We are moving into chapter 34 of Genesis with our word for today. יְעַנֶּֽ the root word is עָנָה be wretched, emaciated, cringe, be crouched, hunched up, bowed down, afflicted. It is used 78 times in the Old Testament. It can be used to come down on in a harsh way. Exodus 1:11-12 So they put slave masters over them to עַנֹּת֖וֹoppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were יְעַנּ֣וּ oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. Deuteronomy 26:6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and וַיְעַנּ֑וּנוּ humiliated us and laid on us hard labor.
In our chapter it is used in the sense of to violate sexually. Deuteronomy 22:23-25, 28-29 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has עִנָּ֔הּ violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. 2 Samuel 13:12-14, 22 “No, my brother!” she said to him. “Don’t תְּעַנֵּ֔נִי force me! Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing...Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you.” But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he וַיְעַנֶּ֔הָraped her… And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad; he hated Amnon because he had עִנָּ֔ה disgraced his sister Tamar.
This is how our word is used in our chapter for today. Genesis 34:1-2 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and יְעַנֶּֽ humiliated her. As we will see in the days to come this one sin has deadly consequences not just to Hamor who committed it but to his entire family. Sexual sin is something that God clearly warns us against throughout the Bible because it is so destructive. Proverbs 2:16-19 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. Wow did you get that. No one who does this will be able to return to the paths of life. We might think that God speaking through Solomon to the young men in his court is being a bit dramatic. But as with all things God proves himself right over and over again throughout history. Solomon again warns us all of the danger of this type of sin. This passage to the Christians in Corinth is very insightful. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. The good news is that if I have been involved in this type of sin God can not only save me from the consequences of sin (separation from him) but also from some of the damage it has caused. The Holy Spirit writes through Paul 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Did you catch that last part? That is what some of you were but you were washed … God can transform us to be like him. He doesn’t just want to save us from hell. He wants to make us like his son Jesus through the power of his Spirit working in us.
