A Biblical Record of Major Crimes: Sexual Assault and Vigilante Homicide
A Biblical Record of Major Crimes: Sexual Assault and Vigilante Homicide.
“Tell all the truth, but tell it slant. Truth in indirection lies.” (Emily Dickenson).
A Different Look to a True Story. Emily Dickenson’s advice was to come at the truth from different angles; reveal the truth while approaching it sideways. There are times when only an indirect story will effectively grab a reader’s attention and will inspire a fresh perspective on an ancient truth. There are occasions when coming at a truth from the side through a story will go further than a didactic, systematic study using logic and reason. We seem to be created in a way in which truth can often be better understood from the side instead of head-on through a blunt statement of raw truth. This fictional story below is intended to reveal the truth of a biblical crime story in a way that brings a fresh perspective, an unexpected layer of meaning, to a familiar story. Perhaps we can learn something new in this indirect approach to the true story of Dinah and her brothers (Genesis 34, 48, 49).
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“Okay, gentlemen, and I use that term loosely here, let’s get right down to business. You have all been summoned here by me, your father’s legal counsel, to hear the reading of your father’s final Will and Testament. You should know that our proceedings today will be recorded for your family records only, as we do all official business of this type in our law firm. As you well know, your father, James Israel, lived to an astounding age of 147 years. Quite remarkable, yes?
Before I begin reciting his Will as he dictated to me before he died, a couple of clarifications are in order… You might have heard that his Will consists of his “blessings” over each of you. You need to know that your father understood “blessing” to not be limited to nice words that kindly wish you all the best. Your father understood that term to mean more of a pronouncement that could be either a word of correction or of affirmation, of judgment or a congratulation, or maybe even both. Your father’s blessings to each of you indeed might include a hard word or a kind word, a blessing or a curse, as it were. But be assured that each individual pronouncement in his Will is made specifically with each of you in mind.
Your father’s blessing is more a benediction, his parting words of farewell that he wanted to make sure he spoke to you before he passed on. Also, this is very important, your father truly believed he was inspired to offer these words that I will soon read to you. He is fully convinced that his pronouncements are prophetic words of knowledge given to him by the Spirit of his God, that though some of these words may be difficult to hear, his words here divinely reveal the future destiny of each of you.
One final observation before I begin with the reading… I had the privilege of being with your father after he dictated his Will. James wasn’t concerned with you at the very end, or himself, or even all the dramatic events in his long life. In the end, he focused entirely on God, on worshipping him with adoration and gratitude. He was leaning heavily on his staff as he dictated his Will to me, and then he immediately climbed into his bed, laid down, and passed away with words of worship on his lips. He reverently adored God as he was breathing his last, and it was a beautiful scene.
And now, here is the reading of the last Will and Testament of Mr. James Israel, as dictated to me, his legal counsel, one week ago today… “Farewell, my sons. Please know of my love for each of you, even if I wasn’t as effective in showing that love very consistently through the years as I should have been. Some of my parting words here may seem overly harsh, and perhaps some are too flattering. Please know that I strongly sensed God’s guidance as I dictated these words to my lawyer who now sits before you. Before I go into detail on my word for each of you, I can’t help but get these difficult words out of the way first of all:
Simon and Lawrence, you two sons of mine turned out to be partners in crime. You have proven yourselves to be prone to violence and cruelty, and so you will not inherit any of the family property in our homeland. I have never forgotten your works of teachery after the vile rape of your sister Dinah. Yes, what that mayor’s son did to your sister was unforgivable. He defiled her, violated her at the deepest level. There is no denying that Dinah never fully healed from that humiliating and evil act on her innocent womanhood. I would certainly have never stood in your way if you had simply wanted to take that young man out to the nearest tree and strung him up for good. And it’s also an undeniable fact that that despicable man disgraced us, Dina’s family, when he disgraced her. She beautifully represented all of us, and so when he defiled her, he disgraced all of us as well. I completely understand your fierce anger in wanting to protect Dinah as well as the family name. But I don’t understand your losing all self-control in your violent vengeance on that man’s family and entire village! You made everything worse when you met evil with just more evil. You multiplied his cruelty with even more of your own cruelty. You went and murdered every man in his village, innocent men who had nothing to do with the evil done by that one man. These men were fathers and husbands and brothers who had not taken part in that reprehensible act on your sister. You two became bloodthirsty vigilantes, taking God’s laws into your own spiteful hands. And you brought a shame onto our family that was just as profound as the shame of that man brought onto his family. And then you made things even worse by welcoming your brothers to the unguarded city and stealing anything of value, plundering everything you could get their hands, even to the drastic act of selling all their wives and children into slavery! Shame on you both! Shame on you!
And now let us move on to all these other sons of mine. Here’s what I have to say, with God’s guidance, to each of you…”
“And that concludes the reading of the Will and Testament of Mr. James Israel in the presence of his twelve sons. May you each accept your father’s dying words with grace and honesty and the desire to amend what needs to be amended in your lives as you move forward. Remember your father’s last few years of honorable trust in his God, his persistent faith at the end that was every bit as tenacious as his lifelong journey leading up to it.