Read Genesis 34:1-31 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph division
Gen 34:1-31 {p} Defilement with Canaanites
The Gen 34:1-31 chiastic structure (minus the A pair).
The Gen 32:3-34:31 strong theme.
Original Hebrew
Humbled is Strong’s H6031, anah, a primitive root meaning to bestow labor upon, to plow, to depress, to oppress. The ancient Hebrew pictographs are the ayin + nun + hey:
ayin = the eye, thus watch, know, shade
nun = the seed, thus continue, heir, son
hey = the man with upraised arms, thus look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath
The story the ancient pictographs are telling, is of watching (ayin) continually (nun) since invested (hey) in the outcome. To bestow labor upon: when you are invested in the outcome, you carefully watch over the progress of the work. To plow: man’s earliest labor with which he was invested, was growing food (Gen 3:17-19). So the corollary meaning of to plow is from the labor of implanting the ground with seed. To depress, oppress: a corollary of to plow, because in order to plant the seed, a depression must be made in the ground with the plow share. The plowshare forces a depression in the surface of the ground.
Thus it is telling that this is the Hebrew word used to convey what happened to Dinah. Shechem knew (ayin) Dinah, forcing her to accept his biological seed (nun + hey) as the ground is forced to accept agricultural seed. It is also instructive that the most accurate translation from Hebrew is “humbled.”
And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have humbled her. Deu 21:14
If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor’s wife; so you shall put away the evil from among you. Deu 22:23-24
… then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife because he has humbled her; he shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days. Deu 22:29
Although Shechem told his father, Jacob, and Dinah’s brothers that he loved Dinah, love does not oppress the object of one’s affection. Shechem’s act was the Canaanite or worldly counterfeit for love.
Defiled is Strong’s H2930, tame, a primitive root meaning to pollute. The ancient Hebrew pictographs are the tet + mem + aleph:
tet = the basket, thus surround, contain, hold, mud
mem = the water, thus chaos, mighty, blood
aleph = the ox head, thus strength, power, leader
The story the ancient pictographs are telling is of a basket or bowl containing (tet) water (mem), which was used to wash food, dishes, clothes, or people when they had become powerfully (aleph) contaminated with dirt, as normal contact with dirt was brushed off.
Shechem might have believed his treatment of Dinah was worthy of a husband toward his wife, but his counterfeit love oppressed, humbled, and polluted her.
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