Genesis 34:8-10, The big picture

But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade in it, and acquire property in it.”

There is just no way we can put a positive spin on a brutal rape. But… I guess a boy’s dad is bound to try. When the evil deed came out Shechem’s dad attempted to recharacterize the situation. “Look at the big picture!” he said. “It’s a small price to pay for becoming our relatives and sharing our wealth, and really…my son loves her!”"

Really? I wonder what Dinah thought about that kind of affection…

We often use such a guise to cover up our bad behavior. Before we know it, we no longer evaluate the morality of our behavior itself but of the possible results of the behavior. Joseph Fletcher called it “situational ethics“.

Jacob fell into the same trap. After his sons got vengeance he said “you have brought trouble on me…I and my household will be destroyed.”  So…the action itself has no moral weight of its own. It depends on the results. In basketball they call it “no harm, no foul” which of course is a lie. A foul is a foul whether injury is inflicted or not…unless we officially change the definition. Even at that, the concept of “harm’ is pretty subjective. Rick Porter broke my nose (unintentionally, I think) during a “pick-up” basketball game at SPBC. No foul was called! So, even the revised rule isn’t always dependable.

God is not in the business of changing definitions. He has made right and wrong perfectly clear. We can beg God to look at the bigger picture but I suspect He doesn’t have to. He “IS” the bigger picture.

Live boldly out there today…