Articles
The Wrath of Man Exemplified
“But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.” (Genesis 34:13)
Fifty years ago on March 13, a young woman named “Kitty” Genovese was violently raped and stabbed to death outside of her apartment complex. The case is notorious in that nobody responded in the proper way to the situation.
In circumstances like these, we are often overwhelmed by our emotions, particularly anger, and are caused to react improperly. Genesis 34 records one such example with the violent molestation of Jacob’s daughter. Shechem disavowed himself of any self-control, took Dinah, raped her, and afterward held her captive at his home. Upon finding out, Dinah’s brothers bristle over with wrath. They want vengeance and devise a crafty way in which what was left of Dinah’s honor could be salvaged. They deceitfully deal with the men of the city and kill them all.
Although their anger may have subsided, their vengeance was insufficient because man’s rage can never be fully reconciled by his own course of action. Notably, God is not once mentioned or consulted in Genesis 34. They sought their own vengeance completely apart from God as if He would not right the wrong. God must avenge evils done in this world (Rom. 12:19). That is the only way they are properly dealt with.
