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Genesis 34

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1 Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

2 Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her.

3 His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady.

4 Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, "Get me this young lady as a wife."

5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter; and his sons were with his livestock in the field. Jacob held his peace until they came.

6 Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him.

7 The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; a which thing ought not to be done.

8 Hamor talked with them, saying, "The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.

9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

10 You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it."

11 Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give.

12 Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife."

13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,

14 and said to them, "We can't do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us.

15 Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised;

16 then will we give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.

17 But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our sister, and we will be gone."

18 Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor's son.

19 The young man didn't wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was honored above all the house of his father.

20 Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, and talked with the men of their city, saying,

21 "These men are peaceful 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 to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.

22 Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people, if every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised.

23 Won't their livestock and their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let us give our consent to them, and they will dwell with us."

24 All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor, and to Shechem his son; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

25 It happened on the third day, when they were sore, that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males.

26 They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went away.

27 Jacob's sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.

28 They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which was in the city, that which was in the field,

29 and all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones and their wives, and took as plunder everything that was in the house.

30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house."

31 They said, "Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?"

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 4502

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4502. And took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went forth. That this signifies that they took away the affection of truth, is evident from the representation of Dinah, as being the affection of truth (see above, n. 4498). It is according to the proximate internal sense that they took away the affection of truth from those who were of the remains of the Most Ancient Church, because it is said that they “took her out of Shechem’s house,” “Shechem’s house” signifying the good of the truth of that church. But as the subject treated of is the extirpation of truth and good among the descendants of Jacob who are here signified by his sons, and as all things are to be taken in application to the subject treated of, therefore by “Shechem’s house” is here signified simply the good of truth such as had existed with the man of the Most Ancient Church; and what is signified is that this was extinguished in the nation sprung from Jacob; for in the internal sense of the Word the signification of the names and words is determined by the subject to which they are applied; yet here there is at the same time signified the breaking down of the good and truth with Hamor and Shechem and his family, because they acceded to externals, as shown above (n. 4493).

[2] That what has thus far been unfolded about Simeon and Leviticus is really so, may be seen from the prophetic utterances of Jacob just before his death:

Simeon and Leviticus are brethren, instruments of violence are their swords; let not my soul come into their secret, in their congregation let not my glory be united, for in their anger they slew a man, and in their pleasure they unstrung an ox; cursed be their anger, for it was vehement, and their fury, for it was grievous; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel (Genesis 49:5-7);

by “Simeon and Levi” are signified the truth of faith which with the descendants of Jacob was turned into falsity, and the good of charity which was turned into evil (as shown above, n. 4499, 4500). They are called “brethren” because good is the brother of truth, or charity is the brother of faith (n. 4498). “Instruments of violence are their swords” signifies that falsities and evils inflicted violence on truths and goods (n. 4499). “Let not my soul come into their secret, in their congregation let not my glory be united” signifies disjunction as to life and doctrine, for in the Word “soul” is predicated of life (n. 1000, 1040, 1742, 3299), and “glory” of doctrine. “For in their anger they slew a man, and in their pleasure they unstrung an ox” signifies that in evil of set purpose they extinguished the truth of the church and the good of the church (for a “man” is the truth of the church, n. 3134, and an “ox” is its good, n. 2180, 2566, 2781). “Cursed be their anger, for it was vehement, and their fury, for it was grievous” signifies the penalty for turning away from truth and good (for “to curse” is to turn one’s self away, and also to be punished therefor, n. 245, 379, 1423, 3530, 3584; “anger” is a turning away from truth, and “fury,” from good, n. 357, 3614). “I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel” signifies that goods and truths will no longer be in the external and the internal of their church (“to divide” and “to scatter” denote to separate and to extirpate from them, n. 4424; “Jacob” is the external of the church, and “Israel” the internal, n. 4286).

[3] These things were said of Simeon and Leviticus in that prophecy because by them is signified the truth and good of the church in general; but when these have become null and void, and still more when falsities and evils succeed in their place, the church is then extinct. That such is the meaning of these prophetic words is evident from the fact that the tribe of Simeon and the tribe of Leviticus were not cursed above the other tribes; for the tribe of Leviticus was taken for the priesthood, and the tribe of Simeon was among the other tribes of Israel as one of them.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.