Scripture Text: Genesis 34:1-31
Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. 2 When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. 3 He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young girl for a wife.” 5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent until they came in. 6 Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done. 8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage. 9 “Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 “Thus you shall live with us, and the land shall be open before you; live and trade in it and acquire property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me. 12 “Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; but give me the girl in marriage.” 13 But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 “Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you be circumcised, 16 then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. 17 “But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.” 18 Now their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19 The young man did not delay to do the thing, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are friendly with us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage, and give our daughters to them. 22 “Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 “Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us.” 24 All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 25 Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came upon the city unawares, and killed every male. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went forth. 27Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field; 29 and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even all that was in the houses. 30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister as a prostitute?’
A young man applied for a job at Western Union. They had an opening for a messenger boy. He made an impression on the manager, and the man was about to offer him the job when the young man said, “I have one strange quirk of personality. An unusual characteristic. I cannot deliver bad messages. Telegrams that would speak of death or misfortune or tragedy, I’ll not be able to deliver them. But,” he said, “Messages that deal with congratulations or success or birthdays or anniversaries or words of praise, I only want to deliver those types of messages. I’m sure the manager looked at the young man and said, “I can’t give you the job. Because our telegrams sometimes bear good news, and sometimes bears bad news. You have to deliver ALL kinds of messages.
The servant of God, the one who seeks to rightly divide the word of truth in the Bible cannot be like that Western Union messenger boy. My message this morning as we are studying is a frightful message. It is a terrible message. It is a fearsome message. It is the message of what happens to a life when that life decides to do away with God.
This story in this passage of scripture addresses one of the most devastating problems in the Christian life. We all have the tendency to get wrapped up in daily life to the point that we may go a whole day and not once think about God or His will in our actions. There are many challenges associated with surviving life in this culture. These challenges draw us in to a life increasingly centred around ourselves. Eventually our life becomes indistinguishable from those around us. In this story one would never suspect that anyone in it was a follower of God. Four characters were mentioned and all four did not think about God or His will in their actions. As we examine this chapter we will see at least these four life lessons. These 4 life lessons teaches us about 4 peoples that live life without God.
1. Dinah
Dinah starts down a path without God by taking reckless liberties. Dinah’s action typifies reckless liberties. She broke with the custom by going out without a chaperon. Dinah ignored dangers in a desire for her freedom. There are places one should not go. One should not go places at certain times. There are people one should not spend time with. Our flesh hungers for freedom from restraints. Our flesh justify sin “The heart wants what the heart wants.” The flesh will kick off even godly restraints in search of pleasure. Dinah’s longing for freedom created much hardship. She was raped. Many people innocent died. Our culture prizes freedom, but be aware the flesh perverts true freedom into a desire to be free even from godly restraints. The spiritual struggle of life on earth is to gain control over self. Even in the Garden of Eden the first couple refused to restrain their desire. It is the nature of man to desire to rule himself. We felt constraints that we must live our entire lives within boundaries set by others; Parents, teachers, civil authorities, and employers. Seeking freedom exposes us to temptation. These temptations make war against our soul. Please note that no rebellious soul will enter Heaven.
In February 2015, A 20 year old Japanese tourist had arrived in Jaipur, India, alone and met a man near her hotel who introduced himself as a tour guide. He offered to show her around Jaipur, famous for its grand palaces and forts. They went to a couple of places on his motorbike during the day. After showing her around, he brought her to the outskirts of the Pink City in the evening. The Japanese young lady said she was given food laced with drugs. That evening he took her to a desolate area and allegedly raped her.
I speak to young ladies and even young man. I, too have two daughters. So I speak from experience. I know you hate restraints and want liberties. You love to observe, learn about people, places, and countries and about life. The word play and visit were mentioned. You love fun and to come and go places. You can start a path of life without God by taking reckless liberties. You broke parental boundaries, custom just to seek pleasure and they can get you into troubles. The word Dinah means judgement. Pastor Carolyn just came into our office yesterday informing us concerning a young girl that told lies to her parents so that she can go places and see people that her parents may not approve of. To be honest we will not be surprised when we are informed one day that she is pregnant. That is living a life without God, even though you may be a child of God. These categories of people started a path without God by reckless liberties
2. Shechem and Hamor
Shechem and Hamor represents abusive desire and greed. Shechem saw Dinah and he wanted her so he took her. He committed a crime to get what he wanted; Rape and kidnapping. He was used to getting what he wanted. Being refused was not an option. He proclaimed, “It’s all about me and what I want.” His position shielded him from justice so he could do what was in his heart. His dad is the ruler. He was his father’s favourite son. Hamor reduced the whole situation to financial terms. He made no acknowledgement of wrongdoing on his son’s part. He assumed Jacob had the same value system that he had. He negotiated for Dinah as if negotiating for a yoke of oxen. There was NO consideration of Dinah or of the will of God. His philosophy was: Money makes the world go round.
When I was preparing this example, I immediately remember the Vizconde Massacre. The lead suspect was Hubert Webb, whose father Freddie Webb was famous as an actor, former basketball player, and former Congressman and Senator. Spurned by Carmela Vizconde, Hubert Webb, high on drugs with 6 of the children of wealthy and prominent families, broke into Vizconde house. He was used to getting what he wanted. Being refused was not an option. They stabbed Estrellita 49 year of age, the mother of Camela thirteen times. Carmela, 18 years of age, had suffered seventeen stab wounds and had been raped before she was killed; and Jennifer, 6 years of age, had nineteen stab wounds. When confronted by his parents, Hubert Webb blurted out, ‘I would not have ended up like this if you had not neglected me.’ That is living a life without God.
God as made man in HIS image; so to disrespect man is to disrespect God. The theme for our Church this year is ‘Honor God, honor all men.’ When we don’t treat person lovingly, our problem is not with that person; our problem is with God.
3. Jacob’s son
Jacob’s son were people overtaken by angry vengeance. There are a lot of angry people in this world. There are a lot of angry people in the church. When they learned what had happened to Dinah, their reaction was natural. Grief, anger, indignation. Sometimes anger is an appropriate response. One can be angry without sinning. God becomes angry at times. But the command is to control anger, not to eliminate it. I just read a bible portion yesterday. He that is slow to anger is of great understanding. But anger overtook Jacob’s sons. The brothers had hatched a wicked plan for revenge. They used circumcision, the sign of God’s covenant, in a blasphemous way. Many evil things are done in the name of religion. There is character assassination because of anger. The sons of Jacob exacted vengeance out of proportion to the crime. That is what anger does to you. You extracted retaliation/punishment out of proportion to the wrong people have done to you. In the midst many innocent peopled are harmed. You said, ‘Then what should I do; he has definitely done me wrong and harm. God reserves vengeance for Himself because only he can do it right. God alone is totally unbiased and totally just. God alone knows the hearts and minds. Taking one’s own vengeance displays a life without faith; to put it correctly, you have become godless. The bible tells me that Dinah’s brothers were very angry. The uncontrolled anger led to deceit and treachery. To put it correctly, they had ulterior motive as a result of anger. Simeon and Levi especially were mentioned that the two tribes will not assume leadership in the family of God. It is even asserted as the reason why Levi will not inherit with the other tribes, but will be dispersed throughout. They took things into their own hand. That is the result of living a life without God. When you are consumed by anger, you will not inherit leadership and you will miss the inheritance God meant for you.
4. Jacob
Jacob represent a person neglectful in his leadership. He did not show leadership prior to the confrontation. He did not demand justice when approached by those who violated Dinah. He passively listened to the offer made by the offenders. When a leader refused to take up leadership, the subordinates become frustrated. Their leader should have stood up for them. They might not have acted rashly if Jacob had shown leadership. The leader bears some of the guilt. Jacob’s reaction was fear of reprisal; peace at any price. A father, a leader must actively lead their family, the group, the church. God holds the man responsible for his family. His leadership is not tyranny, Rather he provides wise counsel, guide and protect and confront evil. A leader should not be reacting in fear of circumstances but in trust toward God. A leader should do what is right and know God promised to protect him and be with him. But Jacob seemed to be expressing doubt of his ability based on the numbers of people of Shechem and Hamor and not on the promise of God.
5. The finality of a life without God.
If we continue to live a life without God, there is a finality of life without God. There is a place where it is totally a life without God and that place is hell.
Hell is prepared for the devil; not for mankind. So I would like to inform you that God has never meant for you to be in hell. Many people do not believe in the reality of hell. Even some of Jesus’ own people do not believe in hell. Pastor Lily was sharing that the hyper grace group believe that God is such a graceful God that even the demons can be saved one day. And God is too gracious to commit us to hell. That is a heresy. At the same time it is not my job to convict people of hell. It is the job of the Holy Spirit. I just want to share with you what it is like to have a life without God finally.
This is a true story. It happened in 1998. Anette Weise woke up at 3.23 a.m. because she heard screaming. She remember it was 3.23 because she looked at the digital clock besides the bed. When she got down to the living room, she saw her husband Bill Weise, holding his head between his hands, in a foetus positon, crying out and screaming. His wife started to pray for him. When Bill came back to his senses, he told his wife Anette what happened. At 3.00 a.m. he woke up being thirsty, went from his bedroom to the living hall to get a glass of water. When he was holding the glass of water, suddenly he felt his spirit left his body. He could see his body on the floor but his spirit was outside looking at his own body. Then the Lord took him to hell and he was in hell for 23 minutes. Bill had this to say about hell.
James 1:17 says, ‘Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’ Look at all the green trees, the blue oceans and the white clouds in the sky and you say, ‘Isn’t nature so wonderful. I love the route to Antique. It is a coastal road. The fresh air, the long shore, the hills and the valley, the bamboo and the field, the Carabao, the goats, the chickens, the people walking and washing clothes. You say, ‘Isn’t nature so wonderful. But it is not Mother Nature that provided all these. It is the love of God that provided all these. So if you don’t want anything to do with God while here on earth, you have no right to any attributes of God in hell. In hell God simply withdrew his attributes. He withdrew his goodness in hell. 1 John 1:5 says, ‘God is light’. So hell is dark because he withdrew his attributes of light in hell. There is only death in hell because John 1:4 says, ‘God is life’. There is only hatred in hell because 1 John 4:16 says, ‘God is love’. In hell you will be cursing and cursing. There is no mercy in hell because Psalms 36:5 says, ‘Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.’ There is no strength in hell because Psalms 18:32 says, ‘It is the Lord that gives us strength’. There is no water in hell because Deuteronomy 11:11 says, ‘But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven.’ There is no peace in hell because Isaiah 9:6 says, ‘He is the Prince of peace.’ So if you don’t want to have anything to do with God, or you want to live a life without God, then God will remove all his attributes from you. If you remove God from your station of life, all His goods and attributes go with Him. There is no good thing apart from God. If your preferences says I don’t want God in my life, there is a place that is prepared that has nothing to do with God. Can you see why hell is so horrible? He has withdrawn his attributes from hell.
In hell the whole time you will be cursing God. You have an extreme hatred for God. You will be blaspheming and cursing God. Bill Weise says that while in hell they hate him (a child of God) with a hatred that you will never experience on earth. They absolutely hate a child of God. Have you ever in intermingling with people in this earth, suddenly realize a person just simply hate you. That is one of the characteristics of those in hell. Jesus said they hated him before they hated you. Look closely at the attributes of God that is withdrawn in hell.
There is no strength in the body. Every movement you make in hell, you have to exert all your energy. Have you ever felt weak when you have flu? All the muscles, the energy and strength simply left you. That will be a thousand times worse in hell. Because Psalms 73:26 says, ‘God is the strength of my life.’ There is a beautiful song on God is the strength of my life. That is a life without God. Acts 17:28 says, ‘For in him we live, and move, and have our being.’ So even moving comes from God. But you wanted a life without God. So in hell you don’t even have the strength to move.
You will be living in a pit and literally fire will rise out of the pit. You are kept in total isolation. You don’t get the pleasure of conversation with anyone. You are just kept apart, denied the pleasure of conversation, wasting away, with no purpose, no destiny of any kind. You are forgotten in hell.
There is no enough air to breathe. It is not like here where we can take a nice deep breath. But you don’t get to do that in hell. You have to fight to gas in even the tiniest bit of air. I demonstrate to you. This is how you have to breathe in hell in all eternity. That is as much air as you can get. It is like you going to die any second with that amount of air. Isaiah 42:5 says, ‘Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein.’
There is no rest in hell. You will be exhausted but for all eternity you will not be able to sleep. Have you ever tried working without sleep for 48 hours, two days? You will be pretty much a wreck after 2 nights. But that is how you will be in hell for eternity. Isaiah 57:20 says, ‘But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.’ Psalms 127:2 says, ‘It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.’
You have maggot on you. Isaiah 14:11 says, ‘Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.’ In hell the maggot feeds sweetly on you. If a dead animal is being eaten by maggot, after the whole flesh of the animal is consumed, the maggot dies. But in hell your flesh is never fully consumed and thus the maggot continues to eat on you for all eternity. Job 24:20 says, ‘the womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.’
You are hungry and you don’t get to eat in eternity. You will never get to eat again, ever. You don’t get to drink just one drop of water. In hell you will do anything for that drop of water like the rich man wanted the drop of water. Until today the rich man is still waiting for that drop of water, two thousand years later but he will never get it.
That is a life without God. You don’t want anything to do with God. Then God will withdraw all his attributes from you.
In conclusion, on the other hand we can have a life with God. Because Jesus went to the cross, we don’t have to go there. You must be grateful for the cross and thankful for what He did for us. Furthermore Jesus said, ‘I come that you may have life, and life abundantly.’ The live with God is an abundant life. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. The abundant life that John 10:10 speaks of is not necessarily a long life, though it may be, but it certainly is a full one. Medical science seeks to add years to our lives, but only Jesus can add life to our years. Having been both an unbeliever and a believer, having been someone who was under the devil’s plan for my life and then discovering the Lord’s plan for my life, there is no question that living the life that God wants me to live is the best life. I cannot imagine living a life without God. The life with God, propagates new life. Life has untold capacities about it – beauty, fragrance, strength, growth, variety, reproduction, resistance to death, continuity, eternity. Christ came to give it, to communicate “life to the non-living, to the dead in trespasses, and to those in their graves. But more than that, the Arabic version renders it, “that they might have eternal life. Nonnus calls it, “a life to come.’ The Greek phrase used for having it more abundantly means to have a superabundance of a thing. To be a follower of Jesus, to know who he is and what he means, is to have a superabundance of life. A Roman soldier came to Julius Caesar with a request for permission to commit suicide. He was a wretched dispirited creature with no vitality. Caesar looked at him. “Man,” he said, “were you ever really alive?” When we try to live our own lives, life is a dull, dispirited thing. When we walk with Jesus, there comes a new vitality, a superabundance of life. It is only when we live with Christ that life becomes really worth living and we begin to live in the real sense of the word.
Today if you dare to take a step of faith to ask Jesus to forgive you for your sin, and receive him as your LORD and master, I dare to ask him to plant the seed of life into your heart. This supernatural life will grow until life became such a wonderful life that you have never experienced before. Do you want it?
