Thru the Bible

Steve Shwedz: It's a great day to be in God's word together. In our five-year journey through the Bible, we're at the beginning, the book of Genesis, focusing on the Old Testament patriarch Jacob. As we think about his spiritual progress, just think for a second about your own. What was your relationship with God like, say, 20 years ago?

In Genesis 34, Jacob has come a long way since leaving home two decades earlier. He's yielded his life to God, but now his past sins are coming back to haunt him. As our Bible teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee liked to put it, the chickens are coming home to roost. Let's hear some important words about Bible study now from Dr. McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: This is an important chapter, so stay tuned in and let me make this statement. Many of you new folks are joining us in going through the Bible. We're delighted to have you aboard our Bible Bus. Therefore, let me say this to you. If you want the study of the Bible to be meaningful to you, first of all, read the scripture that we're studying as we go along.

There is no substitute today or a shortcut to studying the Bible. We've come through a period where we want to take it easy and so we've had little gimmick programs of going through the Bible in a hurry. Well, believe me, my friend, you can't go through the word of God in a hurry. It even took the Lord seven days to make the heaven and the earth, and he was able to do it in just a moment. But he took a lot of time for him.

Today, you can't take a little seminar and hope to become an authority on the word of God and solve all your problems. God gave 66 books, and the only way is to study those 66 books. Read the scripture. Get the notes that we provide. If you don't have a copy, write in and get them. Listen to the program. Listen to it regularly. Pray for yourself. Pray for the program. Pray for this ministry. We are trying to get the word out yonder to the ends of the world and tell others about it. Tell your friends and your neighbors.

Steve Shwedz: Dr. McGee never knew about our world prayer team, but he certainly would've been the first person to raise his hand and say, "Count me in." Prayer was and still is the best way that you can partner with us. And we'd like to invite you to join our world prayer team. It includes thousands, myself included, who travel the world on our knees every day.

If you'd like to receive a short daily prompt to pray along with great stories of how God's at work through our program and prayers, you can sign up at ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE for some information. And when we get to heaven someday, who knows what we're going to discover about how God was at work through our intercession. I honestly can't wait to hear those stories. Now let's pray and get to our study.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of this time that we have together with you. Give us ears to hear from you now and an openness for your spirit's prompting. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now if you have your Bible today, friends, will you turn with us to the 34th chapter of the book of Genesis. Genesis 34. I hope those notes and outlines we sent out are there before you. And if not, we'd like to send you a copy if you'll just write in and ask for yours. We have one here for you.

If you've found your place here in the 34th chapter of Genesis, you recognize that we're still talking about Jacob. A great deal is said about Jacob. He's a very colorful character, and he certainly keeps up the interest. In the family that he has, there is one thing that stands out as something is always happening. There's not a dull moment. They continually give us quite a bit of excitement.

There are such great spiritual lessons that are here for us. Now we are coming to this, though, that is very sad and sordid. The 34th chapter is not a very pretty chapter. In fact, we have three chapters in the book of Genesis that are not pretty at all, and do you know that they all concern the children of Leah? Leah, the eldest daughter of Laban that was given to Jacob.

I think this gives evidence of the fact that God does not approve plurality of marriages. The very fact this was forced on Jacob to a certain extent, but that didn't make it right by any means. We find here that Jacob at least went along with it. We find here in this section that the children of Leah are all involved in sin. She had four boys: Simeon and Levi, and also Judah. In the 35th chapter, we're coming to another one of the sons and that concerns Reuben, the firstborn.

Every one of her sons turned out rather badly, at least sin in their lives. Now there is something else to note here. We're dwelling on the families. God is putting an emphasis there. We've said a great deal about the strife that's in all of these families. But now you notice another element that has entered in, and that is there is a sordidness, there is a shoddiness that has seeped into the family of Jacob that was not in the family of Abraham or Isaac. There was a great deal of difficulty and they had problems, but nothing like we have here now.

This again reveals the fact that God wanted to get this man Jacob and his family out from the home of Laban, out from that atmosphere. Because of the very atmosphere, that gave the background for these awful sins that are mentioned here. Will you notice as I read this section here. This man Jacob has stopped here at Shechem and he has bought him a nice little place out in the suburban area of town, and he is attempting to orient himself with the culture of that day.

It wasn't a good place, and God wants to separate this man from that area. Believe me, after you read this chapter, you come to the conclusion he better separate him. I'm reading: "And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land." She went visiting in this town of Shechem. "And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her."

Or let me put it in the language that the papers of today, the news media, would say: that he raped her. If they can say it in print today and on radio and television, certainly this poor preacher can say it. I think the pulpit today has become weak because it's not strong, because it doesn't at least use the language of the day in which we live. I do not mean the slang, but there's a lot of strong language that needs to be used today. Sin needs to be spelled out.

There was a time when sin was sin. Now they've taken the "s" off of it and you're in the "in-group" today if you're a sinner. But that's not the way God spells sin. He still spells it with a capital S, a capital I, and a capital N. You'll notice that "I" is right in the middle of the word. That's where all of us are. Now this is the sordid story that we have before us. The very interesting thing is that the boy, Shechem, was apparently in love with the girl and would have married her.

Notice verse three: "And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel." He really wanted to marry her and would have married her. "And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor saying, Get me this damsel to wife. And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done."

We certainly agree that it should not have been done, but it had been. Now the fellow wants to marry her. Well, I tell you when Jacob heard it, he called for these twelve boys of his to come in and they had a war council. I'm of the opinion that Jacob probably should not have made as much of it. When Hamor the father of Shechem came out to him, it's obvious what he came for. He wanted to get the girl for his son's wife.

Jacob probably should have yielded to that because that was, shall I say, the best way out at the time. It's certainly the thing they did that wasn't the best way by any means, and God did not approve of it. "And Hamor communed with them saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you." Frankly, that would have been wrong. But this, I think, would have been right because of what had transpired and taken place, that is that probably Dinah should have been given to him.

Will you notice now what happened: "And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein." All of this reveals that Jacob is going to have to move on, that this is no place for him, mixing with these people in the land. "And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife. And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister."

I feel like Jacob here should have had certainly a little bit more to say to restrain these boys of what they're going to do because they're deceiving the man. "And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us." The thing that disturbs me about the incident is that the sin that's been committed isn't the reproach, but the fact that he was a foreigner made it difficult or impossible to give her as a wife.

"But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised; Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people." Now this is the thing that they are to do: go through the ritual of circumcision. This ought to be a warning today to a great many. I know a fellow that married a girl. He told her that he would accept the Lord.

In fact, they came in for counseling and asked me to perform the ceremony. I of course would not, with him not being a Christian. She claimed she would not marry him unless he became a Christian. Well, when he came in, I talked with him. He said he would accept Christ. Then we had prayer, and then I asked him, I said, "Now what have you really done?" I never heard such humming and hawing, beating around the bush as this boy did.

I very frankly said right before him, I said, "Young lady, I'll not perform the ceremony. I don't think the young man is converted." Well, they felt like I was being very harsh and they went down the street and got another preacher. He performed the ceremony. She told me later that she tried to get him to go to church. Of course he had a good reason for not coming to hear me preach because I'd been so cruel to him.

She agreed to go to another church and they went two or three times. Finally he just said to her point blank, he said, "Really, I'm not a Christian." Well, just to go through the ceremony even of saying you trust Christ doesn't mean you have. Joining the church. I find a great many people today, they think if they just nod the head, faith doesn't seem to mean very much to them. It's a tremendous experience, friends, to trust Christ as your savior. There's nothing quite like it. Nothing to compare to it in this world.

When you trust Christ as savior, he does something for you. He didn't do anything for that boy. You know Mark Twain had the same experience. He was not a Christian and he was in love with a very beautiful, wonderful Christian girl. She would not marry him until he became a Christian. He professed that he accepted Christ as his savior and they started out that way. Mark Twain became very famous, as you know, and he was entertained by all of the famous people of the world. He moved in that society.

One day when he came back to his home in Missouri, he said to her when she wanted to go to church, he said, "Look," and calling her by the pet name that he had for her, he said, "Look, I can't keep up the front any longer. You go on to church. I know now I'm not a Christian." May I say that that made a very unhappy home and it absolutely spoiled the life of this lovely Christian girl. Now here are these men saying, "If you'll go through the rite of circumcision, it'll make everything all right."

A great many people think, "Well, if you join the church, nod your head, and be able to use the right vocabulary and quote the right verse, that means you're a Christian." My friend, that doesn't mean you're a Christian. If you've trusted Christ, something's happened and things are different now if you've trusted him. Now the very interesting thing is, notice what happened: "And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor's son. And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter: and he was more honorable than all the house of his father."

I would say this boy's doing the honorable thing at this point. "And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city and communed with the men of their city, saying, These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us."

In other words, they expected really to rob Jacob before it was over. They're going through the ceremony for everyone except the boy who wanted to marry the girl. It was as phony as it could be, like just joining the church when you're not converted. "And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of the city. And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males."

This was really trickery, let me tell you. Dinah's brothers were Simeon and Levi. They were full brothers that wanted to get revenge. Notice their revenge. They go a little too far. The very fact that Hamor intended to dispossess Jacob and his sons of the great wealth which Jacob had accumulated in Haran, it doesn't justify the brutal act of Simeon and Levi. But it does reveal the impossible situation of dealing with the inhabitants of that land.

The thing they've done is a very terrible thing. Now notice: "They slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister." The other sons joined in on this. This reveals something in the family of Jacob, as you can see, that's not right and that they had learned in the home of Laban.

"They took their sheep, their oxen, their asses, that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, and all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house. And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites, the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house."

Again notice something that is obviously wrong here in the life of Jacob. Jacob rebukes Simeon and Levi for giving him a bad name. He says, "Why, they'll all be after me." He doesn't rebuke them for the sin that they've committed. That is the interesting thing here. We get today a wrong perspective, I think, sometimes of sin and of our actions. We think of the effect that it's going to have. Now we have in the churches today many men and women, for that matter, they won't take a stand on certain issues. Why? Well, the little crowd they run with may not accept them. They are with a little clique, and they don't dare stand for anything that the little clique wouldn't stand for.

It's never a question of whether it's right or wrong. It's a question of whether it ingratiates me to the crowd. God have mercy today on Christians that shape their lives by those that are around them and are constantly looking for the effect their conduct's going to have on others. They don't look on whether this is the right thing or the Christian thing or, as a child of God, is this something I should do or not do. That's the reason our churches are filled today with those who compromise and little wonder that today we have so many frustrated, unhappy Christians.

I tell you, it's a wonderful thing to stand for the truth today. When you stand for it, that you don't have to compromise. My, how wonderful it is when we'll do that. Poor old Jacob, he's growing, but he hasn't grown that far. You may be sure of that. "And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?" Well, it's a good question. I would say that if they wanted to take the judgment in their own hands, they first of all should have heard this boy out and let him marry their sister. It wouldn't be the right thing to do in the sense that it would be the best thing to do under the circumstances. But it's not the right thing, by any means.

It's the only thing to do under the circumstances, and certainly that would have been better than to go to the extreme of murdering, and that's what it amounted to, the inhabitants of that land. Friends, there's no excuse that can be offered, and I hope no one's attempting to justify these men. I certainly am not. I have no defense to offer for them at all. They should not have done the thing that they did here.

We must understand that they are not living in the light of Romans 12. Romans 12, beginning at verse 19, says: "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

The whole thing boils down to this particular thing here, and that is for a Christian today, Romans 12 is the policy that we should follow. The very minute we attempt to take revenge or get vengeance today, it means we're no longer walking by faith. We're saying we can't trust God to work this out. Very candidly, I'm not sure that you could bring these boys and certainly Jacob up to that level at this particular time. You cannot justify this terrible deed that they have committed here. You can well understand that they're acting because of their feeling for their sister and the shame that it brought upon the family.

So you see that this boy Jacob now is beginning to see that a whole lot of chickens come home to roost, not just a few. After this experience, this man Jacob now goes on back to Bethel. God calls him back to Bethel, and it's time that he get back to Bethel, by the way. We'll get into that chapter next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Shwedz: Well, you know we've got a plethora of Bible study resources available for you in our app and over at ttb.org, and most of them are for free, including our monthly newsletter, where you'll get more insight from God's word as well as some helpful study tips and exciting stories of how God's using his word around the world. So take some time to wander through all the great things over at ttb.org. If you're looking for maybe a specific resource by Dr. McGee, you can always call us, 1-800-65-BIBLE, if we can help, or drop a note in our app.

Again, that's ttb.org, 1-800-65-BIBLE, or drop a note in our app. I do warn you, though, once you start looking, you're going to find yourself going deeper and deeper into God's word. At least that's our hope and prayer. When you're in touch, please mention the call letters of your radio station if you listen that way, or if you listen by app, online, or any other method, tell us that, too. This little bit of information really does help us to be good stewards of your financial support. Now as the Bible bus rolls along, we're going to continue our walk beside Jacob on his Genesis journey. I'm Steve Shwedz, and I'll be here saving a seat just for you.

Through the Bible exists to take God's whole word to the whole world, and we invite you to stand with us with your faithful prayer and financial support. Where will God's word go today?