All right, Genesis 34 verse 1, the Bible reads,
And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob,
went out to see the daughters of the land.
The total for the servant tonight is daughters of the land.
Now we have an interesting story here.
It just might seem like this unusual story popping out of nowhere,
but just as you're reading through the book of Genesis,
as you're studying the book of Genesis,
keep in mind that this is the foundational book.
Keep in mind that this is the foundational book of the Old Covenant,
the foundational book of the New Covenant,
and so what we see in this chapter isn't just a random story, okay?
What we see in this chapter is a lot of mistakes, okay?
It's a chapter full of mistakes,
and so when God gives the Old Covenant,
gives the law to Moses to the children of Israel,
God looks back at these stories and looks back at here, Genesis 34,
and he puts laws into place that will address the mistakes they've made, okay?
So if you know your Old Testament quite well,
you know the laws that were given to Moses quite well,
you'll be able to look back at Genesis 34 and say,
man, they really messed up.
They really messed up, and so of course God had to step in
and put some laws into place when Israel became a nation.
But we're introduced to two main characters in this chapter
that you're not really all that familiar with,
though we were introduced to them before.
The first one is Dinah, okay?
Dinah, now just go back to Genesis 34 for me.
Keep your finger there, but go back to Genesis 30 verse 20.
Let me just show you the introduction to Dinah.
Uh, Genesis chapter 30 verse 20, the Bible reads,
and Leah, that's her mother, and Leah said,
God hath endured me with a good dowry,
now with my husband dwell with me,
because I have borne him six sons, and she called his name Zebulun,
and afterwards she bare a daughter and called her name Dinah.
That's the first time we get introduced to Dinah.
She's the only sister with all those boys that were born,
those 11 boys that we read about so far.
Dinah's the only sister in that group, and her mother is Leah, okay?
And because her mother is Leah, she's got, like she mentioned,
there's six other brothers, full-blooded brothers,
and the three eldest brothers were Reuben, Simeon, and Levi.
They're the eldest brothers, the three eldest brothers of Dinah,
Reuben, Simeon, and Levi.
Now Reuben doesn't play a part in this chapter,
but Simeon, the second eldest, and the third eldest, Levi,
they also play a major part in this chapter.
So that's Dinah, the daughter of Leah.
Then the other character that we become more familiar with in this book is Shechem.
Okay, the man named Shechem,
now if you just go back to your previous chapter, Genesis 33,
let's have a look at Shechem once again, Genesis 33 verse 18.
Genesis 33 verse 18, you may remember this is afterwards,
so when Jacob had sorted things out with Esau,
they've made peace, and Jacob goes and settles down into Shalom here.
So then Jacob came in Genesis 33 verse 18,
and Jacob came to Shalom, a city of Shechem.
So there's Shechem, okay.
This is one of Shechem's cities.
And so the fact that this city, or this town,
if you want to call it this village,
is named after Shechem means he's a prominent person, right?
He's either a wealthy person, he's someone that this city belongs to,
and then it says here, which is in the land of Canaan,
and when he came to Paddan Aram, he pitched his tent before the city.
So you can see where Jacob settles down,
he settles down, and his tent is facing the city of Shechem.
So now you get to understand
why Dinah and Shechem meet in this chapter, in chapter 34.
And then it says in verse number 19, Genesis 33, 19,
and he bought a parcel of a field
where he had spread his tent at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father.
So Hamor is another character that we read about in Genesis 34.
Hamor is Shechem's father for 100 pieces of money.
So he buys a piece of land there so he can settle down there in Shalom.
So let's go back to Genesis 34 now,
now that we're familiar with those characters
that were introduced to us a little bit earlier.
Genesis 34 verse 1, it says,
And Dinah, the daughter of Leah,
so the only daughter there, which she bare unto Jacob,
went out to see the daughters of the land.
And as I told you, the title for the sermon is Daughters of the Land.
So we immediately get the story, we know what's going on.
You see here, Dinah's the only sister, right?
She's the only girl in the family.
And they settle down toward this city,
and obviously she makes friends with the other girls on the land.
She makes friends with the other daughters of the land, okay?
And those daughters were Canaanites, they were Hivites, you know?
And so she makes friends.
And she goes out to see the daughters of the land.
She goes out to hang out with her friends.
She goes out to hang out with some of the ladies,
probably bored of hanging around and playing with the boys all day.
You know, she makes some female friends,
nothing wrong with making female friends,
but it's the type of friend that she made, okay?
The type of friends that she made were non-believers,
were children from the land of Canaan.
Now Dinah did not go out intentionally trying to seek fornication.
She did not intentionally go out to do something evil,
she just went out to spend time with her friends, okay?
So the first lesson, we see in this chapter later on,
Dinah commits fornication.
And so as a lesson for us, especially as parents,
we need to have some control, some supervision,
especially over our daughters.
Especially over our daughters, okay?
You've got to be mindful about the kinds of friends your children make.
You know, it's kind of like the idea that, you know,
you might send your daughter out there to play with,
you know, the neighborhood girls out there somewhere in the park or wherever.
You know, she could find herself in some major problems.
You know, she's not going out there to cause problems,
she's not going out there to sin,
she's just going out there to make friends.
You've got to be careful about the kinds of friends your children make.
Now, we're blessed in our home because we have a number of children,
there are a number of sisters, there are a number of brothers,
and when they have no one else to play with,
they play with each other, right?
They play with each other, so they've got company.
But I can understand the need for Dinah to make some female friends.
I can understand that, right?
And so she goes out there, and let's look at verse number two.
It says,
And when Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivites,
prince of the country, saw her,
he took her and lay with her and defiled her.
Now, one misinterpretation that I've heard in this passage
is to say that Shechem raped Dinah.
That's not what took place, brethren.
That's not what took place, okay?
This was a mutual thing, all right?
Dinah goes out to hang out with her friends,
and guess what her friends are doing?
They're talking about the boys, okay?
They're introducing,
hey, let me introduce you to Shechem, all right?
And Shechem, this goes hand in hand
with what I preached on Sunday afternoon, all right?
And I said to you,
I know of non-believing, unsaved people
that will go to church simply to find a wife, okay?
Because there comes a point in time
when even the ungodly man
will look at all the ungodly women in the land
and say, well, I can't make a wife of these women.
These women don't interest me, okay?
And so they're looking for something valuable.
They're looking for someone special, right?
And they go to church thinking
that they're going to find something different.
And that's how it should be in church, right?
If someone comes to church,
they should see our children.
They should see the singles.
They could see, hey,
there's something different about these people.
These people are highly valued.
And so Shechem sees a Dinah, right?
A believer, a child of Jacob,
and he goes, well,
this is the girl that I want to choose, all right?
And he takes her,
and they commit for an occasion.
The Bible says here,
he defiled her and defiled her.
Verse number three,
and his soul clave unto Dinah,
the daughter of Jacob,
and he loved the damsel,
and spake kindly unto the damsel.
And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor,
saying, get me this damsel to wife.
Okay?
So you can see Shechem here,
he's not, you know,
he loves Dinah, right?
He's committed for an occasion.
He finds love for her.
He speaks to her kindly.
You know, she treats her well,
and he goes to his father,
please, can you go
and make this woman my wife?
And we see later on that
his father listens to his son.
He goes and speaks to Jacob
and tries to sort out
some marriage plans between these two, all right?
So like I said,
this ties in quite well
with what I preached on Sunday.
You know, we need to be very careful
with the kinds of friends, honestly,
that our children make.
You don't know the kinds of influences
or things they speak about.
Now, I'm quite comfortable
with my kids making friends in church,
but even then,
you've got to be careful
about what some other kids
might be talking about, okay?
You don't know, you know,
parents have different standards with kids, right?
And you might have certain standards
with your kids
that other kids in the church
might have a different standard,
and you've got to instruct your children, right?
We don't want them to be recluse.
We don't want them to be in a bubble.
We don't want them to be lonely
and just afraid of everybody
and afraid of hearing anything.
Look, our kids are going to grow up
and they're going to be part
of this world at some point.
They need to know some of the danger.
They need to be made aware,
but that awareness needs to come from the parents.
You need to warn your children
and even potential things
that they may hear from other kids
and tell them to not participate in that, okay?
I've got a friend down in Sydney
who has put his children in public school
and he doesn't want to.
He knows the damage.
He knows the bad influences
that the school can have to his children,
but he said to me,
but I want my kids to make friends.
Like what other way can I call,
you know, have my kids make friends
except for them to be in school
and make friends?
Are you sure they're the kind of friends
you want your kids to be part of?
Now look, I'm all for, you know,
kids being friendly.
I'm all for kids playing with other kids.
In fact, not now because the season's over.
In fact, for the last two years,
I've been sending my boys to play soccer,
you know, in a soccer club with other kids
and I know those kids
might slip out of swear word every now and again.
Those kids might, you know, misbehave
and they're not behaving the way
that I want my children to behave.
But the reason I allow them
to be part of a situation like that
is because it's a controlled supervised arrangement, okay?
It's not like they're going to find themselves
with other kids all by themselves, okay?
Checking out the girls or anything like that, right?
They go there.
They've got an hour of training
or whatever it is.
They're there to train.
They're there to kick a ball around
and then they go and play a game.
I take them to the games.
They play their games.
They get their exercise.
They get their fitness.
We go home, okay?
And, you know, we're not participating
in any kind of other activities.
You know, the kids are never outside of my sight, okay?
Or if I trust the coach,
I believe the coach will be coaching there.
You know, for a moment there, for an hour,
I'm trusting the coach at that point in time
to look after my children.
But, you know, that's a situation
where it's a controlled environment
and there's supervision, okay?
Now, you may be fooled into thinking
the school is a controlled environment
because there's all these teachers, right?
Yeah, but there's like one teacher
for like 30 students, okay?
There's no way.
I mean, I have 11 kids.
Sometimes we're like, where's so and so?
He's disappeared, right?
Where's Adrian?
Oh, he's outside in the backyard, right?
Or something like that.
You lose sight of your children, right?
How's a teacher who's not even a parent
be able to oversee 30 kids in the playground?
And that's the thing.
It's not a controlled environment in the school, right?
Yes, during the classes it's controlled,
but between classes, during research,
during lunch, before school starts,
after school starts,
that's where you can get into really
a lot of bad influences, you know?
You can get into a really bad place.
And I can just reflect back in my schooling, right?
The times that drugs were offered,
the times that alcohol was offered,
you know, the times that dirty magazines,
pornography, these things were shared around,
you know?
Again, you know, it's all friends, you know?
But hey, that's going and making friends
with the daughters of the land
or the sons of the land.
So we've got to be careful with our children.
I'm all for getting them out there.
You know, I don't believe children
should be stuck at home doing nothing,
but try to find an environment
where they're supervised.
Find an environment where they will not be left alone
with other children of the land, okay?
And let's look at verse number five,
Genesis chapter 34 verse five.
It says,
Now while this is going on,
Dinah is still in the house
with Hamor and Shechem.
She's still over there, okay?
She didn't come back to her father.
You'll see this later on.
Verse number seven,
What do we find here?
When the brothers find out
that their sister has been defiled,
they're grieved.
They have sorrow.
They have wrath.
They have anger, okay?
And that's how it ought to be.
You know, the sin of fornication
is a wicked sin.
It is a wicked sin, brethren.
You know, and we live in an environment society
where people are encouraged
to commit fornication.
Hey, don't get married.
Don't rush into marriage.
Go live together for a while.
Just see how it is.
See how it works out.
You know, before you get married,
try before you buy.
That's a wicked sin.
That's a wicked way
of living your life, brethren.
You know?
And this is why God has given us marriage.
God has given us marriage
because this is the right place
to express those feelings
between a man and a woman, okay?
Fornication in the Bible
is exceedingly sinful.
And look how it ended there
in verse number seven,
Which thing ought not to be done?
And children, young people, singles,
I'm telling you,
fornication is something
which ought not to be done, okay?
Ought not to be done in your lives.
Keep yourselves pure.
Keep yourselves from being defiled.
And notice that the Bible
did claim there in verse number two.
Look at verse number two again.
And when Shekin the son of Hamor,
the Hivite, prince of the country,
saw her, he took her,
and lay with her, and defiled her.
Look at verse number five.
And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah,
his daughter.
Is he fornication is defiling your body, okay?
The word defiled means unclean, impure,
to pollute your own body.
That's what fornication is.
You commit fornication,
you are unclean.
You are polluting yourself, okay?
You are causing damage to your own body.
Keep your finger there, please,
and go to 1 Corinthians chapter six.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter six for me.
1 Corinthians chapter six, verse 18.
The Bible reads,
Flee fornication.
You know what that means?
That means there's going to come
a point in your time
when you may be tempted
to commit fornication.
There can come a point in your time
when you could make a conscious decision,
I'm going to commit fornication.
So the command is here,
flee fornication.
Get out of there.
I say this over and over again
as I preach on this topic.
You need to physically remove yourself, okay?
You can't think,
well, I'm just mentally strong enough.
I'm spiritually strong enough
to hang around here, you know,
with the temptation of fornication,
and I won't give in.
You will give in.
This is why the Bible says flee it.
Get yourself physically out of that situation.
Flee fornication.
Look at this.
Every sin that a man doeth
is without the body,
but he that commit a fornication
sinneth against his own body.
You can sin against yourself
by committing fornication.
This is why the Bible calls it defilement,
defiling, making yourself impure,
making yourself polluted.
Look at verse number 19.
What?
Know ye not that your body is a temple
of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God,
and ye are not your own, the Bible says.
Why should you not commit fornication?
Number one, because it's a sin.
Number two is because your body,
if you're saved,
does not belong to you anymore, brethren.
It belongs to God.
It's been purchased by God, okay?
And you are a temple.
A temple is a sanctuary,
a place that is meant to be sanctified,
a place where God can dwell
and reside in you, okay?
And when you're taking your body
that it belongs to God
and committing fornication,
you're defiling that temple as well, okay?
You're grieving the Holy Ghost.
You're upsetting God
because that's where he wants
to reside in your body.
Verse number 20.
For ye are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body
and in your spirit which are God's.
How do I glorify God in my body?
Flee fornication.
Keep yourself pure until marriage, okay?
The Bible taught us there in verse number 20,
for ye are bought with a price.
What's that price?
The blood of Jesus Christ.
The life of Christ, okay?
His sacrifice.
And if you're ever tempted
to commit fornication,
just remember at that point
that Jesus died for me.
Jesus died to redeem me,
to purchase me, okay?
That will help you overcome that sin
and then get yourself out of there.
Flee.
Get out of that situation.
Please go to chapter five now.
1 Corinthians chapter five
and I'll read some other passages to you.
The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4 free.
For this is the will of God.
What is the will of God for my life?
For this is the will of God,
even your sanctification,
that ye should abstain from fornication.
Abstain?
Don't do it from fornication.
Say, what's God's will in my life?
Don't fornicate.
Hey, let's start there, yeah?
Let's start there
and then figure out later on
what other will is for you,
young people, single people.
Verse number four.
That every one of you
should know how to possess his vessel
in sanctification and honour,
not in the lust of concupiscence,
even as the Gentiles,
which know not God.
The Bible's saying here
that the Gentiles and non-believers,
they are given into lust.
They are given into fornication.
And I'll just read to you quickly.
Ephesians 5, 1 says,
But be ye therefore followers of God
as dear children,
and walk in love,
as Christ also have loved us,
and have given himself for us,
an offering,
and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet-smelling savour.
Okay, that's the remember, right?
That's the price
that was used to purchase your body.
But then it says this,
But fornication,
and all uncleanness,
or covetousness,
let it not be once named among you
as become of saints.
Okay?
Let it not be once named among you.
Don't let it happen, brethren.
It's going to hurt your reputation
if you give in to that temptation.
And it's going to make you weaker.
It's going to make you weaker in that sin.
If you commit fornication,
the next time you're tempted,
you're more likely to give in
to that temptation once again.
You're more likely to commit
that sin once again.
Okay?
Keep yourself pure, okay?
Don't let it be named once among you
as become of saints.
The Bible says you're a saint.
You're sanctified.
You're holy.
You're a holy people of God.
You're that holy nation.
Keep yourself pure for the marriage bed.
You guys are in 1 Corinthians 5.
Look at verse 11.
1 Corinthians 5, verse 11.
But now I have written unto you
not to keep company
if any man that is called a brother
be a fornicator.
You know what else
will hurt you with fornication?
That if you commit fornication
as a member of this church,
the Bible tells us that we're
required to kick you out of the congregation.
We're required to kick you out of the church.
A fornicator.
Or covetous.
Covetous.
Or an idolater.
Or a railer.
Or a drunkard.
Or an extortioner.
With such and one know not to eat.
Not only would you be kicked out of this church
by being a fornicator,
but we're also commanded,
the rest of the church is commanded
not to fellowship with you.
Not to fellowship.
Not to eat with you.
Not to spend time with you, brethren.
Okay?
Verse number 12.
For what have I to do
to judge them that are without?
Do not ye judge them that are within?
But them are without God judgeth,
therefore put away from among yourselves
that wicked person.
If you commit fornication,
the Bible calls you a wicked person.
Wicked person.
Okay?
And it's going to get you
kicked out of the church.
Okay?
Oh man, it's harsh.
Hey, that's what the Word of God says.
Okay?
Because a little leaven will leaven the whole lump.
If we allow a fornicator
to continue living like that
and just be openly in the church,
it's going to cause other people to say,
well, if brother so-and-so
or sister so-and-so can live like that,
why can't I?
And just spread within the church.
Okay?
It'll hurt the rest of the body.
So it's not so much,
yes, part of it is to kick that person out,
but the big part of it
is to protect the rest of the church.
Okay?
Now if someone has committed fornication,
they are kicked out of the church
because of that,
of course they can repent,
they can come say sorry,
and we are obligated to forgive them,
let them back into the church,
put that behind us, forgive and forget,
and let them be part of the congregation
once again.
All right?
So another thing that I want to talk about here
is when it comes to this topic here,
Diana's going out, right,
to see the daughters of the land
without her father's supervision,
without her brothers,
without her older brothers around.
Okay?
And the idea that gets sort of thought about
when we look at these passages is,
you know,
should we allow our daughters to work?
Should we allow our daughters to get out there
and work a job?
And, you know, some fathers,
some fathers may never allow the daughters
to get out there and work.
Hats off to you,
you know,
if that's the stand you make,
men,
fathers,
if that's the stand you make,
say my daughter will never get out there and work,
I'm behind you 100%, okay,
if that's your decision.
Okay?
But I do believe that there is a big difference
between work and a job
and pursuing a career.
Okay?
And what I'm against,
what I preach against,
is a wife or a mother pursuing a career.
Okay?
Because it becomes her whole life.
Okay?
Her focusing life is about building herself up,
gaining skills,
pursuing that job,
you know,
and that becomes her passion in life.
Instead of becoming a good wife,
instead of becoming a mother
who's there to raise and nurture her children,
no,
instead her children revolve around her workplace.
I've got to put my work
and then I'll take care of the kids.
No.
For mothers,
for wives,
they ought to be homemakers,
the Bible says, right?
But I'm not against a girl or woman
working a job as it were.
Okay?
I don't know if you knew that or not,
but I'm not totally against that.
Let me just give you some thoughts around this.
If you guys can just go back to Genesis 24,
Genesis 24 verse 15,
because we have met some other ladies
in these chapters
as we've been going through the book of Genesis,
some godly women here.
Genesis 24 verse 15,
this is our introduction to Rebekah,
and it says here,
Genesis 24 verse 15,
And it came to pass
before he had done speaking,
that behold,
Rebekah came out,
who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah,
the wife of Nahor,
Abraham's brother,
with a pitcher upon her shoulder.
So when we're introduced to Rebekah,
she's on her way to the well
with a pitcher to fill up water,
of course she's working for the family,
she's working in the family business,
I don't know if they have cattle,
or they've got a farm,
they've got something,
she's been sent out there to collect water,
okay,
and again she's leaving the house,
she's leaving the house,
she's going to the well,
she's working a job as it were,
okay,
she's working a job.
Look at Genesis 29 now,
go to Genesis 29,
Genesis 29 verse 9,
it says here,
this is about Jacob,
and it says here,
and while he yet spake with them,
Rachel came with her father's sheep,
for she kept them,
okay,
so we see here that Rachel
is looking after her father's sheep,
she keeps them,
she's the keeper of the sheep,
okay,
so she also has a job in the family,
right,
she's there watching over the sheep,
okay,
so I'm not against girls working a job,
honestly I'm not against that,
if you think that's going to be valuable
for whatever reason,
but I do want to talk about a little bit,
just briefly here about a little spectrum
when it comes to this idea,
okay,
so let's say,
you know,
all the way over here on the spectrum
of sending your daughters to work over here,
you're like,
you know what,
I would never allow any of my daughters
to step out of the house and work a job,
you know,
I will make sure she's provided for,
I'll make sure she's taken care of,
until she gets,
the day she gets married,
that's your position,
good on you,
all right,
that's one side of the spectrum,
the other side of the spectrum is,
I want my daughter to get a career,
you know,
she wants to be the president of the United States,
that's what she can be,
you know,
she wants to be,
you know,
a space explorer,
she can become an astronaut,
you know,
go girl,
you know,
go out there,
and you know,
you're just as good as men,
you know,
you can work just as much as men,
and you know,
you can be a self-made woman,
you don't need a man,
that's on the other side of the spectrum,
right,
that's basically where the world is,
over here,
okay,
but I do believe we have some other points
along that line of the spectrum,
number one is,
you know,
that,
and this is,
this would be my ideal for Isabel,
and this is what I see happening in Genesis 24 and 29,
this would be my ideal,
my ideal that I would have my daughter work,
but hopefully in a family business,
okay,
in the family business,
so you know,
I've already kind of sometimes utilized Isabel
to help me with church matters,
some of the administrative tasks,
some of the editing of videos,
or updating the website,
those kinds of things,
I already employed Isabel,
right,
I didn't get the church to pay,
I paid for it myself,
right,
but I've employed her as it were,
just so she could alleviate some work from me,
hey,
and she's doing a job,
she's gaining skills,
right,
she's gaining skills,
and look,
I don't know,
one day,
because obviously I'm going to be more,
I'm going to be much more lenient with my boys,
they've got to get out there,
they've got to get out of the house,
they've got to go get experience,
they've got to get a job,
you know,
they need to start being men,
right,
so they're going to be,
of course,
more likely to get out there working a job,
and I would like to think,
I don't know if this will happen,
but I would like to think that potentially,
my boys might start businesses,
and instead of worrying about the money,
and worrying about,
you know,
money coming in,
money going out,
handling the emails,
taking the phone calls,
I'm hoping my boys say,
hey,
Isabel,
or Liliana,
hey,
why don't you work for me,
why don't you take the call,
so I can get out there and work,
you know,
why don't you arrange my schedule,
you know,
work out my customers,
work out my clients,
whatever,
you know,
and so Isabel,
or the girls,
might take on some type of administrative task,
that would be my ideal scenario,
like,
that's what I would love,
you know,
for my daughters to gain skills,
and say,
well,
what would that profit them,
well,
when they get married and have kids,
you know,
they've already learned how to be an organizer,
they've already learned how to manage different tasks,
to,
you know,
manage different things,
and they can now apply that,
when they get married,
to the family,
right,
I mean,
having a family is a lot of work,
you know,
doing a lot of things,
cleaning,
cooking,
looking after the kids,
teaching them,
you know,
all of the above,
whatever else there is,
discipline in the kids,
there's a lot to do,
and so she gained,
that's where I would like to be,
but I also recognize that,
you know,
there can come a situation where,
you may not have that family business,
all right,
not everybody's capable,
not everybody's able to have that family business,
so the next law would be,
well,
what about if I send my daughter to work elsewhere,
but under strict supervision,
all right,
under a supervisor that I can trust,
I would be okay,
I personally would be okay with that as well,
if I can say she's going to that place to work,
okay,
before she gets married,
and then when she gets married,
of course,
she needs to be a mother and wife and all that,
but she can get out there,
and I know she'll be supervised,
I can trust this individual
that will oversee this business,
and she can go and work there,
I personally would probably be willing to do that,
but it'd be a case-by-case scenario,
okay,
it'd be honestly a case-by-case scenario,
because like,
I wouldn't put my daughter in McDonald's,
all right,
I'm just telling you the truth,
I just wouldn't put my kids in McDonald's,
it's a controlled situation,
right,
they're cooking hamburgers,
whatever,
and there's a supervisor,
there's a manager,
yeah,
but the manager is like an 18-year-old,
you know,
snot-faced teen or whatever,
right,
I mean,
McDonald's has many,
many managers,
and they're all very,
very young,
because I mean,
there's many stores,
and they don't necessarily have the best managers,
they just get the one that knows the job the best,
and they give them the managerial job,
you know,
that's not someone that I can trust with my daughter,
let's put it that way,
and,
you know,
we've all,
I'm sure we've all had friends,
or even family members,
that have worked at Maccas,
and the stories they tell you,
right,
I mean,
the kids get up to no good,
when things are quiet,
when there's nothing to do,
I mean,
it's just like putting them in school,
putting them in somewhere worldly,
they're going to be hearing things
that they don't want to hear,
they're going to be hearing dirty jokes,
they're going to be mucking around,
they might even muck around with the food,
you know,
you probably don't want to eat at Maccas,
you know,
that often,
so,
that would not be a situation that I feel comfortable in,
I wouldn't put my daughter into that situation,
hey,
but if there's someone that's running their business,
and I know they're going to look after my daughter,
and I can trust,
yes,
I'm taking a bit of a risk there,
okay,
just as much as these ladies are taking a risk
to go to the world on their own,
I know I'm taking some element of risk,
but I might be willing to do that
based on a case-by-case scenario,
okay,
so,
and of course,
further down here is,
you're putting them under,
you know,
not to pursue a career,
but you just put them under any supervision,
I wouldn't do that,
you know,
I've got to make sure
that the person my daughter is under,
I can at least trust,
okay,
so that might be someone else in my church,
you know,
someone else that has a good business,
they run a business,
I might be willing to allow them to work in that environment,
I don't know,
okay,
again,
these things will be case-by-case scenario,
and of course,
my expectation would be that the job my daughters do
would be something that can help them in the future,
okay,
so if they're baking,
hey,
that's going to help them do good cooks
when they're mothers and daughters,
okay,
organizing administrative tasks,
yeah,
that'll help them to manage family things and stuff like that,
so,
I'm not against,
you know,
a girl going out there to work,
I can see that it can work,
unfortunately though,
we live in a day and age where we really need to be careful
with where our daughters go,
we really need to be careful,
more than ever before,
okay,
the world's getting worse,
and I don't even like seeing my kids unsupervised,
really,
honestly,
I want to make sure it's a controlled,
supervised scenario,
so that's just what I believe,
if you guys have some different thoughts on that,
it's all good,
you know,
fathers,
you're in charge of your families,
all right,
look at verse number eight,
verse number eight,
I mean,
as long as you're not over here,
right,
you go girl,
you know,
you don't need a man,
no,
I mean,
totally against that,
all right,
don't go there,
brethren,
please,
verse number eight,
and Hamor communed with them,
saying,
the soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter,
I pray you give her to him for,
to wife,
and make your marriages with us,
and give your daughters unto us,
and take our daughters unto you,
and ye shall dwell with us,
and the land shall be before you,
dwell and trade you therein,
and get your new possessions therein,
and Shechem said unto her father,
and unto her brethren,
find grace in your eyes,
and what shall ye say unto me,
I will give,
ask me never so much dowry and gift,
and I will give according as ye shall say unto me,
but give me the damsel to wife,
oh it's warm today,
give me the damsel to wife,
so we have another interesting thought here,
we see here that this,
this Shechem wants to take Dinah as a wife so much,
that he's willing to pay a dowry,
he's willing to pay a gift right,
and then in verse number 12 when it says,
ask me never so much dowry and gift,
he's saying like ask me anything,
whatever you think she's worth,
you know he's willing to make a payment,
to give a gift for her,
now keep your finger then,
go to Exodus chapter 22 please,
Exodus chapter 22,
and so we see that what Shechem is offering here,
we see that it's actually a right thing to do okay,
now he had committed fornication which was wrong okay,
but now that that has happened,
the right thing for him to do,
is to take this woman as a wife okay,
and to pay a dowry,
so when you go to Exodus 22 verse 16,
Exodus 22 verse 16,
like I said to you when God gives Moses the laws,
he has to address these things right,
Exodus 22 verse 16 look at this it says,
and if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed and lie with her,
he shall surely endow her to be his wife,
the bible says here if two commit fornication,
then you need to step up and take her as a wife,
why because she's been defiled,
she's going to be less valued in the eyes of other men okay,
so you should get out there and marry this woman,
verse number 17 look at this,
if her father utterly refused to give her unto him,
he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins,
so this is the situation,
this is the law that God gave,
you know if a man had had defiled a woman,
had committed fornication,
the law is that he was required to pay a dowry,
the dowry of virgins to the father,
and to for them to seek to get married okay,
but verse number 17 is quite interesting,
because the father can refuse right,
so a guy commits fornication with the guy someone's daughter,
and says you know what you're trash,
you know you're hopeless,
you're not going to look after my wife as my daughter,
you know you can't have her as a wife,
you know the father can step in and say no,
you're not getting married,
and he's still required right,
he's still required to pay the dowry of it,
because he's defiled her okay,
and so we see that God has to deal with this right,
this happens in the book of Genesis,
when he passes the law to Moses,
God has to deal with when this happens,
it's not saying this should happen okay,
fornication is wrong it's a sin,
but if it does happen,
this is how you should handle the situation,
so go back to Genesis 34 verse 13,
Genesis 34 verse 13,
what I'm trying to say is you know,
Shechem's got a decent head on his shoulders,
he's worldly,
he's just doing things like unsaved worldly people are,
committing fornication,
but he realises what he's done to Dinah,
he realises that he loves her,
and he wants to do the right thing,
he wants to marry her,
he wants to pay a dowry for her,
verse number 13,
and the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamel his father deceitfully,
and said because he had defiled Dinah their sister,
and they said unto them we cannot do this thing,
to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised,
for that worry approached unto us,
but in this will we consent unto you,
if ye will be as we be,
that every male of you be circumcised,
and so we see now this request that is being made,
the bible told us there in verse number 13,
they did it deceitfully okay,
this is not something they really want,
they really don't want this Shechem to marry their sister okay,
so you can see the brothers step in here,
and they say well if you get circumcised then we'll allow you okay,
so that's kind of like the dowry,
that's kind of like the gift,
that's what's required from you,
you know and if you just get circumcised,
you get all the men in the land there in the city to get circumcised,
we'll allow Dinah to marry you,
now keep your finger there,
and go to Genesis 17 please,
go to Genesis 17 verse 12,
and remember circumcision is a type okay,
it's a foreshadowing of our belief on Jesus Christ,
the circumcision of the heart,
not trust in our flesh,
not trust in the works of the flesh,
we put that away,
we believe wholeheartedly on Jesus Christ,
that's what circumcision represented.
Genesis 17 verse 12,
this is when God spoke to Abraham,
it says and he that is eight days old,
shall be circumcised among you,
every man child in your generations,
he that is born in the house,
or bought with money,
see or bought with money of any stranger,
which is not of thy seed,
and he that is born in thy house,
and he that is bought with thy money,
must needs be circumcised,
why?
And in my, sorry,
and my covenant shall be in your flesh,
for an everlasting covenant,
so the circumcision represented an everlasting covenant right,
salvation is everlasting,
the picture of everlasting life,
okay, so understand that,
understand that's what circumcision represents,
and yes if anyone were to be joined
to those families,
Abraham's family,
they were to be circumcised as well,
and I'm just going to quickly read to you
from Exodus 12 48,
it says,
and when a stranger shall sojourn with thee,
and will keep the passover to the Lord,
let all his males be circumcised,
and then let him come near and keep it,
and he shall be as,
and he shall be as one that is born in the land,
for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof,
so this is an instruction God gives the nation of Israel,
if you're a stranger come to the land,
and they want to worship God,
they want to participate of the passover,
again the passover being a representative
of what Christ would do,
his sacrifice,
say well he needs to be circumcised,
why?
Because circumcision is a picture of your faith,
okay,
entering that covenant,
and then you can participate of that passover,
so God does allow,
you know,
for those that were not of the seed of Abraham,
for those that were from other areas,
they were allowed to be circumcised,
or to be part of the nation,
and their requirement was to be circumcised,
okay,
but the brethren of Dinah here
were doing it deceitfully,
okay,
there was no talk about here
about entering a covenant with Abraham,
there's no talk about here,
you know,
understanding that this is,
you know,
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
or anything like that,
okay,
it's just you got to get circumcised,
right,
they're taking it from a very fleshly,
physical idea,
rather than what it represents spiritually,
so let's look at verse number 16,
verse number 16,
so let's say,
well you've got to get circumcised,
and all your men,
and then verse number 16,
it says,
then will we give our daughters unto you,
and we will take your daughters to us,
and we will dwell with you,
and we will become one people,
now again,
this is wrong,
all right,
this is wrong,
now what they're saying sounds okay,
get circumcised,
join us,
and we'll intermarry,
we'll be all one people,
but God,
after all this happens,
God has to step in once again,
in the law of Moses,
and make it very clear,
that they were not to take
from the daughters of the land,
from other lands,
right,
in Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 3,
it says,
neither shalt thou make marriages with them,
thy daughter shall not give unto his son,
sorry,
thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son,
nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son,
for they will turn away thy son from following me,
that they may serve other gods,
so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you,
and destroy thee suddenly,
okay,
so God can see this,
this is a bad thing,
these people are non-believers,
okay,
if they're getting circumcised,
they're just getting circumcised in the flesh,
without recognizing what this covenant represents,
okay,
they still have their false gods,
these Canaanites,
all right,
so God has to step in and say no,
okay,
you don't take,
you don't get married to these people that are not God's people,
okay,
and the lesson there brethren,
is that when you get married,
young people and singles,
when you get married,
you get married to someone that is a person,
a child of God,
right,
if you're a man,
you marry a woman that is saved,
a woman that is a child of God,
and if you're a woman,
you marry someone that is a son of God,
all right,
that's the picture here,
that's what the circumcision represents,
the circumcision of the heart,
that should be a definite criteria
for allowing our children to get married,
that they marry a saved person,
someone that is with Christ,
okay,
and look at verse number 17 now,
Genesis 34 verse 17,
but if you will not hearken unto us to be circumcised,
then we will take our daughter,
and we will be gone,
and their words pleased Hamel and Shechem,
Hamel's son,
and the young man deferred not to do the thing,
we meaning that,
immediately as Shechem heard about it,
that he needs to get circumcised,
he does it immediately, right,
he did not defer,
he did not delay,
he does it immediately,
and then he goes here,
because he had delight in Jacob's daughter,
and he was more honorable than all the house of his father,
again,
than the radar of the bible,
the Holy Spirit tells us that he was more honorable
than everyone else that was in the land,
okay,
yes he messed up,
yes he committed fornication,
yes he's just living the way
the unbelieving world lives,
okay,
but he does love Diana,
okay,
and he does want to comply with the demands,
he does want to take her as his wife,
and this is why the bible says that he's honorable,
okay,
verse number 20,
and Hamel and Shechem his son came unto the gates of their city,
and communed with the men of their city saying,
so they're going to convince the men of the city to get circumcised,
okay,
and this gives us an insight to the unsaved world,
okay,
I mean how do you convince an entire city to get circumcised,
I mean this is only going to profit Shechem as it were,
to take this wife,
okay,
how do you convince people to do such a drastic thing,
you know,
and this is what they say to them,
and this gives us an insight,
and honestly this is how the world thinks,
this is what the world,
this is what the world has as goals for their life,
verse number 21,
these men are peaceable with us,
therefore let them dwell in the land and trade therein,
for the land behold it is large enough for them,
now look at this,
let us take their daughters to us for wives,
and let us give them our daughters,
only 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,
now look at this,
shall not their cattle,
and their substance,
and every beast of theirs be ours,
only let us consent unto them,
and they will dwell with us,
and unto Hamo and unto Shechem his son,
harken all that went out of the gates of his city,
and every male was circumcised,
all that went out of the gates of his city,
this gives us an insight to the world,
to the unsaved world,
what's going to convince them,
what's going to get them to get circumcised,
hey they've got daughters,
women,
number one,
and guess what they have possessions,
okay what do they say there in verse number 23,
shall not their cattle,
and their substance,
and every beast of theirs be ours,
listen this is what the unsaved world is looking for,
you know the men,
they're looking just for women,
and they're looking for riches,
they're looking for possessions,
that's what drives their lives brethren,
you know as believers,
that should be our goal in life right,
our goal yes is to find a wife okay,
yes it is to find a wife,
but our goal when it comes to riches and possessions,
is to lay them up in heaven okay,
what should be driving us is serving Christ,
serving God,
being thankful for what he's done,
winning souls,
doing the work that God has left us to do,
being in church,
growing in knowledge,
that's what should be driving us,
to have a godly family,
to make sure our kids remain pure,
remain undefiled physically and mentally,
so they can go to the marriage bed undefiled,
these are things that should be driving us,
but the world,
women and possessions,
money, riches,
that's what they're after,
you know vanity,
you know things that are vanity,
but that just gives an interesting insight,
and they agree all right we'll get circumcised then,
all right it's a good deal for us,
so they get circumcised,
verse number 25,
and it came to pass on the third day,
when they were sore okay,
they all get circumcised,
they cut off the flesh,
they're feeling bad about it,
they're feeling sore,
that two of the sons of Jacob,
Simeon and Levi,
now remember this is Simeon the second eldest,
and Levi the third eldest of Diana's brothers,
obviously they're cut that their sister has been defiled,
and so they were deceitful,
they take advantage of the situation,
that they've been these guys have been circumcised,
they've been sore,
Diana's brother each took man his sword,
and came unto the city boldly,
and slew all the males,
think about that brethren,
they all died,
verse number 26,
and they slew Hamor and Shechem his son,
with the edge of the sword,
and took Diana out of Shechem's house,
and went out,
so they killed Hamor and Shechem,
okay,
now what Shechem had done,
committing fornication,
yes was a wicked sin,
it was a wicked sin,
okay,
and it should bring someone to anger,
all right,
it should bring someone sorrow,
when someone is defiled like that okay,
but it's not a sin worthy of death,
it's not a sin worthy of death,
okay,
if you guys can keep your finger there,
and go to Deuteronomy chapter 22 please,
Deuteronomy chapter 22,
we already saw the command that God gave,
if someone's committed fornication,
they should get married,
pay the dowry to the father,
and if the father doesn't like you,
well tough luck,
you got to pay the dowry anyway,
right,
we saw that already,
but they're not put to death,
okay,
and this is why God has to put these laws in place,
because it's just mistake after mistake after mistake,
okay,
they didn't handle this properly,
Deuteronomy chapter 22,
verse 25,
Deuteronomy chapter 22,
verse 25,
this is when,
we're about to read,
this is when the death penalty applies,
okay,
Deuteronomy chapter 22,
verse 25,
it says,
but if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field,
and the man force her,
and lie with her,
then the man only that lay with her shall die,
this is rape,
okay,
this is rape,
if a man goes and rapes a woman,
forces her,
okay,
she's unable,
because obviously the man is stronger,
unable to stop him,
then he's put to death,
okay,
verse 26,
and unto the damsel,
thou shall do nothing,
there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death,
for as when a man riseth against his neighbour,
enslave him,
even so is this matter,
all right,
so,
you know what the law of our land should be?
Rapist death penalty,
okay,
that should be the law of the land,
that's going to clean things up,
okay,
it's going to clean things up,
and look,
you know,
fornication is not the death penalty,
but if rape was a death penalty,
it would slow down fornication as well,
okay,
because,
you know,
instead of a man just taking a woman who could,
you know,
lie and say,
well,
he forced me,
he's going to be more mindful about what he does with his life,
right,
it's going to slow down a number of sins,
you know,
the death penalty was to bring fear unto the nation,
you know,
we don't have death penalty guys,
so what do we see in our world?
Fornication,
right,
we see,
you know,
adultery,
we see divorce,
remarriage,
we see all these things,
no one has a fear of any consequences,
it doesn't matter in our society,
which is a sad thing,
because God has given us clear instruction
on the penalty of these crimes.
Back to Genesis 34 please,
Genesis 34 verse 27,
the point I just wanted to make there guys,
that Shechem was not deserving of death,
okay,
what Simeon and Levi did were wrong,
okay,
they had the right emotions,
they got upset about it,
they should get upset about it,
but they went and carried about it the wrong way,
wrong judgment,
verse number 27,
and the sons of Jacob came upon the slain,
and spoiled the city,
because they had defiled their sister,
they took their sheep,
their oxen,
and their asses,
and that which was in the city,
and that which was in the field,
and all their wealth,
and all their little ones,
and their wives they took captive,
and spoiled even all that was in the house,
so it's just,
it's these two,
and then it seems like in verse number 27,
that other sons of Jacob came,
and spoiled,
you know,
spoiled all these other things,
and then in verse number 30 it says,
and Jacob said unto Simeon and Levi,
ye have troubled me to make me
to stink among the inhabitants of the land,
okay,
so they carried out wrong judgment,
okay,
and wrong judgment to Jacob,
he says look you've made me stink,
I've got a bad reputation now,
okay,
no one's going to trust me now,
he goes 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,
and they said should he deal with our sister,
as within harlot,
so you can see how it upset the brothers,
you know,
and I'm thankful again that God has given me many sons,
you know,
I hope my sons,
and I know they do love their sisters,
I hope because I can't be everywhere,
right,
I hope my sons will keep an eye out for their sisters,
you know,
making sure that they're protected,
you know,
some random guy looks at my daughters the wrong way,
I'm hoping that my sons step in there,
and say hey what are you looking at,
all right,
what do you want,
all right,
are you circumcised,
no I'm just kidding,
go get circumcised,
no I'm just kidding,
but we can see obviously it upset the brothers,
but they had done the wrong thing,
and Jacob is correct,
right,
what they had done was wrong,
so that's the chapter there Brethren,
I hope you know it's an interesting story,
but I hope you can see the number of mistakes that were made,
and so when God gives the law unto Moses,
he has to rectify things,
he has to put some boundaries in place,
and explain what needs to be done in the right situation,
let's pray,