The Grim Parodies of Sin (Genesis 33:18-34:31)

This morning’s text, Genesis 34, is about Dinah: the violence done to her, the plans others made for her, the revenge against her abuser that her brothers undertook. And yet, even though she is the main character of this passage, Dinah is silent. We don’t have any record of her words, her thoughts, or her feelings. She is acted upon. God is also silent in this passage of Scripture. He does not intervene to save Dinah from her violation. He does not interrupt Simeon and Levi’s violent plans. He does not condemn Jacob for his appalling indifference toward his family. It is in these moments of silence (from the oppressed and from God) that we must look to the cross for God’s answer to suffering and despair. It was in the silence after Jesus’ final breath that God was most active in saving his people in their sins and distress. It is in the silence of our own lives that God is most at work, revealing the way of salvation to us and equipping us to live in these in-between days of our pilgrimage.