“Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. 2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her. 3 His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 And Shechem said to his father Hamor, ‘Get me this girl as my wife.’5 When Jacob heard that his daughter Dinah had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he did nothing about it until they came home.6 Then Shechem’s father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob. 7 Meanwhile, Jacob’s sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and furious, because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter – a thing that should not be done.”NIV

…and this ‘further thought’ on yesterday’s passage comes from the wonderful devotional writer F.B. Meyer:

‘Jacob was tempted by the fat pastures of Shechem, without care or thought of the character of its people, and he lived to bitterly rue his choice. How many religious parents have made the same mistake! They first encamp near the world, pitching their tent doors in that direction; then they buy a parcel of land, and finally their children contract alliances that end in shame and disaster. He who came of a pilgrim race, and to whom the whole land had been given by promise, bought real estate right next to Shechem, one of the worst cities in the country.

Like Lot, Jacob bid high for wealth and worldly advancement, risked the highest for the lowest, and was saved as by fire. Poor Dinah! Yet she was more sinned against than sinning. Jacob had put her in jeopardy by his selfish policy…’ ‘Devotional Commentary’, pp.27,28.

Meyer perhaps reads slightly more into the text than I might be prepared to say, but there is such an important principle in his words: our choices have consequences – yes, for ourselves, but also for our families. If we parents do not model for our children the priorities of the kingdom – seeking it first, prizing it above all other interests and treasures, we should not be surprised if our worldliness rubs off on them.