Genesis 34

So thank you for being a part of HeartStrong and really making it so, so special as we continue to lean into God's word and grow in relationship with him and with each other.

And so this morning, as Francesca said, we will be looking at Genesis chapter 33 and 34.

And so I'm just going to walk through the chapters verse by verse.

So we're going to read through them and pause along the way every few verses for chapter 33.

So let's start in verse 1, Genesis chapter 33.

And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming and 400 men with him.

So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants.

See, both Jesus' parable and this story begin with a breaking of relationship.

whatever it is that you may be dealing.

So Genesis 34, we see where Dinah was 15 years old when this happened.

The raha is, it equals wanting to see or learn.

That's a Hebrew statement.

And what does that look like? We're doing really well on time.

If you can turn to Genesis 34, if you don't know your way around scripture, that's okay.

But Genesis 34, we were just in this passage.

This is going to really help us a little bit.

I think it's going to help to kind of give us a picture, a good biblical illustration about what Jesus is talking about, our blessed are the meek and what that means.

Mankind is sinful and depraved.

And this is a depraved passage.

Genesis 34, it says, And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

Man has given men, generally speaking, strength in order to protect, not harm, and that is the way the Lord Jesus used his supreme strength.

But unfortunately, it's not always what we see in the world, and it's not what we see here in the life of Jacob in Genesis 34.

So I want to acknowledge as we come to this passage of Scripture that it arouses strong emotions, and it's actually not necessarily pleasant to think about.

Generally in church, we come along and we're looking to be uplifted, and we want to think about something that's pleasant, which is fair enough.

And so Dinah's brothers took over negotiations and they implemented a violent scheme.

Now, you can read about this in the rest of chapter 34.

Remember, each week in this series on Genesis, we've been reading a section that's been printed in our service outline, but we've been covering a larger section.

Today, we're covering three chapters.

Genesis chapter number 34.

Genesis 34.

Like I said, I'm going to go back to the past and come back to the future.

Let's look at a very important story.

Leah.

If I picture Jacob, I will picture that whenever there is a problem in the house, he will say, children of Leah, I have known, I have known.

Did I cry to marry your mother? Was it not just what happened? Genesis 34 from verse 1.

And Diana, the

There is a painful story.

And this will take us again to Genesis 34.

You remember Simeon and Levi, and Levi acted violently at Shechem.

They convinced the men to circumcise when they had raped Dinah.

And once they were circumcised, they attacked them and slaughtered them.

You remember that story? Painful story.

Fast-forward from Genesis 34.

In Genesis 3, chapter 49, Israel is dying, and he's blessing his children.