During the past couple weeks, we have had the privilege of studying the accounts of various stay-at-home daughters as featured in the Holy Scriptures, including Rebekah, Zipporah, and Rachel. While there are many stay-at-home daughters mentioned in the Bible, I am aware of only one account in the entire Bible of a young woman who went out on her own, void of her father’s protection. This example is by no means a positive one, either. As a result of this daughter’s actions, shame and reproach came upon her family. Rather than serving as a polished cornerstone in her father’s home, she was a disgrace who brought disaster upon her entire family line, through the simple act of going off on her own, likely unbeknownst to her father. This example I speak of is that of Jacob and Leah’s daughter, Dinah, as recorded in Genesis 34.
Dinah's Disgrace
We read, in Genesis 34:1, “And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.” Interestingly, this venture of Dinah’s was likely not even a going out to live alone. She was probably not intending to begin a new life during her unmarried years, living on her own. Various commentators, as well as the great historian, Josephus, comment that Dinah’s reason for going out independently was most likely in order to visit the girls of the land with the intention of learning from and attending a feast or ball with them.
Not only did she leave the protection of her father’s home in order to go out on her own and pursue her own plans, she likely did so without her father’s knowledge or permission. If she had simply been openly communicating with her father as we see daughters doing in Numbers 30, this likely would not have happened. Oh the dangerous, destructive binds we can find ourselves in when we do not seek our father’s wise counsel, authority, and advice!
In verse one we read of Dinah’s leaving her father’s home. Trouble is by no means slow in arriving, for in the very next verse, we read that Shechem, the son of Hamor, “saw her, took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.” Some believe that Shechem raped Dinah, while there are others who claim that the relationship was a consensual one. I happen to think that in this context, the phrase "took her" may very well support the view held by those who believe it was rape. Either way, this was a terribly wicked act of sin-one that could have been avoided had Dinah remained at home or had the protection of her father or older brothers when she went on her venture. Sadly, however, she rejected the protection offered by her home and family, and the result was a tragic one. If this were the end of the story, it would be proof enough of the dire importance of daughters remaining under the protection of their fathers. Unfortunately, however, this is not where the story ends-it gets much, much worse.
Shechem desired to marry Dinah, and in the following verses, he appeals to his father as well as Dinah’s family, to allow him to wed her. In verses 14 through 24, we read that, because Shechem was outside the covenant community and not one of God’s chosen people, Dinah’s family would not give her to him unless he, too, were circumcised. Shechem and his people agreed to this condition and proceeded to be circumcised. Shechem was joyful, for he believed that Dinah’s brothers would hold up their end of the deal, and he would soon be married to Dinah. However, we discover in verses 13, 25, and following that all along, Jacob’s sons had had no intention whatever to give Dinah to Shechem as wife. Verses 25-30 add insult to injury and plunge Jacob’s family into an even deeper abyss of sadness and destruction. Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, slew with the sword Shechem, Hamor, and all the men of their land. They went on to spoil the entire city in vengeance and stole all their possessions-their money, children, wives, and animals-taking them, as it were, prisoner. Verse 30 of this chapter is just as tragic as the first two verses, if not more so: “And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.”
Genesis 34 is filled with one tragic event after another. Dinah is defiled and robbed of her virginity, Simeon and Levi murder countless men and take their possessions as plunder, and now Jacob’s entire family line is ruined, hated, and in danger of being completely destroyed. What could have possibly been the root of this mayhem and caused this distruction? The seemingly little act of Dinah, an unmarried young woman, leaving her father’s house, void of his protection, counsel, and leadership. Granted, Shechem is certainly to blame for sinning against Dinah; he was by no means a saint and was in dire need of self-control! Likewise, Simeon and Levi were to blame for the horrible ravaging they committed against Shechem and his land. However, it is highly unlikely that any of this would have occurred, had Dinah remained under the protection of her father, in the sphere God had so wisely and lovingly designed for her, rather than shunning it and going off on her own.
Consider the following words of Matthew Poole, a Puritan from the 17th century:
“From her father’s house into the city, out of curiosity, there being then, as Josephus reports, a great concourse of people to a feast. Thus she put herself out of her father’s protection, and merely out of a vain humour exposed both herself and others to temptation; which was the worse, because it was amongst them that had no fear of God to restrain them from the most enormous crimes. She was now fourteen or fifteen years old.”1
Likewise, consider these words from well-known Bible commentator Matthew Henry:
“Dinah was, for aught that appears, Jacob’s only daughter, and we may suppose her therefore the mother’s fondling and the darling of the family, and yet she proves neither a joy nor a credit to them; for those children seldom prove either the best or the happiest that are most indulged. She is reckoned now but fifteen or sixteen years of age when she here occasioned so much mischief. Observe, 1. Her vain curiosity, which exposed her. She went out, perhaps unknown to her father, but by the connivance of her mother, to see the daughters of the land (v. 1); probably it was at a ball, or on some public day. Being an only daughter, she thought herself solitary at home, having none of her own age and sex to converse with; and therefore she must needs go abroad to divert herself, to keep off melancholy, and to accomplish herself by conversation better than she could in her father’s tents. Note, It is a very good thing for children to love home; it is parents’ wisdom to make it easy to them, and children’s duty then to be easy in it. Her pretence was to see the daughters of the land, to see how they dressed, and how they danced, and what was fashionable among them. She went to see, yet that was not all, she went to be seen too; she went to see the daughters of the land, but, it may be, with some thoughts of the sons of the land too. Note, The pride and vanity of young people betray them into many snares. 2. The loss of her honour by this means (v. 2); Shechem, the prince of the country, but a slave to his own lusts, took her, and lay with her, it should seem, not so much by force as by surprise. Note, Great men think they may do any thing; and what more mischievous than untaught and ungoverned youth? See what came of Dinah’s gadding: young women must learn to be chaste, keepers at home; these properties are put together, Tit. 2:5, for those that are not keepers at home expose their chastity. Dinah went abroad to look about her; but, if she had looked about her as she ought, she would not have fallen into this snare. Note, The beginning of sin is as the letting forth of water. How great a matter does a little fire kindle!”2
“Dinah, when she went to see the daughters of the land, lost her chastity. Those whose home is their prison, it is to be feared, feel that their chastity is their fetters.”3
Behold all the disastrous consequences that can follow when daughters go against God’s all-wise, ordained design of stay-at-home daughterhood and forsake the protection of their fathers!
Deuteronomy 22:27-A Tragic Situation
The biography of Dinah is, sadly, so very similar to that of the young woman mentioned in Deuteronomy 22:27. This is a heart-breaking passage that causes me to praise the Lord for the protection which my parents’ home affords me. This verse states, “For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.” In the two verses which proceed this one, a law is laid down by God as to how a man should be treated who comes across a maiden alone in a field and proceeds to rape her. Notice the condition of helplessness in verse 27-and there was none to save her. It should be crystal clear why God has commanded fathers to care for, lead, and protect their unmarried daughters in their homes until they give them in marriage. Our God is desiring to save these young women from the horrific situation in which young woman in verse 27 found herself. Yet, in our day, those both inside and outside the Church are ever so intent upon breaking down the foundations of stay-at-home daughterhood, in the hopes of destroying this beloved doctrine and preventing young ladies from following in the footsteps thereof. This is simply unthinkable at best and downright hateful at worst. May we in Christendom who have shunned this doctrine repent of our folly, and realize the guilt we have when we push young women from their protective homes and families out into a dog-eat-dog world!
And so it Continues to This Day....
The account of Dinah, as well as the one addressed in Deuteronomy 22, are by no means archaic. The problem of unprotected, independent women being harassed is even more common in our day, in a time when the majority of today’s women are away on a college campus or in the workplace. Likewise, I addressed, in a previous article, the account of a 15 year old girl who was raped and abused at a school dance, with no one stepping in to protect or defend her. Consider, for example, the following horrific statistics:
A college survey conducted by the National Victim Center reported that one in four college women have been raped or suffered attempted rape (Bureau of Justice, 1992).4
Approximately 32% of college students are victims of domestic violence5
While in college, 50 - 75% of women are sexually harassed, and 20 to 30% of college women report being sexually harassed by a professor6
Fifteen percent of all female violent crimes were committed while the victim was working or on duty.7
Approximately 36,500 rapes and sexual assaults occur annually in the workplace. In 80 percent of these incidents, the victim was female.8
This is tragic! And yet, in our day, if you are an adult woman and not on a college campus or busying yourself in the workplace, you are viewed as old-fashioned, unfulfilled, and strange. Is it any wonder that, in Numbers 30, the Lord commands fathers to protect and lead their unmarried daughters at home until they give them in marriage?
In Conclusion
The Holy Scriptures are replete with accounts of stay-at-home daughters. Interestingly, there is precisely one account-only one!- in the Bible that I am aware of which speaks of a daughter going off on her own. This example is by no means a positive nor praiseworthy one. I believe that, through it, the Lord is issuing forth to us a grave warning of the destruction that can-and so often does-take place when unmarried young women are sent off to be on their own-be that at a college dorm or in one’s own dwelling place, pursuing a career in the workforce.
Prevailing among Christendom today is the idea that the Bible speaks not to the issue of where unmarried young women should live. Others believe that if it does speak to this issue, it is simply by way of suggestion or the issuance of a good idea, or perhaps through some archaic, done-away-with command. However, this is clearly not the case. The Scriptures provide us with example after example of stay-at-home daughters, verses pertaining to stay-at-home daughterhood, and commands addressing the issue of where unmarried daughters are to live. In addition, we are provided with only one example of a daughter who forsook the protection of her father. If the Lord were indifferent as to where an unmarried woman lives, then He would have provided for us in His Word positive, heart-warming, good examples of unmarried daughters leaving their families and living on their own. However, this is simply not what we find in the Scriptures-and I believe we know precisely why this is!
Footnotes
1. Matthew Poole, Matthew Poole’s Commentary on the Holy Bible Vol. 1 (Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2008) pg. 77
2. Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1991) pg. 73
3. Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1991) pg. 2370
4. http://www.aaets.org/article135.htm
5. http://www.feministcampus.org/fmla/printable-materials/v-day05/violence_against_women.pdf
6. Ibid.
7. http://www.aflcio.org/issues/jobseconomy/women/violence.cfm
8. Ibid.
