<b>And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, went out to see (Gen. 34:1).</b> Was she not also Jacob’s daughter? Indeed, but Scripture associates her name with that of her mother. Leah’s daughter (Dinah) loved to roam about just as her mother did. How do we know this about Leah? It is written: <i>And Leah went out to meet him</i> (Gen. 30:16). Ezekiel declared: <i>Behold, everyone that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying: As the mother, so her daughter</i> (Ezek. 16:44). <i>To see</i> should be read as “to be seen,” for though she went out to see, she was, in fact, seen, as it is said: <i>And Shechem the son of Hamor … saw her</i> (Gen. 34:2).
<i>And Shechem spoke unto his father Hamor, saying: “Get me this damsel to wife”</i> (ibid., v. 4). He (Hamor) went to Jacob and said: <i>Ask me ever so much dowry and gift</i> (ibid., v. 7). And he said: I know that her grandfather Abraham was a prince, but I am also a prince. Jacob replied: He was not called a prince, but an ox, as is said: <i>And Abraham ran to the oxen</i> (ibid. 18:7) and <i>Much grain</i> (can be harvested) <i>through the strength of ox</i> (Prov. 14:4), but you are an ass (<i>hamor</i>), and it is impossible for an ox and an ass to plow together, as it is said: <i>Thou must not plow with an ox and an ass together</i> (Deut. 22:10). The prophet declared: You seek your own misfortune, as is said: <i>The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying: “Give thy daughter to my son to wife”; and there passed by the wild beasts that were in Lebanon, and trod down the thistle</i> (II Kings 14:9).
<i>The thistle</i> refers to Hamor, and <i>the cedar that was in Lebanon</i> alludes to Jacob, who was compared to a cedar, as is said” <i>He shall grow as a cedar in lebanon</i> (Ps. 92:13). <i>Give thy daughter to my son for a wife</i> refers to Shechem, for he said to him: <i>The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter</i> (Gen. 34:8).
<i>And there passed by the wild beasts</i>. These are the sons of Jacob, who were compared to beasts: <i>Judah is a lion’s whelp</i> (Gen. 49:9); <i>Dan is a young lion</i> (Deut. 33:22); <i>Naphtali is a hind let loose</i> (Gen. 49:21); and likewise all the others. <i>And trod down the thistle</i> confirms what is stated in the verse <i>And came upon the city unawares, and slew all the males. And they slew Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword</i> (Gen. 34:25–26).
When Jacob’s sons learned what had transpired: <i>The men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought a vile deed in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter</i> (ibid., v. 7). <i>And they said unto them: “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised</i> (ibid. v. 14), <i>Go! Circumcise yourselves</i>. They departed and circumcised themselves, as is said: <i>And unto Hamor … harkened all</i> (ibid., v. 24). <i>And it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain</i> (ibid., v. 25). The prophet cried out: <i>And as troops of robbers wait for man, so doth the company of priests; they murder in the way toward Shechem, yea, they commit enormity</i> (Hos. 6:9). <i>As troops of robbers wait for man (ish)</i> refers to Jacob, who was a righteous man (<i>ish tam</i>), and he was forced to await the return of his sons from their pillaging.
<i>A company of priests</i> alludes to the sons of Jacob, who had been called a <i>kingdom of priests</i>. Why does Scripture say: <i>They murder in the way to Shechem</i>? Because they committed an immoral act. Upon their return, Jacob began to chastise Simeon and Levi, saying: <i>Ye have troubled me, to make me odious</i> (Gen. 34:30). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Be not afraid, no one can harm you, as it is said: <i>And a terror of God was upon the cities</i> (ibid. 35:5).