Welcome to a year in the Bible with daily grace. The Bible tells one big story of redemption.

And we want to spend five minutes every day journeying through the Bible from start to

finish and exploring how all of it points to Jesus.

Hey, hey, welcome back to a year in the Bible of daily grace. Now, before we start, I want

to go ahead and warn you to use discretion when listening to today's episode.

Today's passage references sexual abuse. So if you or someone nearby is uncomfortable

discussing this topic, he would advise you to go ahead and turn off the episode.

So my name is Joanna Kimbrill and I am your host through the book of Genesis. So right

now, Jacob is on his way to Bethel, but he is moving very slowly instead of moving quickly

to answer God's call. And that decision to settle in Shechem puts his daughter, Dina,

in a vulnerable place. The prince of the land, Shechem saw her, desired her, and raped

her. And then he wanted to marry her. Now, it is important for us to note here that

the text is very clear that this is an outrageous thing that must not be done.

Jacob is a terrible sin that is never okay. Now, Jacob's sons are livid, but Shechem's father

tries to justify it by saying that Shechem longs for her and tries to get them to give her over

to the man who raped her as his wife. So Jacob's sons come up with a plan. They tell him that if all

the males become circumcised, then Shechem can have Dina. So everyone was circumcised,

but then three days later, when the men were sore from their procedure and not able to fully engage,

they killed all the males and plundered their city and took women and children captive.

Now, please hear me. The rape of Dina was a terrible sin, but rather than dealing with the sin

appropriately and proportionately, they killed a city full of people. This was not a proper response,

and if this chapter shows us anything, it's that people are capable of so much sin.

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