Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
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godliness, and who are more governed and influenced by their secular interest than by any principle of their religion.
19 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.
20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city,
and communed with the men of their city, saying,
21 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.
Thus many pretend to speak for a public profit, when in reality they are only speaking for their own private gain and convenience.
22 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.
23 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.
24 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 his city.
25 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.
Slaying the inhabitants of Shechem--all the males, Hamor and Shechem particularly, with whom they had been treating in a friendly manner but the other day, yet with a design upon their lives. Some think that all Jacob's sons, when they wheedled the Shechemites to be circumcised, designed to take advantage of their soreness, and to rescue Dinah from among them; but that Simeon and Levi, not content with that, would themselves avenge the injury--and they did it with a witness. Now,
(1.) It cannot be denied but that God was righteous in it. Had the Shechemites been circumcised in obedience to any