I continue to look inside the world of Dinah, the rich young teenager whose life was ruined at sixteen. If she could speak what would she speak of? If I were Dinah, what would I be asking my parents and/or siblings? Here is a list of the crucial questions I imagine she had asked.
As a young kid of seven, starting to live in Canaan for the first time, she was confined inside the well secured camp of Jacob and family. For company, Dinah had eleven brothers, her dad Jacob, mom Leah, two aunts (two maidservants whom Jacob married) Zilpah and Bilhah. Dinah could have had other half sisters from the two maidservants (Genesis 46:7), but they are unnamed and there was no record of her interaction with them. I would ask this question:
Dinah: Mom and dad, I have no friends. Can I go outside and play with the neighbors’ girls (in the next village)? They came near our camp the other day and smiled and greeted me when I looked through the fence. They said I can go out and play with them. They are so happy and friendly. I can hear them playing games and laughing loudly at the well nearby! Please!
Mom and dad: No, Dinah, you cannot go out. We have newly moved here. We do not know them or their parents at all. It is very dangerous for a young kid like you to go outside the camp. Your brothers are learning how to work in the field and taking care of the animals. We are all busy working, Dinah. There are many mouths to feed and many people are dependent on us to take care of them. Dinah, you are just a little girl. The answer is no. you cannot go out on your own.
As a young teenager, Dinah tried again to persuade her parents: Mom and dad, you know I have been making friends with those girls in the nearby village. They always come to the gate and talk to me. We have known each other for some years now. We have even exchanged gifts on festive days. They like me a lot. I like them too and they are my good friends. May I go out to see their homes? They have told me a lot of interesting things they do. They are nice people. They said tomorrow is their annual festival day to celebrate their god’s birthday. It will be great fun. I do not think they will do anything to harm me. They promise to take me there and bring me home within the same day. Or can you ask one of my brothers to accompany me?
Mom and dad: No, Dinah, you cannot go out on your own with strangers. They are strangers to me and your dad. Even your brothers do not mix with them. We do not eat their food or practice their religion. We have our own God and our own worship. We cannot go to their religious festival or eat their food. NO, none of your brothers can accompany you, Dinah. They don’t go for such stuff. Your dad and I do not allow them to attend too.
Finally, when Dinah was sixteen, she decided to have her own way. She arranged with her girl friends from Shechem secretly to take her there one day without her parents’ knowing. Her dad and brothers were busy at the field and her mom was busy with the kitchen. Nobody was guarding the gate and she went out wearing the clothes of one of the female servants who fetch water from the well early in the morning. No one noticed her as everyone was occupied with their duties. The young women from Shechem waited nearby at the well and quickly hid Dinah in a basket and carried her off to the sinful town of Shechem.
That was how Dinah was carried into the trap of the son of the chief, who was also named Shechem, who had been stalking her for years and paying those women to make friends with Dinah, the rich young beautiful princess from Haran. His scheme paid off. But he had to pay with his own life too, and the lives of his father and the whole male community of that town. And Dinah was irrevocably ruined too.
In summary, what has this story achieved? It is not really a story about two persons. It is a story of two nations: the nation of Israel and the surrounding nations. Dinah and Shechem were just caught in it.
Do I have any conclusion? What is the moral of the story? I believe the conclusion is in the history. It has already been written. The story of Dinah happened around 1900BC, at least 4000 years ago, and preserved in tact all these thousands of years. With it, the nation of Israel has been preserved. Other nations (and people groups) became extinct. Dinah might not have known or believed the importance of the instructions given by her parents when she was sixteen. I would like to believe that she realized it and understood the larger impact as a called nation, when she followed her parents to Egypt later at forty-five. She was actually the first Abrahamic woman whose purity was violated, like her nation (and people) when they went astray. When they finally understood and returned to the God who first called them, they fulfilled their God-ordained destiny as God had promised their ancestor, Abraham. And they have been preserved.
They see what others cannot see. Their lives were irrevocably transformed. These two prophets paid the price of love.
What kind of love that seems tragic to the human heart, and yet is not really so. Yes, it happens and is duly recorded in the lives of two good prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Let us investigate the prophet Jeremiah in this blog (Part One).
Jeremiah was set aside before birth (1:5) to take a message to the nations, urging a change of heart and a turn to the one true God. His message still applies. In the 13th year of King Josiah of Judah (ca. 627 B.C.), God called Jeremiah when he was still a youth. God appointed Jeremiah to proclaim the destruction and building of nations that would eventually lead to the Kingdom of God. (1:9-10)
His prophetic ministry lasted more than 40 years, during which he wrote both Jeremiah and Lamentations. He witnessed the fulfillment of God’s warnings of disaster, and shared in the sorrow and troubles that would follow the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians (37:4-5; 38:2, 28; 39:1).
Jeremiah led a sad and lonely life. It was believed that he was engaged when young (12:7b). But God told him not to marry (16:1). Reading his two great books, we can see that Jeremiah is a man of vision, goodness, courage, passion and hope for his nation, fellow citizens, and the fulfillment of the best plan God has prepared for them. He can hear God and talks to God since young. He comes from a prestigious priestly family and has a great future if he follows the rest of the family. But he chooses a narrow path after he hears God and preaches a true message from God. He became the most unpopular prophet and priest of the nation. Imagine a bright young man with good family background, great future in social economic status, professional achievement, and human relationship, in the eyes of the world, chooses to forego all just because he hears and obeys God! Not only he has no friend, lost his family’s love and support, he gave up his fiancée, likely a girl he has known since very young and in love with deeply.
I can only read and narrate what happened. I would not explain why Jeremiah has chosen the narrow path and lived his adult life in sorrow and persecutions by others (for forty years). But I want to encourage those who are hurting because of believing and following Christ to read Jeremiah and ask the Lord Holy Spirit to reveal to you what you need to know.
Did Jeremiah fail big time in his profession/ministry because of his political incorrectness unpopularity (in religion and politics) and having only one fruit —one faithful disciple-follower? the answer is NO. His sole faithful attendant scribe follower and recorder is Baruch. Read Jeremiah 36:4,10,32; 32:13-16; 43:3,6 and you will see the importance of having just one good and capable and faithful assistant is worth another ten thousands worthless superficial fair weather followers! Baruch’s faithful and fearless recordings and preservations of Jeremiah’s anointed messages became part of the Bible (and important history)!
What Jeremiah seems to have lost in terms of personal life (a potential marriage to a loved one), has been fully compensated by the faithful companionship of an equally qualified professional assistant to complete the prophetic calling and assignments of God.
For prophetic accuracy, Jeremiah is one of those who tops the list. Jeremiah’s prophecies on seventy years of captivity: Jeremiah 25:11; 29:10; confirmed in Daniel 9:2.
Great promises from God through Jeremiah and are relevant to believers at all time: 24:7 Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart. 29:11-13 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Returning to the subject of Jeremiah’s failed love life, and what could have happened if he had married his fiancee, here is a quote, “From the moment that he became decisively convinced of his mission, Jeremiah’s career is marked by struggles and vicissitudes of the most painful and perilous kind; his perseverance in his allotted path was met by an ever-increasing hardness on the part of the people; opposition and ridicule became persecution, and the messenger of Divine truth persisted in proclaiming his message at the risk of his own life.” During his ministry in Jerusalem he was threatened with death. His politically powerful opponents cast Jeremiah into a cistern, where he sank down into the mud. The intent was to kill Jeremiah by starvation. A Cushite rescued Jeremiah by pulling him out of it, but Jeremiah remained imprisoned until Jerusalem fell to the Babylonian army in 587 BC. History reported that he went with the exiles to Egypt after that and died a sad martyred death. It would have been a very hard life for his wife.
(to be continued in my next blog —Part Two on prophet Ezekiel’s love life.)
She is a ruler and a visionary. She gives birth to kings and priests. Yet she is another greatly maligned and misunderstood woman of God. I am going to challenge all the wrong thoughts and slanders about Leah —the gentle hearted, caring, beautiful and godly mother of many nations. She is both spiritually and physically beautiful in God’s eyes. Here is a long list of facts that dispel the previous wrong teachings about Leah. There are many Bible verses about Leah’s life, far more important than those about Rachel. Let Leah come alive in my writing and your reading. (Genesis 29:16-35; 30:1-21; 46:15; 49:30-31) (Also read the genealogy background: 11:26-29; 24:15,29; 25:20; 29:16)
She has great spiritual and physical beauty inside and outside: Leah, comes from a lineage of famous world beauties. Kings and princes fell in love with them. How is Leah related to Sarah? She is the great grand-daughter of Milcah, Sarah’s niece. Sarah is stunningly beautiful even in old age (12:14-15; 20:2). Leah’s aunt Rebekah (Laban’s sister) is another great beauty (24:16). Leah’s only daughter Dinah is also very beautiful. A powerful prince fell madly in love with her and died for her. (Genesis 34:3) Leah’s twin sister, Rachel, is another stunning beauty (29:17). Leah has to be beautiful!
She has the birth right: Leah is the first born (29:26). She is qualified to inherit the double blessings God has designated and recorded in heaven for her. She knows and takes hold of her entitlement with courage and positive actions. She heard of the twin sons of her beautiful aunt Rebekah who married Isaac. She was supposed to marry the elder twin Esau but she found out that he is godless, idolatry, carnal and cruel (a merciless hunter) to animals. (Hebrews 12:16) He is not interested in the matter of God or worship Him. He even sold his divinely appointed first born birthright to his younger twin Jacob, a godly man. By doing such a sacrilege Esau has lost his right to marry Leah.
The beautiful eyes are the window to her soul: Leah and Laban know that God has a great destiny for Jacob and Leah is the first born with the equal right and entitlement to that destiny. She has beautiful attractive eyes, a gentle and beautiful heart for God and worship Him only. She is a worthy daughter of God who can raise up the whole nation of Israel. Kings and priests will come from her lineage. “The eyes of your spirit allow revelation-light to enter into your being. If your heart is unclouded, the light floods in!” (TPT Matthew 6:22)
What went wrong? Why did Jacob want to marry Rachel? Because he saw her first and he was attracted to her physically (29:10-11, 17-18, 20). Jacob was already an old man of 78-year-old when he first saw this beautiful young woman. Obviously he was physically youthful and fit as he later worked for seven years in order to marry her. His parents gave him a clear instruction —go to his uncle’s house and ask his uncle for a wife from his daughters. The custom is to to marry off the firstborn (older) daughter and Leah is the rightful bride. Jacob did not obey his parents’ instruction. He went to the well instead to meet this shepherdess. In a former time, Abraham’s servant prayed and was led by the Lord to the well for the divine appointment with Rebekah, who was sent there by God. Jacob was not led by the Lord on this occasion. Disobedience causes him to miss God’s way. Rachel is beautiful in her face and her body (29:17). Any single man would fall for her at first sight (unfortunately for Jacob, without knowing her inside). Rachel is a carnal, idolatry woman. She stole her father’s household gods when Jacob took his family (Leah and Rachel and their children), servants and possessions, left Laban (his father-in-law) and returned to Isaac (his own father). (31:30)
Leah knows God: The Bible describes the two sisters differently. Leah is described to have tender eyes. She is a gentle-hearted, loving, caring woman of God. She considers others. She is willing to bear the disappointment, hurt and pain in her heart without talking to others about them. She talks to God. She believes that God will make compensate and comfort her. She asks God for help. she gives names to her own six sons, a daughter and her maid’s two sons. Jacob has no say or does not bother with his children. The names of her sons are: Reuben: Behold A Son, Son Of Vision (God has given her a son for Jacob); Simeon: He Who Hears (God hears her); Levi: Joined, Joiner (God has joined Jacob to her); Judah: Praised, Let Him Be Praised (She praises God for all that He has done for her and for Jacob, her beloved husband); Gad: to cut, invade and expose (a troop of warriors for God’s army and kingdom); Asher: happy, to go right on (God has given her joy, comfort and rest); Issachar: Man Of Hire, He Is Wages, There Is Recompense (God has given her concrete benefits like wages for her hard efforts and generosity to others); Zebulun: Instance Of Exaltation and honor, Glorious Dwelling Place (God has given her honor, exaltation, a good dwelling place for her husband and her). (29:16-17, 23, 31-35; 30:9-13, 14-21; 35:23)
She is a ruler and a visionary. She is fit to give birth to kings and priests: What does Leah’s name mean? Many say it means “weary” for weak and weary eyes. Few know that in fact the name Leah originates from the Assyrian language and means ruler, with the qualities of a ruler and visionary. She names her only daughter Dinah which means judge. (30:21) Leah is not weak at all. She is a stable and strong woman of God because she knows God and believes in His words and promises for her, her husband and their children. When Rachel is shepherding the sheep with her father and brothers in the field, Leah is the one who takes charge of the whole household. There is no mention of her mother who could have died young. After marrying, seeing how weak Jacob is, how else do you think their children can be raised to become the twelve tribes of Israel nation? Rachel is idolatry and dies young (at the birth of her second son Benjamin) while on the way back to the promised land. Jacob is not interested in anyone but himself and secondly, Rachel and her two sons). The true leader is therefore Leah, the matriarch in spirit and in practical living, the one whose name means ruler and visionary. No, God has not used a spiritually weak and short-vision woman to birth forth a nation. Leah is the comforter and steadfast helper to Jacob.
Leah’s exceptional eye: Do you ever think Leah has no other more qualified and worthy suitors? Laban is a rich and influential man in their hometown. Leah comes from a famous lineage of beautiful women. She is the first born. She is godly, wise, kind, gentle and generous. She is young and capable and rules her area of household responsibilities well, and she is also a visionary who dares to dream and talks about her great destiny (she has heard from God in her close walk with God.) She comes from the same family of Abraham. Many fellow countrymen would have heard of the godly visionary Abraham’s story and the blessings he has received. The discerning young men in town would have noticed her exceptional worth and potential for greatness. Surely Leah has many suitors. But she has set her heart and eye on God’s heart and God’s eye. Her eye is exceptional. God has singled her eye out. Because she can see what others cannot.
The story of Leah is one of heartbreak. Her love is sacrificial, visionary, and based on God’s promises. It is never ever any cheap blind love. Jacob is deliberately hurting and insulting to Leah in his public declaration of ardent love for Rachel, the shapelier (perhaps more voluptuous) wife, Rachel. Jacob uses her and her children as human shield to protect Rachel and her children, and him from Esau’s likely attack. Genesis 32:8, 33:2 And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. Jacob thinks that if Esau attacks those (the maids, his unfavored wife Leah and her children) in front, he and his favorite wife and children can escape. How did Leah respond? She does not respond to such petty carnal unbelief. Just as Jesus has so much love to give and longs for us to return that love but people just outright reject him for some physical attractiveness of this world —the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life that alienate people from God. Jesus faithfully went to the cross, unloved by many. He defeated the power of sin and death. He gave birth to many spiritual children, many nations! Leah is a type for Christ. She faithfully loves and not hates. She continues to bear many children and gives birth to the Israel nation, which in turn births forth many nations through her one crucial human descendent, Jesus (from the Judah tribe).
How does Leah really love Jacob? Bear in mind the huge age gap when they first met: Jacob was born in 2006BC and he fled to Laban in 1928BC at the age of 78 years. He married Leah in 1921BC at an age of 85. He wasn’t a dashing young man when he came to their house and proposed to marry one of Laban’s daughters. And yet Leah loves Jacob to the point of taking the bother to give birth to six sons and one daughter for him! What kind of love is that? In Genesis 29:30 and 29:32, Leah wants to be loved, Strong’s 157. Aheb (Achev), the love that Jacob loved Rachel, but not Leah.
“Aahav/chav is a love that has been wounded but continues to love. It can still be unconditional love, it can be a nurturing love, a caring love and have all the same elements of racham except like our first love there is a tinge of sadness, bitterness to ‘ahav/chav, an unpleasant memory.” —a Hebrews teacher. It can even mean: like, friend. But Jacob does not even like Leah as a friend. The Bible describes her as being “unloved” (Strong’s 8130: detested, hated intensely, turned against) by her husband. Leah could have married someone much younger, her own age group, but she has chosen to marry an old man like Jacob, just because she knows her destiny of greatness in Israel’s history.
Her sister Rachel has a sad end. She died in giving birth to her second son, Benjamin, after a brief marriage of 18 years to Jacob. Jacob inadvertently cursed her on their way fleeing from Laban, not knowing that she was the culprit who stole the idols from Laban. Genesis 31:32, 35:19. Leah was left to comfort Jacob when Rachel died and help raise her sister’s children.
Leah has a good ending: Jacob has to live the rest of his long life with Leah, possibly another 28 years before he moved his family to Egypt —Leah’s descendants contributed 33 out of sixty-six persons who came from Jacob’s body. Although the Bible does not record the death of Leah, Leah was given the honor to be buried in the family grave, together with Jacob, Isaac and Rebekah, and Abraham and Sarah, while Rachel was buried somewhere by the way to Ephrath (Bethlehem). Genesis 35:19, 49:30-31. Even Jacob recognizes God’s plan and destiny for Leah. In Genesis 49:8-10 Jacob blesses Judah (Leah’s fourth son) to carry on the Messiah lineage as God has designated.
Leah’s story is one of heartbreak. But she trusts and holds fast to God’s everlasting love instead of man’s transient fickle love. In a way she presented a type of God’s love through Jesus, her human descendent. She was sustained by God’s love and her love for God through all those long years of loneliness in a loveless marriage. Isn’t that what true love is?
1 John 4:18-19 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.
by Kainotes Ministry*
Vine’s Greek New Testment Dictionary:
*KAINOTES=Newness kainotes akin to kainos, is used in the phrases (a) “newness of life,” Rom 6:4, i.e., life of a new quality (see kainos under NEW); the believer, being a new creation (2 Cor 5:17), is to behave himself consistently with this in contrast to his former manner of life; (b) “newness of the spirit,” RV, Rom 7:6, said of the believer’s manner of serving the Lord. While the phrase stands for the new life of the quickened spirit of the believer, it is impossible to dissociate this (in an objective sense) from the operation of the Holy Spirit, by whose power the service is rendered.
Women in their best 