Dinah

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The feminine of Dan ("judged", "averaged".) Jacob's daughter by Leah. After his return from Mesopotamia he pitched his tent in Shechem, and bought a field of Ham or, Shechem's father. Dinah, then at maturity between 13 and 15 years old, through her parents' remissness and her own love of sight seeing (she "went out to see the daughters of the land"), instead of being a "keeper at home" as young women ought to be ( Titus 2:2), gave occasion to Shechem to "see" (contrast  Job 31:1), and lust after, and defile her. Sin, shame, and death enter the soul through the windows of the eyes and ears ( Genesis 39:7). Evil communications corrupt good manners. Fondness to see novelties, worldly fashions, and worldly company, ruin many. "It is the first step that costs." The laxity of Canaanite morals ought to have made both her parents and herself more on their guard.

Josephus (Ant. 1:21) states she went to a Canaanite annual festival of nature worship (compare  Numbers 25:2). Young women are often led astray as much by their own sex as by the other. Shechem offered the usual reparation, marriage, and a payment to her father. This was sufficient Hebrew, according to  Deuteronomy 22:28-29. But the offense was by an alien Hamor therefore proposed to establish intermarriage and commerce between the two peoples. But Simeon and Levi, her own brothers, eager for revenge, required the Circumcision of the Shechemites as a condition of union, a rite already known in Egypt as an act of priestly consecration; and when the feverish pain of the operation was at its height, on the third day, the two brothers, with their retainers, took cowardly advantage of their state, attacked, and killed all the males in the city. (See Circumcision .)

Their vindication of Israel's sacred calling, separated from the Gentiles, was right; and their refusal to sacrifice Jehovah's promises for the Hivite prince's offers of mammon was right. Seduction still is punished by death among the Arabs, generally inflicted by the brothers. "They were very angry, because lie had wrought folly in Israel," the phrase for offenses, especially carnal ones, against the honor and calling of the people of God ( Deuteronomy 22:21;  Judges 20:10;  2 Samuel 13:12). But the way they took was treacherous, cruel, and wicked. The innocent townsmen were punished with the one delinquent, and all the sons joined in plundering the town.

Jealousy for the high calling of Israel was made the plea for gross sin against the God of Israel. Jacob in reproving them lays stress only on the dangerous consequences of their crime, "ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land ... and ... being few ... they shall gather themselves and slay me," because it was the only argument that would weigh with his sons; but, his dying words show his abhorrence of their" cruelty" and "cursed anger" ( Genesis 49:5-7). Nothing but Jehovah's special interposition saved him and them from the penalty;  Genesis 35:5, "the terror of God was upon the cities ... round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob."

God made this tragedy the occasion of reviving Jacob's earnestness, which had declined into worldliness for a time through his settlement near Shechem ( Genesis 33:17-20); reminding him of his vow to make an altar at Bethel to God, who had appeared to him there in the day of his distress when fleeing from Esau. So his family gave up their strange gods and purified themselves, and Jacob went up to Bethel and fulfilled his heretofore forgotten vow. Thus, God overruled evil for good ( Genesis 35:1-5).

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

DINAH . The daughter of Jacob by Leah, and sister of Simeon and Levi, according to   Genesis 30:21 .

This verse appears to have been inserted by a late redactor perhaps the one who added the section  Genesis 46:8-27 (cf.   Genesis 46:15 ). Nothing is said in   Genesis 29:31 to   Genesis 30:24 ,   Genesis 35:16 ff., where the birth stories of Jacob’s children are given, of other daughters of Jacob; but   Genesis 37:35 (J [Note: Jahwist.] ) and   Genesis 46:7 (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ) speak of ‘all his daughters.’ P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] , moreover, clearly distinguishes between his ‘daughters’ and his ‘daughters-in-law.’

In  Genesis 34:1-31 we have a composite narrative of the seizure of Dinah by the Hivite prince, Shechem, the son of Hamor. The probable remnants of J [Note: Jahwist.] ’s story make it appear that the tale, as it was first told, was a very simple one. Shechem took Dinah to his house and cohabited with her, and her father and brothers resented the defilement. Shechem, acting on his own behalf, proposed marriage, promising to accept any conditions of dower her father and brothers might impose. The marriage took place, and afterwards her full brothers, Simeon and Levi, slew Shechem and took Dinah out of his house. Jacob rebuked them for this, because of the vengeance it was liable to bring upon his house. Jacob thinks only of consequences here. If, as is generally supposed,   Genesis 49:5 ff. refers to this act, the reprimand administered was based by him not upon the dread of consequences, but upon the turpitude of a cruel revenge.

The remaining verses of ch. 34 make Hamor spokesman for his son. He not only offered generously to make honourable amends for Shechem’s misconduct, but also proposed a mutual covenant of general intercourse, including the connubium . Jacob and his sons see their opportunity for revenge, and refuse, except upon the one condition that all the males of the city be circumcised. When, as a result, the latter were unable to defend themselves, all the sons of Jacob fell upon them with the sword, sparing only the women and children, whom they took captive with the spoil of the city. The words ‘two of’ and ‘Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren’ in   Genesis 34:25 are interpolated (cf.   Genesis 34:13 ). This story is clearly an elaboration of the earlier form, despite its one or two more antique touches, and suggests, moreover, the spirit at work in Ezra’s marriage reforms.

The story, like many others, introduced as episodes in the family history of Jacob, should probably receive a tribal interpretation. Simeon and Levi are tribes. Dinah was perhaps a small Israelite clan, according to the traditions closely related to Simeon and Levi; according to the name, possibly more closely to Dan. Schechem, the prince, is the eponymous hero of the city of that name. Hamor is the name of the Hivite clan in possession of the city. The weak Israelite clan, having become detached from the related tribes, was overpowered by the Canaanite inhabitants of Shechem and incorporated. Simeon and Levi, by a wilily plotted and unexpected attack, hoped to effect its deliverance. They were momentarily successful, and inflicted a severe blow upon the Shechemites; but their temerity cost them their tribal existence. A counterattack of the Canaanites resulted immediately in the decimation of the tribe, and finally in the absorption of their remnants into the neighbouring tribes. The Dinah clan disappeared at the same time.

James A. Craig.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Di'nah. (Judged, Acquitted). The daughter of Jacob, by Leah.  Genesis 30:21. (B.C. About 1751). She accompanied her father from Mesopotamia to Canaan, and, having ventured among the inhabitants, was violated by Shechem, the son of Hamor, the chieftain of the territory, in which her father had settled. Genesis 34.

Shechem proposed to make the usual reparation by paying a sum to the father and marrying her.  Genesis 34:12. This proposal was accepted, the sons of Jacob demanding, as a condition of the proposed union, the circumcision of the Shechemites. They therefore assented; and on the third day, when the pain and fever resulting from the operation were at the highest, Simeon and Levi, own brothers of Dinah, attacked them unexpectedly, slew all the males, and plundered their city.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Dinah ( Dî'Nah ), Judged, Acquitted, or Avenged. The daughter of Jacob and Leah.  Genesis 30:21. The history of her visiting the daughters of the heathen inhabitants of the land, of her defilement by Shechem, and of the treacherous and bloody revenge taken by her brothers Simeon and Levi, are recorded in  Genesis 34:1-31. Nothing more is certainly known of her; she probably accompanied her family into Egypt.  Genesis 46:15.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Daughter of Jacob by Leah,  Genesis 30:21 , his only daughter named in Scripture. While the family were sojourning near Shalem, she heedlessly associated with the Canaanitish maidens, and fell a victim to the seductive arts of Shechem, a young prince of the land; but was perfidiously and savagely avenged by Simeon and Levi, her full brothers, to the great grief of Jacob their father,  Genesis 34:1-31   49:5,7 . She seems to have gone with the family to Egypt,  Genesis 46:15 .

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Daughter of Jacob and Leah: defiled by Shechem, son of the chieftain Hamor, which led to the massacre of the Shechemites through the craftiness and cruelty of Simeon and Levi.  Genesis 30:21;  Genesis 34:1-26;  Genesis 46:15 .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 30:21 Genesis 34 Genesis 34:30 49:5-7 Genesis 46:8,15

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 30:21 Genesis 34:1JacobLeah

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Hebrews Dinah', דִּינָה , judged, i.e., vindicated, from the same root as DAN; Sept. Δεινά ; Joseph. Δεῖνα , Ant. 1:21, 1), the daughter of Jacob by Leah ( Genesis 30:21), and therefore full sister of Simeon and Levi. Born B.C. 1913. While Jacob's camp was in the neighborhood of Shechem, Dinah,, prompted by curiosity, went out "to see the daughters of the land," most probably to a festival, when she was seduced by Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite chief or head-man of the town. Her age at this time, judging by the subsequent notice of Joseph's age ( Genesis 37:2), may have been from thirteen to fifteen, the ordinary period of marriage in Eastern countries (Lane's Mod. Egypt. 1:208). Partly from dread of the consequences of his misconduct, and partly, it would seem, out of love for the damsel, he solicited a marriage with her, leaving the "marriage price", (See Marriage), to be fixed by her family. Such reparation would have been deemed sufficient under the Mosaic law ( Deuteronomy 22:28-29) among the members of the Hebrew nation. But in this case the suitor was an alien, and the crown of the offense consisted in its having been committed by an alien against the favored people of God; he had "wrought folly in Israel" ( Genesis 34:7).

The proposals of Hamor, who acted as his deputy, were framed on the recognition of the hitherto complete separation of the two peoples; he proposed the fusion of the two by the establishment of the rights of intermarriage and commerce, just as among the Romans the Jus Connubii and the Jus Commercii constituted the essence of Civitas . The sons of Jacob, bent upon revenge, availed themselves of the eagerness which Shechem showed to effect their purpose; they demanded, as a condition of the proposed union, the circumcision of the Shechemites: the practice could not have been unknown to the Hiivites, for the Phoenicians (Herod, 2:104), and probably most of the Canaanitish tribes, were circumcised. Even this was therefore yielded; and Simeon and Levi took a most barbarous advantage of the compliance by falling upon the town on the third day, when the people were disabled by the effects of the operation, and slew them all (Genesis 34). For this act of truly Oriental vindictiveness no excuse can be offered, and Jacob repeatedly alludes to it with abhorrence and regret ( Genesis 34:30;  Genesis 49:5-7). To understand the act at all, however, it is necessary to remember that any stain upon the honor of a sister, and especially of an only sister (see Niemeyer, Charakt. 2:413 sq.), is even at this day considered as an insupportable disgrace and inexpiable offense among all the nomade tribes of Western Asia. If the woman be single, her brothers more than her father — if she be married, her brothers more than her husband, are aggrieved, and are considered bound, to avenge the wrong. Hence the active vengeance of Dinah's full brothers, and the comparative passiveness of her father in these: transactions. Jacob's remark ( Genesis 49:30), however, does not imply merely guiltiness on the part of his sons in this transaction, but he dreaded the revenge of the neighboring peoples, and even of the family of Hamor, some of whom appear to have survived the massacre ( Judges 9:28). His escape, which was wonderful, considering the extreme rigor with which the laws of blood-revenge (q.v.) have in all ages prevailed in the East, is ascribed to the special interference of Jehovah ( Genesis 35:5). Josephus omits all reference to the treachery of the sons of Jacob, and explains the easy capture of the city as occurring during the celebration of a feast ( Ant. 1:21, 2). The object for which this narrative is introduced into the book of Genesis probably is partly to explain the allusion in  Genesis 49:5-7, and partly to exhibit the consequences of any association on the part of the Hebrews with the heathens about them. Ewald ( Gesch. Isr . 1:40) arbitrarily assumes an actual fusion of the nomad Israelites with the aborigines of Shechem, on the ground that the daughters of the patriarchs are generally noticed with an ethnological view. It appears from  Genesis 46:15 that Dinah continued unmarried in the patriarch's family, and accompanied him into Egypt. (See Jacob).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Di´nah, a daughter of Jacob by Leah , and therefore full sister of Simeon and Levi. While Jacob's camp was in the neighborhood of Shechem, Dinah was seduced by Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite chief or head-man of the town. Partly from dread of the consequences of his misconduct, and partly, it would seem, out of love for the damsel, he solicited a marriage with her, leaving the 'marriage price' (see Marriage) to be fixed by her family. To this Dinah's brothers would only consent on the further condition that all the inhabitants of the place should be circumcised. Even this was yielded; and Simeon and Levi took a most barbarous advantage of the compliance by falling upon the town on the third day, when the people were disabled by the effects of the operation, and slew them all (Genesis 34). For this act of truly Oriental vindictiveness no excuse can be offered, and Jacob himself repeatedly alludes to it with abhorrence and regret . To understand the act at all, however, it is necessary to remember, that any stain upon the honor of a sister, and especially of an only sister, is even at this day considered as an insupportable disgrace and inexpiable offence among all the nomad tribes of Western Asia. If the woman be single, her brothers more than her father, if she be married, her brothers more than her husband, are aggrieved, and are considered bound to avenge the wrong. Hence the active vengeance of Dinah's full brothers, and the comparative passiveness of her father in these transactions. Of Dinah's subsequent lot nothing is known.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

dı̄´na ( דּינה , dı̄nāh , "justice"): The daughter of Jacob and Leah, whose violation by Shechem, son of Hamor, caused her brothers, especially Simeon and Levi, to slay the inhabitants of Shechem, although they had induced the Shechemites to believe, if they would submit to circumcision, Shechem, the most honored of all the house of his father, would be permitted to have the maiden to whom his soul clave for wife (Gen 34:1-31). The political elements of the story (compare  Genesis 34:21-23 and   Genesis 34:30 ) suggest a tribal rather than a personal significance for the narrative.