Questions:
6.
a.
13. they were deceitful, v25, Simeon and Levi killed every male in the city. 28 they looted the city 29 they carried off the women
b.
Took matters into their own hands. No mention of prayer or reliance on God. The diminished the value of the covenant by using it as a trap for others. They twisted it from something holy into something useful.
c.
They were angered on behalf of their sister. Yes, I am protective of my family and feel hatred to those who harm them.
d.
do not repay evil with evil, do what is right, do not take revenge, trust in God to exercise His wrath
7.
a.
He did not trust their judgment, believing them quick to act in a state of anger. He chastised them for “bringing trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites
b.
Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?
8.
Am I controlled by God and faith or by my emotions? Where am I unwilling to wait to receive rightfully what I want and desire.
My Daily Journal:
So, I have to admit, my first inclination is to be more like Simeon and Levi than Jacob. If someone hurts a member of my family like this, I would want to do them harm. Clearly, though, Simeon and Levi crossed the line. Any one would be very hard pressed to explain how looting the city and carrying off the women from this city in any way was done to bring honor to their sister.
But, as we work through this lesson and, in particular, the Romans 12:17-21 passage, it helped me realize how my first reaction (and that of Simeon and Levi) was allowing my emotions to rule me and not my faith.
Here is one way to look at it. I’m this big (think very small) and God is that big (think very big). Hamor and Shechem sinned against Dinah, but, even more so, they sinned against God, because any sin upon His people is a sin against Him. So, if I’m the deliverer of vengence onto the wrong-doer, it is like a tiny child disciplining them with a toothpick and standing in the way of a very big God using a club.
I simply do not need to be in the middle of it. I need to show the joy and blessing of the saving work of Jesus, offered to me while I was still a sinner and, which is also offered to anyone else who sins against God, as well, who repents and seeks to be saved. If they do not make that choice, then God says He has it covered and I need to trust that His righteous wrath and punishment is far more significant than anything I would dispense.
The Notes are Good 