Genesis 34:7

Gen 34:7 And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard [it]: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done.

Ver. 7. The men were grieved, and very wroth.] A pair of unruly passions, when combined, especially: they ride one upon the back of another, as kine do in a strait passage; and will make an Alexander kill his best friends, such as he would afterwards have revived, with the best and warmest blood in his own heart.

“Qui non moderabitur irae,

Infectum velit esse, dolor quod suaserit, et mens.”

- Horat.

Because he had wrought folly in Israel.] That is, in the Church, where fornication should "not be once named," much less committed. {Eph 5:3} Sin is odious anywhere; most of all among saints. A thistle is unseemly in a garden, filthiness in a vestal, baseness in a prince. And yet, by the malice of Satan, there are, many times, more scandals in the Church than else where: such incest at Corinth, {1Co 5:1} as not among heathens; such folly in Jacob’s family, as not at Shechem, or Seir. "Sodom, thy sister, hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters." {Eze 16:48} This is lamentable!

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.

Gen 34:7. He had wrought folly — All sin is folly: but some sinful actions are attended with such circumstances of ignorance and thoughtlessness, and are so inimical to our temporal as well as eternal interests, that they peculiarly merit the name of folly. Shechem’s sin is termed folly in Israel, according to the language of after-times; for Israel was not yet a people, but a family only.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrew, and it shall not be so done.

Or, folly.

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

the men were grieved, and . . . very wroth--Good men in such a case could not but grieve; but it would have been well if their anger had been less, or that they had known the precept "let not the sun go down upon your wrath" [Eph 4:26]. No injury can justify revenge (Deu 32:35; Rom 12:9); but Jacob's sons planned a scheme of revenge in the most deceitful manner.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. He had wrought folly in Israel] The land, afterwards generally called Israel, was not as yet so named; and the sons of Jacob were neither called Israel, Israelites nor Jews, till long after this. How then can it be said that Shechem had wrought folly in Israel? The words are capable of a more literal translation: בישראל beyisrael, may be translated, against Israel. The angel had said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob - not only Jacob, but Israel. It was this that aggravated the offence of Shechem; he wrought folly against Israel, the prince of God, in lying with the daughter of Jacob. Here both the names are given; Jacob, whose daughter was defiled, and Israel, the prince of God, against whom the offence was committed.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. And the sons of Jacob came out of the field. Moses begins to relate the tragic issue of this history. Shechem, indeed, had acted wickedly and impiously; but it was far more atrocious and wicked that the sons of Jacob should murder a whole people, to avenge themselves of the private fault of one man. It was by no means fitting to seek a cruel compensation for the levity and rashness of one youth, by the slaughter of so many men. Again, who had constituted them judges, that they should dare, with their own hands, to execute vengeance for an injury inflicted upon them? Perfidy was also superadded, because they proceeded, under the pretext of a covenant, to perpetrate this enormous crime. In Jacob, moreover, we have an admirable example of patient endurance; who, though afflicted with so many evils, yet did not faint under them. But chiefly we must consider the mercy of God, by which it came to pass, that the covenant of grace remained with the posterity of Jacob. For what seemed less suitable, than that a few men in whom such furious rage and such implacable malice reigned, should be reckoned among the people and the sons of God, to the exclusion of all the world besides? We see certainly that it was not through any power of their own that they had not altogether declined from the kingdom of God. Whence it appears that the favor which God had vouchsafed unto them was gratuitous, and not founded upon their merits. We also require to be treated by Him with the same indulgence, seeing that we should utterly fall away, if God did not pardon our sins. The sons of Jacob have, indeed, a just cause of offense, because not only are they affected with their own private ignominy, but they are tormented with the indignity of the crime, because their sister had been dragged forth from the house of Jacob, as from a sanctuary, to be violated. For this they chiefly urge, that it would have been wickedness to allow such disgrace in the elect and holy people: but they themselves, through the hatred of one sin, rush furiously forward to greater and more intolerable crimes. Therefore we must beware, lest, after we have become severe judges in condemning the faults of others, we hasten inconsiderately into evil. But chiefly we must abstain from violent remedies which surpass the evil we desire to correct.

Which thing ought not to be done Interpreters commonly explain the passage as meaning, “it is not becoming that such a thing should be done;” but, in my judgment, it applies more properly to the sons of Jacob, who had determined with themselves that the injury was not to be borne. Yet they wrongfully appropriate to themselves the right of taking revenge: why do they not rather reflect thus; “God, who has received us under his care and protection, will not suffer this injury to pass unavenged; in the meantime, it is our part to be silent, and to leave the act of punishing, which is not placed in our hands, entirely to his sovereign will.” Hence we may learn, when we are angry at the sins of other men, not to attempt anything which is beyond our own duty.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(7) He had wrought folly in Israel.—The great anger of Jacob’s sons agrees as completely with the general harshness of their characters as the silence of the father with his habitual thoughtfulness; but it was aroused by a great wrong. The use, however, of the term Israel to signify the family of Jacob as distinguished from his person belongs to the age of Moses, and is one of the proofs of the arrangement of these records having been his work. In selecting them, and weaving them together into one history, he would add whatever was necessary, and in the latter half of this verse we apparently have one such addition.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. wrought folly] The word nebâlah denotes “senseless wickedness,” an offence against honour and morality: cf. the use of the word in Deu_22:21; Jos_7:15; Jdg_19:23-24; 2Sa_13:12.

in Israel] The addition of these words (as in Deu_22:21; Jdg_20:6; Jdg_20:10; Jer_29:23) is of course an anachronism, when put into the mouth of Jacob; and indicates a time of authorship when this phrase had become proverbial.

ought not to be done] See notes on Gen_20:9, Gen_29:26.

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.

And the sons of Jacob came out of the field, when they heard it,..... Either by a messenger Jacob sent to them, to acquaint them with it, or by some other hand: however, be it as it will, as soon as they heard of the abuse of their sister, they immediately left their flocks to the care of their servants, and came to their father's tent:

and the men were grieved and were very wroth; they were grieved for the sin committed against God, very probably, as well as for the injury done to their sister, and they were wroth against Shechem the author of it:

because he had wrought folly in Israel, in lying with Jacob's daughter; all sin is folly, being a transgression of the law of God founded in the highest wisdom, and particularly uncleanness, and that branch of it, deflowering a virgin; and this action being committed on Jacob's daughter, whose name was Israel, is said to be "in", or rather "against" Israel (h), to his grief, and to the reproach of him and his family: though these words may be rather the words of Moses, than of the sons of Jacob; or however are expressed not in the language used by them, but in what was in use in the times of Moses, when Israel was the name of a nation and church, whereas it was now but a personal name, and at most but the name of a family; and though this was done to one of the family, yet not in it, but in the house of Hamor or Shechem:

which thing ought not to be done; being against the law and light of nature to do such an action by force and violence, and against the law of nations to suffer it to go with impunity.

(h) "contra Israelem", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Calovius; so Ainsworth.

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

In Israel, or against the honour and peace of their father and all his family. --- An unlawful act, which some nevertheless commit without scruple, and even dare to represent as a matter of small consequence if they marry afterwards!

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Because he had wrought folly; that is, wickedness; which howsoever vain men many times esteem their wisdom, by the sentence of the all-wise God is accounted and commonly in Scripture called folly, as Deu 22:21; Jos 7:15; Jdg 19:23; 20:6, &c.

In Israel, or, against Israel; either,

1. Against the person, and in or against the family of Israel, a person near and dear to God, and highly honoured by him, and in covenant with God; who therefore esteems the injuries done to Israel as if they were done to himself. See Gen 12:3; Exo 23:22; Zec 2:8. Or,

2. In or against the church of God, which then was in a manner confined to that family, and which is oft called by the name of Israel. See Deu 22:21; Jos 7:15. And Moses may here vary the phrase from what was used in Jacob’s time to what was usual in his time, the sense being in both the same, and therefore not altered by such a change.

Which thing ought not to be done; Heb. shall not be done, i.e. should not, &c. But in the Hebrew language words of the future time oft signify duty and decency, as Mal 1:6; 2:7.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Came… heard… grieved… wroth — Jacob had silently meditated the matter before his sons came, (Gen_34:5,) and probably felt all the dangers, shame, and trouble necessarily arising from the rape, but hesitated what to do. But his sons, with all the passion and daring of youth, feeling the deep disgrace incurred, allowed their sense of wrong to generate in them the darkest purposes of revenge.

Wrought folly in Israel — This is the language of the writer, not of Jacob’s sons. He speaks as one would naturally do after the name Israel had become national and historic.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the sons of Jacob (i.e. Leah"s children, Dinah"s full brothers, for certain, though perhaps also her half brothers) came out of the field when they heard it (Jacob having probably sent them word): and the men were grieved, literally, grieved themselves, or became pained with anger, the verb being the hithpael of bx; to toil or labor with pain. The LXX connect this with the preceding clause, wJv de hkousan, katenughsan oiJ andrev, implying that they did not learn of their sister"s seduction till they came homeand they were very wroth, literally, it burned to them greatly (cf. Gen_31:36; 1Sa_15:11; 2Sa_19:4:3) Michaelis mentions an opinion still entertained in the East which explains the excessive indignation kindled in the breasts of Dinah"s brothers, vie., that "in those countries it is thought that a brother is more dishonored by the seduction of his sister than a man by the infidelity of his wife; for, say the Arabs, a man may divorce his wife, and then she is no longer his; while a sister and daughter remain always sister and daughter" (vide Kurtz, "Hist. of Old Covenant," (82)because he (i.e. Shechem) had wrought folly. the term folly easily passes into the idea of wickedness of a shameful character (1Sa_25:25; 2Sa_13:12) since from the standpoint of Scripture sin is the height of unreason (Psa_74:22; Jer_17:11) and holiness the sublimest act of wisdom (Psa_111:10; Pro_1:4) in (or against) Israel the word, here applied for the first time to Jacob"s household, afterwards became the usual national designation of Jacob"s descendants; and the phrase here employed for the first time afterwards passed into a standing expression for acts done against the sacred character which belonged to Israel as a separated and covenanted community, especially for sins of the (Deu_22:21; Jud_1:20:10; Jer_29:23) but also for other crimes (Jos_7:15) in lying with Jacob"s daughter. The special wickedness of Shechem consisted in dishonoring a daughter of one who was the head of the theocratic line, and therefore under peculiar obligations to lead s holy life. Which thing ought not to be done literally, and so is it not done (cf. Gen_29:26) Assigned to the historian ("Speaker"s Commentary"), or to the hand of a late redactor (Davidson, Colenso, Alford), there is no reason why these words should not have been spoken by Jacob"s sons (Keil, Murphy, and others)" to indicate their sense of the new and higher morality that had come in with the name of Israel (Lange).

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

It is called folly in Israel - According to the language of after- times, for Israel was not yet a people, but a family only.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

וכן לא יעשה AND THUS IT OUGHT NOT TO BE DONE — viz., to do violence to a maiden, for even the heathens have trained themselves (literally, have fenced themselves round) against unchastity as a consequence of the Flood which had come upon the world as a punishment for this sin (Genesis Rabbah 80:6).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND THUS IT OUGHT NOT TO BE DONE. I.e., to do violence to maidens, for the nations “had fenced themselves round” against unchastity as a result of the Flood. This is Rashi’s language. But I do not know this, for the Canaanites were immersed in unchastity with women, beasts and males, as it is written, For all these abominations have the men of the land done, that were before you, and they did not begin such practices in that generation [but rather it was their traditional behavior], and even in the days of Abraham and Isaac, the patriarchs feared lest they kill them in order to take their wives. Instead, the expression, and thus it ought not to be done, refers back to the word beyisrael (in Israel): because he had wrought a vile deed in Israel… and thus it ought not to be done among them. This is why Scripture said in Israel for it was not a base deed among the Canaanites. And Onkelos translated: “It is not proper that it be done,” meaning that it is forbidden, and that is why it was a base deed in Israel.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ובני יעקב...בישראל, the rape of Dinah was considered as a stain of the spiritual wholeness of all the family of Yisrael.

וכן לא יעשה, it was totally unforgivable for something of this nature to be done. This is why they were so angry that it had been done to them (of all people).

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.