GENESIS 34........THE BELOVED AND I

Genesis 34

1 Now Leah's daughter Dinah whom

She'd borne to Jacob to their doom,

Went out to see the daughters of

The land. 2 And when Shechem, her love,

The son of Hamor the Hivite,

Prince of the country, saw her right,

He took her and lay with her, and

He violated her and flanned.

3 His soul was strongly attracted

To Dinah, Jacob's daughter bred.

And he loved the young woman and

Spoke kindly to her what he planned.



My soul returns to You, Beloved, though I

Am often blinded by the veils to spy

On every other kind of false attachment.

The market-place abounds in bright dispatchment

For this and that position and right friend.

But all of these require the buy and lend

Of every man's integrity. Set free

Of vain hopes and despairs I often see

The rest alive in You, Beloved, to be

None other but Your loved and complement.

My will made Yours is always cheaply spent.

I spread aside the silken curtains and

Come naked before Your light sword and stand,

Awaiting the stroke of the divine hand.



4 So Shechem spoke to Hamor his

Father and said "Please get me this

Young woman as a wife." 5 And so

Jacob found out the gigolo

Had spoiled his daughter Dinah. Now

His sons were with his herds, somehow

Jacob held his peace till they came.

6 Then Hamor Shechem's father came

Out to Jacob to speak with him.

7 And the sons of Jacob were grim

When they came from the field and heard,

And the men were grieved and angry,

Because he had done and incurred

Disgraceful things that should not be

In Israel lying with the daughter

Of Jacob when he loved and caught her.



According to Mosaic law, the plan

Of Shechem was the right thing that a man

Who had lain with a virgin ought to do.

Disgraceful it may be, but then he drew

The right conclusions of what's good and fair.

He promised to make Dinah's child his heir.

The punishment for fornication is

Not death but only repenting of his

Mistake, and sacrifice and proper dowry,

And having so, he should not miss the houri.

But Jacob held his peace. It was his sons

That were so angry they could have laid tons

Of bombs on Shechem's city. I too hold

My peace, Beloved, but need a son who's bold.



8 But Hamor spoke with them, and said

"The soul of my son Shechem's fed

On longing for your daughter. Wed

Her please to him as wife and bed.

9 "And make marriages with us, give

Your daughters to us, and let live

Our daughters as your wives. 10 "So you

Shall live with us, the land in view

Shall be for you to live and trade

In it, acquiring goods well-made."

11 Then Shechem told her father and

Her brothers, "Please now let me stand

In favour in your eyes, and what

You say, I'll give of what I've got.

12 "Ask me ever so much dowry

And gift, I'll give accordingly

To what you say to me, but give

Me the young woman wife to live."



Beloved, my soul is filled with longing for

Your presence. I unlock the seven locks

And then trembling unbolt the inner door.

I enter in the temple carved in rocks,

Not in belovèd Cush, but in my heart.

I penetrate the silken veils and part

The hangings all embroidered in fine gold

For thread, pass by the lamps seven all told

And made of beaten and spun gold, pass by

The table and the bread, the censor's tie

With cherubim wings spread, come to the ark

And see the burning light, walls damp and stark.

Beloved, I call and call. The echoing room

Is empty, is this now the day of doom?



13 But Jacob's sons answered Shechem

And Hamor his father pro tem,

Deceitfully, because he had

Defiled their sister Dinah bad.

14 And they said to them, "We cannot

Do this thing, and give on the spot

Our sister to uncircumcised,

Reproach to us and thing despised.

15 "We shall consent on this condition,

If you'll correct this one omission,

And every male of yours become

As we are, circumcised, in sum,

16 "Then we will give our daughters to

You, and we'll take your daughters to

Us, and we will stay on with you,

And we will be one people, too.

17 "But if you will not heed us and

Be circumcised, we'll leave the land

And take our daughter and be gone."



Tell me, Beloved, is there in all the land

A righteous and a diminishing band

Of twelve or more, whose proclamation of

Your truth and law is tempered with Your love?

Or do all preachers of Your name and fame

Conceal their filthy devisings of shame,

Yet shamelessly fulfil their plans' deceit?

I hear the noble words repeat, repeat,

And see the smiling greetings, yet I've been

Once circumcised and circumcised for sin

Again and once again till naught remains

To cut from my flesh but skin and chilblains.

I offer You alone, Beloved, the pity

That's left after Mecca and Athens city.



18 And their words pleased Hamor anon

And Shechem, Hamor's son. 19 So he

Did not delay to do the thing,

Since he delighted like a king

In Jacob's daughter. He was more

Honourable than all those before

In his father's household. 20 Hamor

And Shechem his son came before

The gate of their city, and spoke

With their city's men and they broke

Their mind thus saying 21 "These men are

At peace with us, come from afar.

Therefore let them live in the land

And trade in it. Indeed the land

Is large enough for them. Let us

Take their daughters to us as wives,

And let's give them our daughters thus.

22 "This one condition just contrives

To make us one people and they

Will thus consent to come our way,

If all our males are circumcised

As they are too, so they've advised.

23 "Will not their livestock, property,

And all their herds be ours for free?

Let us only consent to them,

And they will live with us." 24 Both stem

And stern all who went out the gate

Of his city heeded Hamor

And Shechem his son, what is more,

And every male who could not wait

Was circumcised, there at the gate

Of his city, and walked no more.



Hamor had sense enough to speak of wealth

To all the men, who cared not for their health,

But let greed take them. It is always greed

Or sex or honour that blinds those in need

Who search out the ways to a heavenly home.

These three turn from Jerusalem to Rome

The weary traveller. Purify my soul,

Beloved, from these three in a common goal,

And I shall find Your presence easily.

Set me from greed, lust and ambition free,

And I shall find the palaces of gold,

The heavenly thrones, rivers of wine and bold

Houri in what I knew before. Reward

Me not with future gifts, but the restored.



25 Now it happened on the third day,

When all the city men were sore,

(Try circumcision then for gore)

Two sons of Jacob came that way,

Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers,

Each took his sword, came on the others

Boldly upon the city and

Killed all the males found in the land.

26 And they killed Hamor and his son

Shechem with their sword one for one,

And took Dinah from Shechem's house,

And went out quiet as a mouse.

27 The sons of Jacob came upon

The slain, and plundered every john

In the city, because their sister

Had been defiled before they missed her.

28 They took their sheep, their oxen, and

Their donkeys, what was in the land

And city, what was in the field,

29 And all their wealth, and all concealed,

Their little ones and their wives too

They took all captive, not a few,

And they plundered even all that was

In all the houses. 30 Father-in-laws

Do not act so, then Jacob said

To Simeon and Levi instead,

"You've troubled me to make me stink

Before this land's inhabitants.

The Canaanites will sure not wink,

Nor will the Perizzites come dance,

Since I am few in number, they

Will gather themselves in the way

Against me and kill me. I'll be

Destroyed, my household, bond and free."

31 But they said "Should he treat our sister

Like a harlot? He more than kissed her."



Beloved, this Jacob is most sorry that

A hundred men or more that nobly sat

At city gate for judgement have been slain.

Such sympathy for lost life would be sane,

Except he worries not a hair for those

Who've lost husband and father and rich clothes,

Their livelihoods and cattle, all their wealth,

Since two sons acted violence and stealth,

And all the rest came to the plunder fast.

He says not one word of the rue and blast.

He only worries that some angry man

Might take revenge on son and partisan.

Beloved, may I repent the evil act,

Because it's evil, not because I'm sacked.