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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 34:6 - 34:12
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Hamor's Proposal
v. 6. And Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out unto Jacob to commune with him. He left the city and went out to the camp of Jacob, to anticipate the indignation of Jacob's sons and to straighten out the matter peacefully.
v. 7. And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it. The bad news reached them also before the usual hour for returning from the field, and they acted with the impetuosity of youth. And the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done. Even in those days, when the family of Jacob was still small, the act of Shechem was considered an insult to the entire tribe. The more the sons of Jacob therefore thought about it, the higher their anger mounted. The dignity of the entire posterity of Israel had been besmirched, and they felt that they could not bear the disgrace.
v. 8. And Hamor communed with them, saying, the soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter; I pray you give her him to wife. Hamor seems to have felt that he was representing a very weak case, for his proposal impresses the reader as being made in great hesitation and embarrassment. He pleads the deep and serious attachment of his son for Dinah.
v. 9. And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.
v. 10. And ye shall dwell with us; and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. Hamor thus offered to Jacob and his sons the freedom of his little country, with the full rights of citizenship. They might do business anywhere and select any part of the country for their herds.
v. 11. And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes and what ye shall say unto me I will give.
v. 12. Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me; but give me the damsel to wife. Thus Shechem added his personal plea to the proposal of his father, begging to be received into the family with favor and urging them to set their own price for the bride and to ask whatever bridal gifts they might choose. He may have been sincere enough according to his own lights, not realizing the fact that the family of the patriarch was the Lord's chosen people. A folly is easily committed, but its removal will often tax the efforts of a lifetime.