גבעונים ושכם בן חמור החוי

While learning ספר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ  I came across an interesting similarity between the story of the גבעונים and the story of שכם in ספר בראשית. Let's begin with the story in יהשוע first. In פרק ט the Navi relates to us an incident that occurred to the Jewish people upon entering the land of Israel. The Navi tells us at that when the kings that were west of the Jordan and along the coast of the Mediterranean sea, heard about the advancing Jewish nation that they joined together their forces to battle against the Jewish people. There was however a population called the גבעונים that were afraid because they feared the G-d of Israel and chose instead, a path of peace. They approached the nation of Israel disguised as sojourners from a faraway land that had heard of the miracles of the G-d of Israel and had traveled a great distance in order that they could join this great nation. The ruse turned out to be successful. Joshua and the Jewish people were fooled into believing their story and as a result the גבעונים were sworn an oath of protection against any harm. It was only three days later that the Jewish people realized that they were fooled. When the גבעונים were confronted, they replied in Perek 9  כד וַיַּעֲנוּ אֶת-יְהוֹשֻׁעַ וַיֹּאמְרוּ, כִּי הֻגֵּד הֻגַּד לַעֲבָדֶיךָ אֵת אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֶת-מֹשֶׁה עַבְדּוֹ, לָתֵת לָכֶם אֶת-כָּל-הָאָרֶץ, וּלְהַשְׁמִיד אֶת-כָּל-יֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ מִפְּנֵיכֶם; וַנִּירָא מְאֹד לְנַפְשֹׁתֵינוּ מִפְּנֵיכֶם, וַנַּעֲשֵׂה אֶת-הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה.  כה וְעַתָּה, הִנְנוּ בְיָדֶךָ:  כַּטּוֹב וְכַיָּשָׁר בְּעֵינֶיךָ לַעֲשׂוֹת לָנוּ, עֲשֵׂה -But they replied  to Joshua,"you see,your servants had heard that the lord your G-D had promised His servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all the inhabitants of the country on your account; so we were in great fear for our lives on your account.That is why we did this thing. and now we are at your mercy;do with us what you consider right and proper." So יהשוע made these converts into wood cutters and water drawers for the community and the altar of the temple-
כז וַיִּתְּנֵם יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא, חֹטְבֵי עֵצִים וְשֹׁאֲבֵי מַיִם--לָעֵדָה; וּלְמִזְבַּח יְהוָה עַד-הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה, אֶל-הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר יִבְחָר. (later on King David appointed them to preside next to the Leviim in the service of the temple in Jerusalem-see Ezra 8:20).

In the story of  שכם we find  a similar story but with a much different outcome. The daughter of Jacob was raped by  שכם and as a result of his love/lust of her he wanted to join both his family  and his people with the children of Jacob. Over here it was the children of Jacob-specifically the brothers Simeon and Levi that did the deceiving.  They convinced  שכם and his people that they were willing to bring them into their family as long as they were willing to circumcise themselves. Here too it was  on the "third day" after the circumcision that Simeon and Levi killed everyone in the city, while the population was still recovering and in pain from their circumcision(see  ספר בראשית - perek 34)

When we look at both stories we can see some very interesting similarities in both these stories and their wording.  Both stories involve the "third day" as the day of reckoning. We also find similar phrasing. for instance we have the word (guile)בְּמִרְמָה being used to refer to the deception  by the brothers of   שכם  (pasuk 13). By Joshua we have the word  בְּעָרְמָה  (cunning) when referring to the  גבעונים (pasuk 4).

                         

                              NOTE


It's been more than ten years since I started working on this and I would like to discuss similarities between the story of שכם and פילגש בגבעה (many have pointed out the obvious similarities between  פילגש and Sodom but I have not seen discussed the comparisons below)


Notice that the only brother that was not yet alive during the rape of Dinah was בנימין.
Trauma in a theoretical model is not as effective as when one experiences it. Perhaps that's why later on by פילגש בגבעה, it was in the tribe of בנימין that this horrible rape was able to happen. His tribe didnot inherit the trauma of the rape of his sister, that so horrified the other tribes against this type of behavior.

We also see similar terminology between the two stories. To start with it was only after three days that the tribes were able to be victorious over the trible of בנימין (three days after circumcision of the people that  שמעון ולוי were able to kill all the males of the city).
Notice by the story of פילגש, the constant mentioning of חמור(donkey) which reminds us of  חמור the father of שכם. It also mentions  the word נבלה four times by the husband of the פילגש- Judges chapter 19

כג וַיֵּצֵא אֲלֵיהֶם, הָאִישׁ בַּעַל הַבַּיִת, וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם, אַל-אַחַי אַל-תָּרֵעוּ נָא; אַחֲרֵי אֲשֶׁר-בָּא הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה, אֶל-בֵּיתִי--אַל-תַּעֲשׂוּ, אֶת-הַנְּבָלָה הַזֹּאת. 
 כד הִנֵּה בִתִּי הַבְּתוּלָה וּפִילַגְשֵׁהוּ, אוֹצִיאָה-נָּא אוֹתָם וְעַנּוּ אוֹתָם, וַעֲשׂוּ לָהֶם, הַטּוֹב בְּעֵינֵיכֶם; וְלָאִישׁ הַזֶּה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ, דְּבַר הַנְּבָלָה הַזֹּאת

Judges 20-

ו וָאֹחֵז בְּפִילַגְשִׁי, וָאֲנַתְּחֶהָ, וָאֲשַׁלְּחֶהָ, בְּכָל-שְׂדֵה נַחֲלַת יִשְׂרָאֵל:  כִּי עָשׂוּ זִמָּה וּנְבָלָה, בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל.

 י וְלָקַחְנוּ עֲשָׂרָה אֲנָשִׁים לַמֵּאָה לְכֹל שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וּמֵאָה לָאֶלֶף וְאֶלֶף לָרְבָבָה, לָקַחַת צֵדָה, לָעָם--לַעֲשׂוֹת, לְבוֹאָם לְגֶבַע בִּנְיָמִן, כְּכָל-הַנְּבָלָה, אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל

The same language of נבלה is said by Dinah-

לד,ז וּבְנֵי יַעֲקֹב בָּאוּ מִן-הַשָּׂדֶה, כְּשָׁמְעָם, וַיִּתְעַצְּבוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים, וַיִּחַר לָהֶם מְאֹד:  כִּי-נְבָלָה עָשָׂה בְיִשְׂרָאֵל, לִשְׁכַּב אֶת-בַּת-יַעֲקֹב, וְכֵן, לֹא יֵעָשֶׂה

We also see an interesting language by the seduction of Dinah- וידבר  על לב הנער

לד,ג וַתִּדְבַּק נַפְשׁוֹ, בְּדִינָה בַּת-יַעֲקֹב; וַיֶּאֱהַב, אֶת-הַנַּעֲרָ, וַיְדַבֵּר, עַל-לֵב הַנַּעֲרָ

By the פילגש in perek 19 a similar language is used-לדבר על לבה

ג וַיָּקָם אִישָׁהּ וַיֵּלֶךְ אַחֲרֶיהָ, לְדַבֵּר עַל-לִבָּהּ להשיבו (לַהֲשִׁיבָהּ), וְנַעֲרוֹ עִמּוֹ, וְצֶמֶד חֲמֹרִים; וַתְּבִיאֵהוּ, בֵּית אָבִיהָ, וַיִּרְאֵהוּ אֲבִי הַנַּעֲרָה, וַיִּשְׂמַח לִקְרָאתוֹ. 


Finally the story by פילגש ends with the tribes feeling bad about the virtual destruction of the tribe of Benjamin by crying in the city of בית אל-shoftim 20-

ב וַיָּבֹא הָעָם, בֵּית-אֵל, וַיֵּשְׁבוּ שָׁם עַד-הָעֶרֶב, לִפְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים; וַיִּשְׂאוּ קוֹלָם, וַיִּבְכּוּ בְּכִי גָדוֹל.

The story of Dinah ends with Yaakov recieving prophecy in בית אל-

לה,א וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים אֶל-יַעֲקֹב, קוּם עֲלֵה בֵית-אֵל וְשֶׁב-שָׁם; וַעֲשֵׂה-שָׁם מִזְבֵּחַ--לָאֵל הַנִּרְאֶה אֵלֶיךָ, בְּבָרְחֲךָ 

If you look closely, you will see many more comparisons...