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The Leadership Vacuum

Words of Faith Final

The Leadership Vacuum
Words of Faith 6-21-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Genesis 34
[13] Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob's sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. [14] They said to them, "We can't do such a thing; we can't give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. [15] We will give our consent to you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. [16] Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We'll settle among you and become one people with you. [17] But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we'll take our sister and go."
[18] Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. [19] The young man, who was the most honored of all his father's household, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. [20] So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city to speak to their fellow townsmen. [21] "These men are friendly toward us," they said. "Let them live in our land and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters and they can marry ours. [22] But the men will consent to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be circumcised, as they themselves are. [23] Won't their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us give our consent to them, and they will settle among us."
[24] All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised.
[25] Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. [26] They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem's house and left. [27] The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where their sister had been defiled. [28] They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. [29] They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.
[30] Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed."
[31] But they replied, "Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?"

How does one respond to an attack upon one's very flesh and blood? Jacob and his sons were confronted with a horrible and tragic situation. A spoiled Canaanite rich kid had raped the only daughter, Dinah. Because of this defilement, she could not be given in marriage. But the response of the spoiled rich kid was to offer to purchase Dinah as a bride through a generous treaty. How does a brother respond to that?
Frankly, the sons of Jacob were not well equipped to deal with the situation, and the leadership of Jacob seems absent as the story unfolds. The brothers had an idea. They proposed that all the Shechemites be circumcised before the marriage to their sister could take place. It is not clear whether they really expected the offensive clan to comply. They probably thought this would never happen. But it did! And this opened an opportunity for revenge.
During the painful recovery from the circumcision, Simeon and Levi came up with a plan for vengeance. As full brothers of Dinah, Simeon and Levi may have been particularly enraged both at the crime of Shechem and Jacob's passive response. Using the element of surprise and the handicap of the painful recovery, the two engaged in a horrific slaughter of all the males in the family of Shechem including his father. They killed many men who, though they were pagan, had nothing directly to do with the offense of the spoiled rich kid.
Of course, Jacob was furious with Simeon and Levi. He was not so much convicted of the sin of murdering the innocent as he was concerned that this would cause future problems. Such actions were not uncommon among desert peoples. Still, Jacob knew that such a vengeful act would haunt them as they tried to live among the people of Canaan. They would be a stench among the people there.
Simeon and Levi replied with a confronting question, "Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?" Essentially, they replied, "You were doing nothing about the honor or our sister. You weren't even concerned for her. You were not leading, so this is what we did."
This is not an episode for a warm fireside chat over hot cocoa and marshmallows! But there is a clear lesson here that concerns the importance of leadership and the danger when it is absent. Passivity on the part of Jacob in such a volatile and offensive situation allowed another tragedy to pile upon the first.
Perhaps if Jacob had spoken to his sons regarding the painful situation they all were in-- If Jacob had only acknowledged the hideous injustice of a proposed marriage of his daughter to her rapist-- If Jacob had demanded justice from the offender-- Or, if Jacob had spoken up simply to say that the Lord God who had led them into Canaan would not abandon them and He would have His vengeance upon those who hurt them-- things might have been different. But Jacob seemed at a loss. At a time when Jacob's sons and daughter needed him desperately to lead, he was silent. There was a leadership vacuum.
That is the lesson. Don't be silent. When painful things happen in our lives, families, or nation, leaders need to talk about it. We need to talk about the burning desire for revenge. Talk about the injustice. Talk about the impossibility of making things right. Talk about the pain. Talk about trusting the Lord in the midst of pain. Talk about the fact that answers are not readily available. Talk about it.
Difficult dilemmas confront us. As leaders, we need to talk about it. This is what leadership is about.

Father, prepare me for the critical moments when You need me to lead. Prepare me carefully for the times when You need me to speak up. Use me as Your instrument-- in my family, in my community, in my church, and in my world. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.