The Price of a Profane Peace Text: Genesis 34:18-24
Introduction: The World's Welcome Mat
We live in an age that is desperate for peace, unity, and tolerance. The world is always willing to make a deal with the church. It is always willing to roll out the welcome mat and invite us to the negotiating table. But we must pay very close attention to the terms of the deal. The world does not mind our religion, you see. It does not mind our rites, our rituals, or our vocabulary. It is perfectly happy to adopt our practices, so long as it can strip them of their meaning and use them for its own ends. The world will gladly be "circumcised" if it means they can have our daughters and our cattle.
This is the story of Shechem, a story of lust, greed, and the catastrophic profaning of a holy sign. It is a story of a pagan city that thought it could absorb the people of God through a carnal, commercial transaction. They wanted the blessings of association with God's people, they wanted their property and their women, but they did not want their God. They wanted to become "one people" on their own terms, for their own benefit. They were willing to undergo a religious ceremony as a means to a worldly end.
This is the perennial temptation of syncretism. It is the danger of the unequal yoke. The world does not approach the church with open hostility at first. It often approaches with a smile, a handshake, and a business proposal. It says, "Let's be one. Let's merge. Your assets will become our assets, and all it will cost you is this one little compromise." But that one little compromise is everything, because it involves treating the holy things of God as if they were common bargaining chips. What happened at Shechem is a stark and bloody lesson for the church in every generation. When the people of God forget the absolute distinction between the holy and the profane, and when the world sees the signs of the covenant as nothing more than a toll to be paid for their own lusts, judgment is not far behind.
The Text
Now their words seemed good in the sight of Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. So the young man did not delay to do the thing because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more honored than all the household of his father. So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, “These men are peaceful with us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters for us as wives and give our daughters to them. Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. Will not their livestock and what they acquire and all their cattle be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us.” And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
(Genesis 34:18-24 LSB)
A Deal Driven by Lust (vv. 18-19)
We begin with the immediate reaction of the prince and his father.
"Now their words seemed good in the sight of Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. So the young man did not delay to do the thing because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more honored than all the household of his father." (Genesis 34:18-19)
The proposal of Jacob's sons, though deceitful, "seemed good" to Hamor and Shechem. Why did it seem good? Because it offered them exactly what they wanted. Their evaluation was not based on truth, righteousness, or a desire to know the God of Abraham. It was based entirely on carnal desire. Shechem wanted the girl he had violated, and Hamor wanted a political and economic alliance.
Notice the motivation for Shechem's swift action. He "did not delay" because he "was delighted with Jacob's daughter." This is not the language of repentance or righteous love. This is the language of infatuation and obsession. He had already taken her by force, and now he is willing to do anything to possess her legally. His zeal is not for God; it is for the girl. The world is full of this kind of false piety. Men will clean up their act, go to church, and say all the right words, not because they love Christ, but because they want a respectable wife, a good business reputation, or a clear conscience. Shechem's haste is the haste of a covetous man, not a convert.
The text adds that he was "more honored than all the household of his father." This indicates his status and power. He is the prince, the most influential man in the city. He is used to getting what he wants, and he has the clout to make it happen. This is a picture of the world's power brokers. They see religion as another tool, another lever to pull to achieve their objectives. If a little bit of God-talk and a minor surgical procedure will close the deal, then so be it. It's just the cost of doing business.
The Worldly Sales Pitch (vv. 20-21)
Having agreed to the terms themselves, Hamor and Shechem now have to sell the deal to the men of their city. Their argument is a master class in worldly persuasion.
"So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 'These men are peaceful with us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters for us as wives and give our daughters to them.'" (Genesis 34:20-21)
They go to the city gate, the place of public business and legal decisions. Their pitch is entirely pragmatic and economic. First, they establish that Jacob's family is "peaceful," meaning they are not a military threat but rather a potential asset. Let them live here, let them trade. The land is "large enough," which is to say, there is room for expansion and profit.
Then comes the central plank of their proposal: assimilation through intermarriage. "Let us take their daughters for us as wives and give our daughters to them." This is the classic strategy of paganism: absorb and neutralize. If you cannot conquer God's people by force, then conquer them by marriage. Blur the lines. Erase the distinctions. Make one big, happy, compromised family. This was precisely what God would later forbid Israel from doing in Canaan, because He knew it would lead to idolatry and ruin. Hamor's plan is to swallow the covenant people whole, to dissolve their unique identity into the broader pagan culture.
Profaning the Covenant Sign (vv. 22-23)
Now we come to the heart of the transaction, where the holy is treated as a common commodity.
"Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. Will not their livestock and what they acquire and all their cattle be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us." (Genesis 34:22-23)
Hamor presents circumcision not as a sign of entering into a solemn, blood covenant with the living God, but as a "condition." It is a prerequisite for a merger. It is a peculiar, but necessary, bit of paperwork to finalize the deal. They are not talking about conversion, repentance, or faith. They are talking about a physical procedure to achieve a secular goal: to become "one people" for the purpose of economic and social gain.
And then, in verse 23, the raw, unvarnished motive is laid bare for all to see. "Will not their livestock and what they acquire and all their cattle be ours?" This is the bottom line. This is the fine print in the contract. The appeal is to pure, unadulterated greed. The men of Shechem are not being asked to embrace the God of Jacob, but rather to enrich themselves at Jacob's expense. Lust for one woman has metastasized into lust for the wealth of an entire clan. They are willing to put the knife to their own flesh if it means they can get their hands on another man's property.
This is a grotesque parody of conversion. They are taking the sign of the covenant, the sign that pointed to the cutting away of the filth of the flesh and the need for a clean heart, and they are embracing it as a means of gratifying the filth of the flesh. They are treating a sacrament as a strategy. This is a high-handed, audacious sin. To profane the sign of the covenant is to mock the God of the covenant. They are, in effect, signing their own names in blood to a covenant they have no intention of keeping, with a God they have no intention of honoring.
Unanimous Rebellion (v. 24)
The sales pitch, appealing as it did to the basest of motives, is wildly successful.
"And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city." (Genesis 34:24)
The consent is unanimous. "All who went out of the gate," meaning all the men of civic standing, agreed to the terms. The appeal to their greed worked perfectly. The entire city enters into this profane bargain. Every male is circumcised. On the surface, this might look like a great revival. An entire pagan city has adopted the sign of God's covenant! One might imagine a modern church growth expert writing a book about the "Shechem strategy."
But God is not interested in numbers; He is interested in truth. This was not a conversion; it was a conspiracy. It was not an act of faith; it was an act of fraud. By taking the sign without the substance, they were not drawing near to God, but rather storing up wrath for themselves. They were objectively entering the covenant, yes, but they were entering it as rebels and traitors. They were becoming covenant-breakers at the very moment of their initiation. They thought they were being clever businessmen, but they were fools marking themselves for slaughter.
Conclusion: The Cost of a Counterfeit Covenant
This passage is a grave warning. The Shechemites thought they could have the benefits of covenant life, the property and the people, without submitting to the covenant Lord. They treated a blood sacrament as a trifle, a mere token to be exchanged for worldly goods. They cheapened grace and profaned holiness, and the consequences were devastating.
This story sets the stage for the terrible vengeance of Simeon and Levi. And while we must rightly condemn the treacherous nature of their rage, we must first understand the profound nature of the provocation. The men of Shechem had committed a spiritual outrage. They had taken the holy name of God and dragged it through the mud of their own greed and lust.
The lesson for us is clear. We are not to make peace with the world on the world's terms. We are not to imagine that we can enter into partnerships with those who want our blessings but despise our King. And we must never, ever treat the signs of the new covenant, baptism and the Lord's Supper, as mere cultural markers or tools for social advantage. They are holy signs of a holy covenant, sealed with the precious blood of Christ. To partake of them lightly, or to offer them to those who see them as a means to a worldly end, is to play the part of Shechem. It is to invite the judgment of a God who will not be mocked. Our God is a consuming fire, and He demands that we worship Him with reverence and awe, for the covenant He has made with us cost Him everything.