Genesis 32-34

 Vengeance belongs to the LORD, sin has far reaching natural and spiritual consequences. Shechem sinned against God and Dinah personally which had far reaching consequences within both families resulting in the ruthless slaughter of every man in the city of Shechem by Dinah’s brothers Levi and Simeon. The sin of one man, and all sexual sin for that matter, will directly impact others. Even if there was no formal covenantal law from God regarding proper sexual conduct, we know God’s intent for sex in the sole context of marriage as evidenced in Genesis 2 as reiterated by Jesus in chapter 19 of the gospel of Matthew. We know that even without a written law that the requirements of the moral law are written on the heart of mankind.

Romans 2:15 “The requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bear witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them.”

While there are layers of cultural context to this account and the motivations behind Shechem’s sin, the bottom line is this: the wages of sin is death and while calamity is not the outcome of sin, sin has very real spiritual and natural results, for Shechem the vengeance of Levi and Simeon bringing justice to right the defilement wrong inflicted on their precious sister yielded the calamity of death. 


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