Genesis 34:1 - Exposition

And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob ,—if Dinah was born before Joseph ( Genesis 30:21 ) she was probably in her seventh year when Jacob reached Succoth ( Genesis 33:17 ); but it does not follow that she was only six or seven years of age when the incident about to be described occurred (Tuch, Bohlen). If Jacob stayed two years at Succoth and eight in Shechem (Petavius), and if, as is probable, his residence in Shechem terminated with his daughter's dishonor (Lange), and if, moreover, Joseph's sale into Egypt happened soon after (Hengstenberg), Dinah may at this time have been in her sixteenth or seventeenth year (Kurtz). Yet there is no reason why she should not have been younger, say between thirteen and fifteen (Keil, Lange, Kalisch, Murphy, et alii ) , since in the East females attain to puberty at the age of twelve, and sometimes earlier (Delitzsch)— went out —it is not implied that this was the first occasion on which Dinah left her mother's tent to mingle with the city maidens in Shechem: the expression is equivalent to "once upon a time she went out " (Hengstenberg)— to see the daughters of the land— who were gathered at a festive entertainment (Josephus, 'Ant.,' 1.21, 1), a not improbable supposition (Kurtz), though the language rather indicates the paying of a friendly visit (Lange), or the habitual practice of associating with the Shechemite women (Bush), in their social entertainments, if not in their religious festivals.