Genesis 34:26

Gen 34:26 And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out.

Ver. 26. And they slew Hamor and Shechem.] This is commended in apocryphal Judith { Jdt 9:2} for zeal; which the canonical Scripture condemneth for self-will; and Jacob, on his death bed, cursed it for cruelty, and blessed himself from their assembly. {Gen 49:6-7} Quest. But why doth he not more sharply reprove it here? Ans. First, he considered God’s just judgment on the Shechemites; who, without the knowledge and faith of God, had profaned the sacrament of circumcision. A sin that God suffers not to pass without a sensible check, {1Co 11:29-30} in his dearest children; how much less in strangers and enemies? The Donatists, that cast the holy elements of the Lord’s Supper to dogs, were devoured of dogs. He that came without his wedding garment, was taken from the table to the tormerntor. Secondly, Jacob gave place, for present, to his sons’ rage and fury. Discretion in the choice of seasons for reproving, is no less necessary than zeal and faithfulness in reproving. Good physicians use not to evacuate the body, in the extremities of heat and cold. Good mariners do not hoise up sail in every wind.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrew, mouth of the sword.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

26. slew Hamor and Shechem … took Dinah … went forth] In this verse we have the narrative in which Simeon and Levi (cf. Gen_34:25; Gen_34:30) alone entered the city, slew Hamor and Shechem, took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and made off with her. Their act is one of family vengeance for the honour of their sister.

with the edge of the sword] Lit. “according to the mouth of the sword,” i.e. according to the sword’s power to devour, unmercifully. Cf. 2Sa_2:26; 2Sa_11:25.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sons of Jacob came upon the slain,.... That is, the rest of them, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it; understanding what their two brothers had done, they came and joined them, and partook of stripping the slain of their clothes, or from them what they found of any worth about them:

and spoiled the city; plundered it of all its goods and substance, spoiled all the inhabitants of it of their wealth:

because they had defiled their sister; one of them had done it, which is imputed to them all, they not restraining him from it, when it was in their power; and perhaps approving of it, and made a laugh of and jest at it; or however did not punish him for it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son, with the edge (literally, the mouth) of the sword, without excusing the inhuman barbarity of this remorseless massacre, Kurtz offers an elaborate and interesting analysis of the complex motive of which it was the outcome, in particular showing how in Jacob"s sons that strange admixture of religious zeal and carnal passion, of lofty faith and low craft, existed which formed so large a portion of the character of the patriarch himself (vide "Hist. of the Old Covenant," vol. 1. and took Dinah out of Shechem"s house, in which up to this time she had been detained against her will (Alford), though this may be open to question (Kalisch) and went out.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ויקחו את דינה; there is an aggadic commentary (Bereshit Rabbah 80,11) according to which Dinah felt so ashamed that she did not want to leave the house of Shechem until Shimon swore to her that he would marry her, and that this is the meaning of 46,10 where among the issue of Shimon one is described as being named “Sha-ul son of the Canaanite (woman). “Supposedly, the father of that child was Shechem, i.e. Dinah had conceived him at the time of the rape.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.