Genesis 34; Mark 5
Daily Catechism
QUESTION 9: ARE THERE MORE GODS THAN ONE?
Answer: There is only one living and true God.
Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:4; Jeremiah 10:10; Psalm 96:4-5.
Comment: There are “gods” which are idols, but they are not “living”. And there are “gods” which are angels or demons, but they are not “true” God, that is they are not eternal, infinite and unchanging. Only one God is living and true.
Genesis 34
Ready:
I left of with Moses’ account of the peaceful and joyful reunion of Jacob and Esau. Jacob has come into Canaan and he is setting up his camp and he has constructed and altar called “God, the God of Israel”.
Reading thoughts:
This chapter is a pretty gnarly account of the rape of Dinah followed by the vengeance of Jacob’s sons (Simeon and Levi) upon the Hivites by killing every male of their people. It seems that the full brothers of Dinah (all children of Leah) were incensed and perhaps the other brothers and Jacob were not intent on this plan that they carried out. I would imagine they received much help from others of their households or perhaps even other brothers but these were the leaders in this plot to avenge their sister. This sin brought great judgement upon Shechem’s people but it came through a failure of the sons of Jacob.
Key Verses:
Gen 34:1-2, 3-4, 7, 9-10, 13, 15-16, 24, 25, 30-31
I see the theme as- Jacob’s sons sinfully react to evil by returning it in excessive vengeance.
Rumination thoughts:
v1. This is not a good description of Dinah. She is becoming here a friend of the world and a friend of a people who are not God fearing. This is probably an invitation of trouble upon their house and it come to be so. Her brothers needed to be honorable and protective at this point here and counseled their sister to remain apart from the Canaanites. The family knew well not to mix with them and not to take wives from them, yet Dinah goes and becomes buddies with the women there.
v2-4. Now a prince sees her. So Dinah must be hanging out with the elite ladies or the “in crowd” or somehow is in a place to be seen by the “prince” of the land. This prince as he is nobly called sets his eyes on her and is settled to have her for himself. He seems to rape her but is also drawn to her and wants to marry her. So this guy is really something. He is overcome with a desire to take her and he disregards he wishes and he forces himself upon her but then walks to talk sweet nothings to her and take her as his bride. Times were different then but I am thinking this was pretty much ridiculous. As the test says he humiliated her by treating her in this way. He then convinces his daddy to help his get her as a bride. Perhaps a better play would have been to have presented himself to Jacob in brokenness and confessed his sin and begged forgiveness before asking for her hand in marriage. I equate this to the idea that a man who is committing fornication with his girlfriend or fiancé aught to repent and seek to correct the relationship prior to slapping a ring on the finger of his mistress. Throwing a ring on the finger is not an acknowledgement of sin and is not repentance and is not honoring to God. I don’t say the marriage is doomed but it surely begins with a sinful posture and a failure to fear the Lord. Humiliating the woman we want to marry is not a good way to begin. Honoring her and fearing God by confessing and repenting and then seeking to approach her afresh would be a better way to go.
v5-6. Here it is clear that Jacob intended to have some strong words and perhaps to do violence in some manner when he would meet up with the guilty party but he waited for his sons to return.
v7. Understandably her brothers are angry when they hear of this and they take it as an offense against their entire family.
v8-12. Here Hamor and Shechem make their case on the merits of this marriage and their is no mention of the offense. The bridegroom here is not owning up to the offense at all but they are simply trying to negotiate a marriage. There is no chance that this would be considered since Jacob knows that they are not to mix with the Canaanites but yet their answer is deceptive because of the rage in the hearts of her brothers.
v13-24. Dinah’s brothers probably felt that this was not an appropriate way to handle the offense. Slapping a ring on does not fix anything. There is no honor is this and they intend to see justice. Jacob mysteriously seems silenced or maybe overwhelmed by his sons as they take over the conversation with Hamor and Shechem. They strike a deal for marriage that requires the Hivites to all be circumcised immediately. This is pretty crazy misuse of the covenant of God…deception for the purpose of revenge at their own hands. A humble repentance before the Lord is what these people needed but this is shortcut by a death sentence hidden in a promise of peace.
v25-29. Here Simeon and Levi (the tribe that Moses and Aaron come from) lead the charge and they kill every male when they are weak and in recovery from their circumcision. Moses is the author here so he is plainly laying out the ignobility of the patriarch of his tribe from whom all the priests of Israel would come.
v30-31. Jacob is not pleased and he knows that they have just unsettled the entire land who may mobilize against them, but his sons still appeal to justice for their sister as their cause and that any price is warranted. Later Jacob withholds blessing from these two sons for this action that he condemns in chapter 49. The sons rightly notice that taking for a bride someone who was wrongfully treated is nothing more than prostitution. Again- repentance lacked.
Meaning, Implications, and Significance
1. I hear a message that reactions matter. Shechem reacted to his lust by raping Dinah and then he reacted to his sin by wanting to brush it under the rug. Simeon and Levi reacted to the dishonoring of their family by murder. And then they reacted to their sin by blaming someone else. The implication for today is that we are responsible for out reactions and they should always honor God, not our rights or our comfort. The significance for me is that I must confess and repent of sin, not blow it off. Further, I should seek to honor God and when I am angry, not sin (See Psalm 4 and consider Cain). Simeon and Levi and Cain all could have used this Psalm…to bad it had not been written.
Response:
“Private”
Reaction:
“Private”
Mark 5
Ready:
Picking up after Jesus calms the storm and proves his ability to soften soil or sink roots...
Reading thoughts:
In this chapter I see Jesus face a group of demons called “Legion”, in a man and he exorcises these demons into a herd of pigs. This is not before the demons also bow before him and acknowledge his identity as Son of the Most High God. Next Jesus is approached by a Jewish leader who indeed trusts in Jesus’ authority. This ruler appeals to Jesus asking that he come and heal his sick daughter but unlike the Roman Centurion who knew that Jesus did not need to be present to heal someone…indeed Jesus is already there (being the omnipresent Son of God- recalling the dual natures of Jesus). Jesus ends up resurrecting the 12 year old girl who died before his arrival and he tells the family to be quiet about the event. Interesting how he tells some people to go and shout it from the mountain top (like the demon possessed man) and others to say nothing (like this family).
Key Verses:
Mark 5:2, 6-7, 9, 12-13, 14, 17, 18-19, 22-24, 28-30, 34, 35-36, 38-39, 40-41, 42-43
I see the theme as- Jesus, against whom death is no match, reigns over the spirits of demons and man.
Rumination thoughts:
v1-20. The familiar account of Jesus casting the demons into the swine. Again Mark hits the reader with another account of demons rightly ascribing Jesus with deity and showing fear of his authority. Like Satan asking permission to destroy Job’s riches and family the demons ask permission to enter the swine, which is the wealth of the people of this region. Jesus permits them and this ends up bringing a frenzy of people who, although they are amazed at what Jesus has done, are blinded by the loss of their pigs and beg him to leave because they seem to value their wealth more than whatever this Jesus has to offer. Jesus even tells the healed man to go and tell everyone what has happened and perhaps this is to further test the reaction of the locals in regard to this swine loss and to let them decide if they value the healed man more or less than the swine. Jesus here displays full authority over demonic spirits and next he will do it with a human spirit. This man’s body was being ruled by evil spirits and there will be a little girl who’s body is ruled by death…both of which are ruled by Jesus.
v21-24. A Jewish leader named Jairus comes to Jesus and begs him to lay hands on his daughter who is about to die. Jesus agrees and goes with him. Unlike the Centurion who compelled Jesus to heal from where he stood respecting his ultimate authority to bring his will about from any distance, this Jew perceived great power in Jesus but not the kind of authority that the Centurion saw.
v25-35. An interlude here to the story of Jairus’ daughter, perhaps in order to give her time to die. A great crowd slows them down and a woman is healed by merely touching Jesus’ garment. She had a discharge of blood for 12 years and was only getting worse with all the help that human physicians could offer her. In the next passage we will see that the little girl is twelve years old and it would appear that this woman has been ill for the entirety of Jairus’ daughter’s life, which has ended at about the time that the woman is healed. The story of Jesus speaking to the woman and advising her that her faith has healed her is interrupted by the messengers telling them that the girl is dead. This detail (or connection in the stories) may not be important and may have no discernible meaning (not one that I can see) but seems notable.
v36-43. Straight off Jesus tells Jairus to not fear, but believe. Perhaps the meaning of the 12 years of illness healed in a moment by the mere touch of his garment was to strengthen the faith of Jairus who would in but a moment face the massive faith tester of learning of his daughter’s death. Perhaps Jesus allowed the delay of the crowd and the woman’s unique healing in order to bring about this faith tester/builder for Jairus. In this moment Jairus can fear that Jesus is no longer able to heal her or he can believe that Jesus can do what he said he would do by agreeing to come with him in the first place. The woman in the crowd was sick for twelve years and all the human help to be offered made her worse, but she is now healed by the touch of Jesus’ garment. I am sure Jairus, who has apparently hired professional mourners was wealthy enough to hire physicians to care for his daughter and yet she also got worse and not better. Perhaps Jesus intended for Jairus, or at least me, to see the connection and to know that Jesus is able. Man strives to maintain health and is unable…man strives to maintain wealth and security (the pigs) and is unable. When they get to the house Jesus knows there is no true compassion in the hearts of the mourners and he simply puts them out to deal with the family. He speaks to them in obscure language that might be part of his plan to not broadcast what occurs here (except by later writing in the case of Mark’s gospel account). Jesus resurrects the little girl and the family is overcome with amazement. He says to her “rise” but he would not be speaking to an empty body would he? Jesus speaks to the girl herself, who is a disembodied spirit. Better documented by Luke, the girl’s spirit is directed by Jesus to return to her body (Luke 8:54-55). Jesus then charges them strictly to tell no one about what happened. I take this to be due to the point of his ministry still being early and looking at what happened in the aftermath of the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:47-48) it is clear that such a miracle brings immediate reaction from the Jewish Council. Jesus has a distinct plan and purpose for what he is doing and when he is doing it.
Meaning, Implications, and Significance
1. I hear the message that Jesus has authority over life and death and over the embodiment and disembodiment of spirits. The implication is that the spirit has certain authority over the body that it resides in but the spirit ultimately answers to Jesus. The significance to me is that as an embodied spirit myself, I have responsibility for what I do with my body and what I do with it reveals the condition of my spirit (soul). My spirit is what matters to Jesus and I can’t let the limitations of my body define me. I may be strong or weak, short or tall, healthy or ill, but Jesus reigns and my soul belongs to him (Rom 14:7-9). Let me worship God with this body (Rom 12:1-2) because I (my soul that is) am a child of God (Rom 8:15-17) and I look forward, in great hope, to Jesus granting me a new (spiritual) body in heaven (Rom 8:23-25, 1 Cor 15:40-44). Therefore my hope is indeed not in what I see in the mirror but in the great God who made me and put me here in this body and so I can wait with patience in well doing, pursuing 1. the glory of God, 2. his honor in my life, and 3. a future immortality (Rom 2:6-7).
Response:
“Private”
Reaction:
“Private”
Soli Deo Gloria!
