I enjoyed reading all the comments and they gave me quite a bit to think about. Perhaps it isn't "cut and dry" that she was raped as I'd always assumed. I was surprised by one thing though. With such heart felt consideration of the issue by the author and those commenting, no one focused on verse one:
Genesis 34 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
Perhaps she was lonely for female companionship of her age or just curious. There is no mention of her asking permission from either of her parents before going and if Jacob had consented to Dinah's visit, he would have blamed himself at least in part for what had happened. You may say I'm assuming he would but do any of you have daughters ? Even if I'm wrong concerning Jacob's possible reaction, would Jacob have consented to his young daughter going unaccompanied to a people he wasn't intimately familiar with ? What happened to Dinah aught never to happen whether rape or consenting at a young age. Both have their consequences, an example of which we see here.
One last point. Dinah was part of a covenant people. Abraham said no Canaanite wife for Isaac. Isaac said no Canaanite wife of Jacob. Yet Jacob so readily agrees to the marriage ? Perhaps, as one commenter pointed out, he agrees to the marriage to insure Dinah would have a husband (as Deuteronomy 22:28-29 later ensure) and I suppose from a certain point of view it would be understandable. However, would Jacob's consent to the marriage constitute a compromise ? We are not to compromise with the "world" (the world system if you prefer) and if Jacob had not consented to the marriage there would have been no circumcision of the men and no slaughter (because of their 'painful and weakened' state) afterward. Some might say not being a virgin may have resulted in no marriage and no "happy" life. If Dinah is in Heaven right now (and she is I believe) do you think that matters to her one bit...? The bottom line is this incident should never have happened and wouldn't have had Dinah not gone out to investigate, regardless of her reasons or her maturity level (meaning ability to make a rational decision whether it was prudent or not to do what she intended).
I enjoyed reading all the comments and they gave me quite a bit to think about. Perhaps it isn't "cut and dry" that she was raped as I'd always assumed. I was surprised by one thing though. With such heart felt consideration of the issue by the author and those commenting, no one focused on verse one:
Genesis 34 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
Perhaps she was lonely for female companionship of her age or just curious. There is no mention of her asking permission from either of her parents before going and if Jacob had consented to Dinah's visit, he would have blamed himself at least in part for what had happened. You may say I'm assuming he would but do any of you have daughters ? Even if I'm wrong concerning Jacob's possible reaction, would Jacob have consented to his young daughter going unaccompanied to a people he wasn't intimately familiar with ? What happened to Dinah aught never to happen whether rape or consenting at a young age. Both have their consequences, an example of which we see here.
One last point. Dinah was part of a covenant people. Abraham said no Canaanite wife for Isaac. Isaac said no Canaanite wife of Jacob. Yet Jacob so readily agrees to the marriage ? Perhaps, as one commenter pointed out, he agrees to the marriage to insure Dinah would have a husband (as Deuteronomy 22:28-29 later ensure) and I suppose from a certain point of view it would be understandable. However, would Jacob's consent to the marriage constitute a compromise ? We are not to compromise with the "world" (the world system if you prefer) and if Jacob had not consented to the marriage there would have been no circumcision of the men and no slaughter (because of their 'painful and weakened' state) afterward. Some might say not being a virgin may have resulted in no marriage and no "happy" life. If Dinah is in Heaven right now (and she is I believe) do you think that matters to her one bit...? The bottom line is this incident should never have happened and wouldn't have had Dinah not gone out to investigate, regardless of her reasons or her maturity level (meaning ability to make a rational decision whether it was prudent or not to do what she intended).