Destruction of Schechem

The rape of Dinah: a great injustice is somehow ameliorated by the destruction of scores of men slain in a terrible, betraying ruse. The enslavement of the women and children, the looting of their possessions – this isn’t the way of Jacob, a man of dreams and process and words.

He’s frustrated.  So he goes back to where it started, to Bethel where he first encountered God. But damage has been done. Simeon and Levi will never again have his trust. The sons of Leah are suspect. Although the rift not yet visible, the stress of the tectonic competition is building.

It’s the going back that has my attention. Like a pilgrim on the via Francigina, in this going back Jacob, seeks to reconnect to the Lord as his first love.

But like all pilgrims eventually discover; it’s never about the destination. It is never about the destination.