Okay, so I was at the Ministry School/Service meeting last night (as to why and all that see my answer to Blondie’s Watchtower review this week), which actually was not totally horrendous since I brought some essay questions to work on for a university class I’m taking. I probably looked so theocratic™ (hehehe). So during the Service Meeting there’s a part on bad association, being careful at school, at work, blah blah blah. I wasn’t paying attention until the brother mentioned the account in Genesis about Dinah visiting Shechem and his family, and how because of this bad association she was raped, blah blah blah.
I then read the account and noticed how Shechem was the most honorable in the land (I had read that before, and previously would just meld with the JW mindset that even though he was the most honorable, still he wasn’t a worshipper of Jehovah, etc. so it was still wrong to associate with him).
He falls in love with Dinah: (Revised Standard Version:) “ And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob; he loved the maiden and spoke tenderly to her ” Gen. 34:3
Now, my question: the NWT has Shechem “violating” Dinah, to me that sounds like rape, which is what the brother on the platform went on about “see, her bad association resulted in her being raped, yada yada yada”.
(Revised Standard Version:) “ Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah; but his sons were with his cattle in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came ”. Gen. 34:5
Was she “defiled” in Jacob’s eyes because she was raped, or was it because it was out of wedlock, Shechem wasn’t a Hebrew, and hadn’t first asked permission of Jacob to marry Dinah? Since women were considered property of their fathers in those times, it suddenly occurred to me (I know, I know, it’s taken a long time) that maybe this girl Dinah decided for herself that here was a great guy, totally unlike her violent brothers and patriarchal, domineering father, and that she had had consensual sex with him.
I mean, considering what her brothers did afterwards, maybe, just maybe Dinah had an inkling of what her brothers were like (after all, she lived with them, probably waited on them hand and foot) and saw marriage to Shechem as her way out of a bad situation (kind of like marrying a non-JW in order to get out of the cult). It was the Hebrews who come across as really bad association in this account, not Shechem and Hamor, who were even willing to be circumcised so that Schechem could marry Dinah (now that’s a sacrifice!)
"The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah … On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came upon the city unawares, and killed all the males. They slew Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went away." Gen. 34:13, 25, 26
What are your thoughts? Was Dinah raped, or does it sound more like she was very willing, both to have sex with and then marry Shechem? Seems to me that the WTS has totally twisted this account around. Those ancient Hebrews were not the kindest, most gentle people one would ever want to associate with!
(I am just assuming, for the sake of argument, the account happened as written, this is not about whether Genesis is literal or not, etc. - just would appreciate people's comments on the account as interpreted by the WTS)