John Calvin Commentary Genesis 34

And Dinah... went out. This chapter records a severe trial with which God again tested his servant. We can readily understand how precious his daughter's chastity would be to him, considering the integrity of his whole life. Therefore, when he heard that she was violated, this disgrace would inflict the deepest wound of grief on his mind. Yet soon his grief tripled when he heard that his sons, from a desire for revenge, had committed a most dreadful crime.

But let us examine everything in order. Dinah was violated because, having left her father’s house, she wandered about more freely than was proper. She should have remained quietly at home, as both the Apostle teaches and nature itself dictates. For the virtue suitable for girls, which the proverb also applies to women, is that they should be (οἰκουροὶ) or keepers of the house.

Therefore, fathers of families are taught to keep their daughters under strict discipline if they wish to protect them from all dishonor. For if vain curiosity was so heavily punished in the daughter of holy Jacob, no less danger threatens vulnerable virgins today if they go too boldly and eagerly into public gatherings and arouse the passions of youth towards themselves.

For there is no doubt that Moses partly assigns the blame for the offense to Dinah herself when he says, she went out to see the daughters of the land; whereas she should have remained under her mother’s supervision in the tent.

And his soul clave unto Dinah. Moses intimates that she was not violated so forcefully that Shechem, having once abused her, treated her with contempt, as is usual with harlots. For he loved her as a wife and did not even object to being circumcised so that he might have her. However, the fervor of lust had so prevailed that he first subjected her to disgrace.

Therefore, although he embraced Dinah with real and sincere attachment, yet, in this lack of self-control, he sinned grievously.

Shechem “spoke to the heart” of the young woman, that is, he addressed her courteously to allure her to himself with persuasive speeches: from which it follows that, when she was unwilling and resisted, he used violence against her.

And Shechem said to his father Hamor. Here it is more clearly expressed that Shechem desired to have Dinah for his wife, for his lust was not so unbridled that, when he had defiled her, he despised her. Besides, a laudable modesty is shown, since he pays deference to his father's will; for he does not attempt to form a contract of marriage on his own, but leaves this to his father’s authority.

For though he had basely fallen through the precipitate ardor of lust, yet now, returning to himself, he follows the guidance of nature. All the more, then, young men ought to take heed to themselves, lest in the slippery period of their age, the lusts of the flesh should impel them to many crimes. For, today, greater license everywhere prevails, so that no moderation restrains young people from shameful conduct.

Since, however, Shechem, under the rule and direction of nature, desired his father to arrange his marriage, we therefore infer that the right which parents have over their children is inviolable; so that those who attempt to overthrow it confound heaven and earth. Therefore, since the Pope, in honor of marriage, has dared to break this sacred bond of nature; this fornicator Shechem alone will prove a judge sufficient, and more than sufficient, to condemn that barbarous conduct.

And Jacob heard. Moses inserts a single verse concerning the silent sorrow of Jacob. We know that those who have not been accustomed to reproaches are the more grievously affected when any dishonor happens to them. Therefore, the more this prudent man had endeavored to keep his family pure from every stain, chaste, and well-ordered, the more deeply he is wounded.

But since he is at home alone, he dissembles and keeps his grief to himself until his sons return from the field. Moreover, by this statement, Moses does not mean that Jacob deferred vengeance until their return, but rather that, being alone and devoid of counsel and of consolation, he lay prostrate as one disheartened. The sense, then, is that he was so oppressed with insupportable grief that he held his peace.

By using the word “defiled,” Moses teaches us what is the true purity of humanity: namely, when chastity is religiously cultivated and everyone possesses his vessel in honor. But whoever prostitutes his body to fornication filthily defiles himself. If, then, Dinah is said to have been polluted, whom Shechem had forcibly violated, what must be said of voluntary adulterers and fornicators?

And the sons of Jacob came out of the field. Moses begins to relate the tragic outcome of this history. Shechem, indeed, had acted wickedly and impiously; but it was far more atrocious and wicked that the sons of Jacob should murder a whole people to avenge themselves for the private fault of one man.

It was by no means fitting to seek a cruel compensation for the levity and rashness of one youth by the slaughter of so many men. Again, who had appointed them judges, that they should dare, with their own hands, to execute vengeance for an injury inflicted upon them? Perfidy was also added, because they proceeded, under the pretext of a covenant, to perpetrate this enormous crime.

In Jacob, moreover, we have an admirable example of patient endurance; who, though afflicted with so many evils, yet did not lose heart under them. But chiefly we must consider the mercy of God, by which it happened that the covenant of grace remained with Jacob’s posterity.

For what seemed less suitable than that a few men, in whom such furious rage and such implacable malice reigned, should be counted among the people and the sons of God, to the exclusion of the rest of the world? We certainly see that it was not through any power of their own that they had not altogether fallen away from the kingdom of God.

From this it appears that the favor God had granted them was gratuitous, and not founded upon their merits. We also require to be treated by Him with the same indulgence, since we would utterly fall away if God did not pardon our sins.

The sons of Jacob, indeed, have a just cause for offense. They are not only affected by their own private ignominy but are also tormented by the indignity of the crime, because their sister had been dragged out from the house of Jacob, as from a sanctuary, to be violated. For they chiefly argue that it would have been wickedness to allow such disgrace among the elect and holy people.

However, out of hatred for one sin, they themselves rush furiously forward to greater and more intolerable crimes. Therefore, we must beware that, after becoming severe judges in condemning the faults of others, we do not rush heedlessly into evil. Above all, we must abstain from violent remedies that exceed the evil we desire to correct.

Which thing ought not to be done. Interpreters commonly explain this passage as meaning, “It is not fitting that such a thing should be done.” However, in my judgment, it applies more properly to the sons of Jacob, who had determined among themselves that the injury was not to be tolerated. Yet they wrongfully claim for themselves the right to take revenge. Why do they not rather reflect in this way: “God, who has received us under His care and protection, will not allow this injury to go unavenged. In the meantime, it is our role to be silent, and to leave the act of punishing, which is not placed in our hands, entirely to His sovereign will”? From this we may learn, when we are angry at the sins of other men, not to attempt anything that is beyond our own duty.