Dinah and her brothers (Genesis 34-36) – Rev. Andrew Schmidt

You'll recall that Jacob has now begun to settle back into the promised land after his 20 years up in Paddan Aram and his eventful journey home.

He's got away from Laban, his controlling father-in-law.

He's now got away from Esau, his brother who had a grudge against him.

He spent some time in Succoth, and now he's finally crossed the Jordan and traveled a little bit further west and found a place called Shechem to pitch his tent.

And again, I provided you with a little map, which shows Shechem as the place where he begins and most of the action takes place that we look at today.

But then towards the end of or during chapter 35, he'll travel away from Shechem toward the south.

Now in Shechem, he's built an altar, and so he's trying to make himself at home.

Opposite the place where he's pitched his tent, there is a city, really a walled village, called Shechem.

It's a bit confusing because Shechem's the name of the city.

It's also the name of the son of the ruler of the city who does the bad thing in this chapter.

Now from Shechem's dad, Hamor, the ruler of the town of Shechem, Jacob has purchased a plot of ground where he is pitching his tent.

And so for Jacob, this relationship with Hamor is an important one.

Hamor's the chief of the city, and Jacob has already done some business with him.

That makes what is about to happen very awkward for Jacob.