Genesis 34:15 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised.

NIV: We will enter into an agreement with you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males.

NASB: Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you will be circumcised,

CSB: We will agree with you only on this condition: if all your males are circumcised as we are.

NLT: But here is a solution. If every man among you will be circumcised like we are,

KJV: But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised;

NKJV: But on this condition we will consent to you: If you will become as we are, if every male of you is circumcised,

Jacob's sons remain outraged at the violation of their sister, Dinah, at the hands of Shechem (Genesis 34:1–7). They have been offered the ability to name their own price to allow Dinah to marry her attacker (Genesis 34:8–12). It's not hard to imagine that Dinah's brothers were more interested in revenge than in negotiations. However, their options are limited. Dinah remains with Shechem's people (Genesis 34:26). Though Jacob's family is wealthy (Genesis 30:43), they would not have numbered the same as an entire city (Genesis 33:18).

Rather than beginning an immediate assault, the men devise a scheme (Genesis 34:13). They pretend to agree with Shechem's proposal, given one condition: every male in Shechem must be circumcised as Jacob and his sons had been. This practice of circumcision was a requirement given by God to Abraham for him and all his male descendants. It was a condition of His covenant with His people. Jacob and his sons would have been circumcised as infants. Circumcision was clearly not practiced by the men of Shechem.

More important to Jacob's sons, of course, is that circumcising an adult male—removing the foreskin of the penis—makes that man temporarily unfit for combat.

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.

With the blessing of the Lord, Jacob has survived his reunion with his brother Esau and settled his family in the land of Canaan, in a city called Shechem. Some time passes and then Jacob's daughter Dinah is raped by the son of the ruler of the city. To exact revenge and defend their sister's honor, Jacob's sons trick the men of the city into being circumcised and then slaughter all of them when they are recovering, plundering all the wealth of the people. This creates fear in the local Canaanite communities, who avoid future confrontation with Jacob's family.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.