John Gill Commentary Genesis 34

Ver. 1 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob
Genesis 34:2

And when Shechem the son of Hamor
From whom the city had its name, near which Jacob and his family now were:

the Hivite, prince of the country ;
Hamor was an Hivite, which was one of the nations of the land of Canaan, and this man was the prince or aprincipal man of that nation, as well as of Shechem. Josephus ^F3 calls him a king: when the son ofthis man

saw her ;
that is, Dinah, what a beautiful person she was, and was enamoured with her:

he took her :
by force, as the Targum of Jonathan:

and lay with her, and defiled her ;
or "humbled" or "afflicted her" ^F4 ; and it is a rule with the Jews, that every such act, which isdone by force, is called an humiliation and affliction ^F5 : the child begotten in this act offornication is said ^F6 by them to be Asenath, who was had into Egypt, and brought up byPotipherah's wife as her daughter, and afterwards married to Joseph, (Genesis 41:45Genesis 41:50) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 21. sect. 1.)
• F4: (hneyw) , (kai etapeinwsen authn) , Sept. & afflixit eam, Pagninus, Montanus.
• F5: Gerundensis apud Munster, & Drusium in loc.
• F6: Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 33. fol. 42. 2.)

And when Shechem the son of Hamor, from whom the city had its name, near which Jacob and his family now were: the Hivite, prince of the country; Hamor was a Hivite, which was one of the nations of the land of Canaan, and this man was the prince or a principal man of that nation, as well as of Shechem. Josephus ^F3 calls him a king.

When the son of this man saw her; that is, Dinah, what a beautiful person she was, and was enamoured with her: he took her: by force, as the Targum of Jonathan:

and lay with her, and defiled her; or "humbled" or "afflicted her" ^F4; and it is a rule with the Jews, that every such act, which is done by force, is called an humiliation and affliction ^F5: the child begotten in this act of fornication is said ^F6 by them to be Asenath, who was had into Egypt, and brought up by Potipherah's wife as her daughter, and afterwards married to Joseph, (Genesis 41:45Genesis 41:50) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 21. sect. 1.)
• F4: (hneyw) , (kai etapeinwsen authn) , Sept. & afflixit eam, Pagninus, Montanus.
• F5: Gerundensis apud Munster, & Drusium in loc.
• F6: Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 33. fol. 42. 2.)

And his soul cleaved to Dinah the daughter of Jacob
His inclination was to her, she was always in his thoughts; it was not a mere lustful desire that was suddenly raised, and soon over, but a constant and continued affection he bore to her, as follows:

and he loved the damsel ;
sincerely and heartily:

and spoke kindly to the damsel ;
or "to the heart" ^F7 of her, such things as tended to comfort her, she being sad and sorrowful; or to soften her mind towards him, and take off the resentment of it to him, because of the injury he had done her, and to gain her good will and affection, and her consent to marry him;

professing great love to her, promising her great things, what worldly grandeur and honour she would be advanced to, and how kindly he would behave towards her; which might take with her, and incline her to yield to his motion, which having obtained, he took the following method.

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: (bl le) "ad cor", Pagninus, Vatablus, Drusius, Schmidt; super cor, Montanus, Munster; "cordi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

And Shechem spoke to his father Hamor
And told him the whole affair, at least what a strong affection he had for Dinah:

saying, get me this damsel to wife ;
by which he meant not only that he would give his consent that he might marry her, but that he would get her parents' consent to it, and settle the matter with them; by which it appears how early, and that even among Heathen nations, consent of parents on both sides was judged necessary to marriage. It seems by this as if Dinah was now detained in the house of Hamor or Shechem, and was upon the spot, or near at hand, when Shechem addressed his father about her, see (Genesis 34:26) .

And Jacob heard that he has defiled Dinah his daughter
That is, that Shechem had defiled her; the report of this was brought him very probably by one of the maids which attended her to the city; for it was hardly to be thought that she should go there alone, and which must be very distressing to Jacob to hear of: this was his first affliction in his own family, but it was not the only one, nor the last, others quickly followed:

now his sons were with his cattle in the field ;
he had bought, or in some other hired by him for his cattle, feeding and keeping them, being arrived to an age fit for such service; here they were when the above report was brought to Jacob:

and Jacob held his peace until they were come ;
neither murmuring at the providence, but patiently bearing the chastisement; nor reflecting upon Leah for letting Dinah go out, or not keeping a proper watch over her; nor saying anything of it to any in the family; nor expressing his displeasure at Shechem, nor vowing revenge on him for it, nor taking any step towards it until his sons were come home from the field; with whom he chose to advise, and whose assistance he would want, if it was judged necessary to use force to get Dinah out of the hands of Shechem, or to avenge the injury done her.