Genesis 34:30 “Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me, by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me attack me and I shall be destroyed, and I and my household.'”
Sometimes we create our circumstances and other times they are brought upon us. The ball got rolling with the rape of Jacob’s daughter. His sons, particularly Simeon and Levi, went about enacting justice. They did it in a way that tricked the town with a false promise. They killed all the men of the villiage. This is when Jacob enters the scene. He responds in horror and fear. In the above passage, he says they will be fugitives who will be picked off, if the people of the land choose to act.
A good question is, “Where was Jacob in this story?” If he were around or proactive, justice may have been done, so the brothers wouldn’t have done their vigilante work. Was he out on business or was he too afraid? We don’t know. My hunch is that it was too much for him. They probably encountered bullies, and learned how to deal with them. Send a message by going strong. Jacob, enters the seen with his concerns. The story doesn’t show his grief about the rape, only the fear of being wiped out.
Sometimes things happen and we inherit the mess. We can choose to get bitter and complain or we can be mature and work together on a fix. The bible talks about the trials that come our way. Sometimes they are just circumstancial. Others aren’t purposefully doing anything to hurt us. They just are bad circumstances. Jacob used the phrase, “You have brought trouble on me.”
How are we to behave? In I Peter 4:12, it says, “Don’t be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing,…but keep on rejoicing.” We don’t thank Him for the issue, we thank Him that it’s an opportunity to rely on Him and work out our imperfections. Jacob’s situation was bad. It wouldn’t be appropriate to walk around with a glad face, singing hymns. It’s a quiet attitude of the heart, “God, You’re going to get us through this somehow.”