Sabbath, August 8, 2020

Lesson 6 – Dinah and Fornication in the Last Days

Dinah means “judged” or “judgment.”

“And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.” Genesis 34:1.

“Cleanse the camp of this moral corruption, if it takes the highest men in the highest positions. God will not be trifled with. Fornication is in our ranks. I know it, for it has been shown me to be strengthening and extending its pollutions. There is much we will never know, but that which is revealed makes the church responsible and guilty unless they show a determined effort to eradicate the evil. Cleanse the camp, for there is an accursed thing in it.” –Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, p. 237.

 

SUNDAY

  1. Who were Dinah’s parents? How was she tempted?

Genesis  30:21;  46:15;  34:1  And  afterwards she  bare  a  daughter,  and  called her name Dinah…. 46:15These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padanaram, with his daughter Dinah:… 34:1And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

“The standard of piety is low among professed Christians generally, and it is hard for the young to resist the worldly influences that are encouraged by many church members. The majority of nominal Christians, while they profess to be living for Christ, are really living for the world. They do not discern the excellence of heavenly things, and therefore cannot truly love them. Many profess to be Christians because Christianity is considered honorable. They do not discern that genuine Christianity means cross-bearing, and their religion has little influence to restrain them from taking part in worldly pleasures.

“Some can enter the ballroom and unite in all the amusements which it affords. Others cannot go to such lengths as this, yet they can attend parties of pleasure, picnics, shows and other places of worldly amusement; and the most discerning eye would fail to detect any difference between their appearance and that of unbelievers.” –Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, p. 326.

 

MONDAY

Be careful of friendships

 

  1. What counsel does the Bible give concerning associates, friendship, business, and marriage? What instruction is very important for all who live in this adulterous age?

2 Corinthians 6:14, 15 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication.

1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

“Upon fathers and mothers devolves the responsibility of giving a Christian education to the children intrusted to them. In no case are they to let any line of business so absorb mind and time and talents that their children are allowed to drift until they are separated far from God. They are not to allow their children to slip out of their grasp into the hands of unbelievers. They are to do all in their power to keep them from imbibing the spirit of the world. They are to train them to become workers together with God. They are to be God’s human hand, fitting themselves and their children for an endless life.” –Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 545.

“Some of our brethren engaged in business have not kept the Sabbath according to the commandment. Some have been in partnership with unbelievers, and the influence of these Sabbathbreaking associates has had its effect upon them. Some have been so blinded that they could not discern the danger in such connections, but it is only the greater because unperceived. While one partner is professedly observing the Sabbath, the other, with the laborers employed, is carrying on the business of the firm. The Sabbathkeeper, though not outwardly engaged in labor, cannot keep his thoughts from business matters. While he may endeavor to keep the Sabbath, he does not keep it. The Lord looks upon him as a transgressor.” –Testimony Treasures, vol. 2, p. 180.

 

TUESDAY

  1. What tragedy did Dinah suffer? Was she guilty for losing her honor?

Genesis 34:2, 3 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. 3And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.

Deuteronomy 22:26, 27 But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: 27For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.

“The tarry of Jacob and his sons at Shechem ended in violence and bloodshed. The one daughter of the household had been brought to shame and sorrow, two brothers were involved in the guilt of murder, a whole city had been given to ruin and slaughter, in retaliation for the lawless deed of one rash youth. The beginning that led to results so terrible was the act of Jacob’s daughter, who ‘went out to see the daughters of the land,’ thus venturing into association with the ungodly. He who seeks pleasure among those that fear not God is placing himself on Satan’s ground and inviting his temptations.” –Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 204.

 

WEDNESDAY

  1. Who wanted Dinah for his wife?  How did Jacob’s sons feel when they heard about Dinah being dishonored?

Genesis 34:4-7 And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. 5And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come. 6And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. 7And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had worked folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter: which thing ought not to be done.

 

THURSDAY

  1. What dowry did Shechem offer to pay to Jacob to obtain Dinah for his son? But what were the real motives of Shechem and Hamor?

Genesis 34:11, 12, 22, 23 And Shechem said unto her father and to her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. 12Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as you shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife…. 22Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. 23Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us.

“Marriage between believers and unbelievers is forbidden by God. But too often the unconverted heart follows its own desires, and marriages unsanctioned by God are formed. Because of this, many men and women are without hope and without God in the world. Their noble aspirations are dead; by a chain of circumstances they are held in Satan’s net.” –Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, p. 17.

 

FRIDAY

Fornication leads to death

  1. After the men of the town of Shechem were circumcised, what sins did Dinah’s brothers commit? Was such vengeance justified in relation to God and His law?

Genesis 34:24-29; 49:5-7 And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city. 25And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. 26And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out. 27The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, 29And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house…. 49:5Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. 6O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. 7Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

“The treacherous cruelty of Simeon and Levi was not unprovoked; yet in their course toward the Shechemites they committed a grievous sin. They had carefully concealed from Jacob their intentions, and the tidings of their revenge filled him with horror. Heartsick at the deceit and violence of his sons, he only said, ‘Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land:… 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.’ But the grief and abhorrence with which he regarded their bloody deed is shown by the words in which, nearly fifty years later, he referred to it, as he lay upon his deathbed in Egypt: ‘Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united…. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel.’ Genesis 49:5-7.”–Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 204.

 

SABBATH

  1. As the end of time approaches, what terrible sin will be repeated among Gods people? What is spiritual fornication?

Ezekiel 23:14; 8:12, 13 And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion…. 8:12Then said he to me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, the Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth. 13He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.

Hosea 1:2, last part; 5:4 … For the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord…. 5:4They will not frame their doings to turn to their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the middle of them, and they have not known the Lord.

“Near the close of this earth’s history Satan will work with all his powers in the same manner and with the same temptations wherewith he tempted ancient Israel just before their entering the Land of Promise. He will lay snares for those who claim to keep the commandments of God, and who are almost on the borders of the heavenly Canaan. He will use his powers to their utmost in order to entrap souls and to take God’s professed people upon their weakest points. Those who have not brought the lower passions into subjection to the higher powers of their being, those who have allowed their minds to flow in a channel of carnal indulgence of the baser passions, Satan is determined to destroy with his temptations…. Men in responsible positions, teaching the claims of God’s law, whose mouths are filled with arguments in vindication of His law, against which Satan has made such a raid, over such he sets his hellish powers and his agencies at work and overthrows them upon the weak points in their character, knowing that he who offends on one point is guilty of all, thus obtaining complete mastery over the entire man. Mind, soul, body, and conscience are involved in the ruin. If he be a messenger of righteousness and has had great light, or if the Lord has used him as His special worker in the cause of truth, then how great is the triumph of Satan! How he exults! How God is dishonored!” –The Adventist Home, p. 327.