Their stipulation is that every man in Shechem's community must be circumcised. The deception is that this will make Shechem's family acceptable to the sons of Jacob and the two people groups can then intermarry. However, that condition was given as part of a deceitful scheme hatched to take revenge on Shechem (Genesis 34:13).During these negotiations, Shechem's father Hamor spoke of free trade and intermarriage between Jacob's people and his own. That diplomatic appeal was probably Hamor's recognition that a wealthy and powerful family like that was not one to make enemies with. If Jacob's people would freely intermarry with Shechem's people, they would soon became a single group. This, of course, was never an option for Israel (Genesis 24:1–4). Hamor and Shechem don't know this, and they're happy to get an agreement that seems to avoid bloodshed (Genesis 34:18).
Genesis 34:13–31 describes the response of Jacob's sons to the rape of his daughter, Dinah. The rapist, Shechem, has asked for her hand in marriage. Dinah's brothers suggest that if the men of the town will be circumcised, they will agree to marriages between the two groups. Shechem and his father, Hamor, gladly agree to these terms. But this is a trap. While the men are still sore from circumcision, Simeon and Levi spring an attack, killing all the men and looting the town. Jacob is afraid this will bring retaliation from the Canaanite and Perizzite people. His sons, however, are adamant that their actions were justified.
Jacob's family has settled within sight of the city of Shechem. Dinah, Jacob's daughter by Leah, is raped by the son of the city's ruler Hamor, also named Shechem. Shechem decides he loves Dinah and wants to marry her. Dinah's brothers are outraged. Hamor and Shechem, however, ask for Dinah to be given to Shechem as a wife and for their people to intermarry. Jacob's sons pretend to agree, provided the men of the city are circumcised. Instead, while the town's men are recuperating, Dinah's brothers by Leah, Levi and Simeon, lead a slaughter of all the men of the city.
