341 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah , whom she had borne to Jacob , went out to visit the daughters of the land . 2 When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite , the prince of the land , saw her, he took her and lay with her by force . 3 He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob , and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor , saying , "Get me this young girl for a wife ." 5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter ; but his sons were with his livestock in the field , so Jacob kept silent until they came in.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 34:1-5
Commentary on Genesis 34:1-19
(Read Genesis 34:1-19)
Young persons, especially females, are never so safe and well off as under the care of pious parents. Their own ignorance, and the flattery and artifices of designing, wicked people, who are ever laying snares for them, expose them to great danger. They are their own enemies if they desire to go abroad, especially alone, among strangers to true religion. Those parents are very wrong who do not hinder their children from needlessly exposing themselves to danger. Indulged children, like Dinah, often become a grief and shame to their families. Her pretence was, to see the daughters of the land, to see how they dressed, and how they danced, and what was fashionable among them; she went to see, yet that was not all, she went to be seen too. She went to get acquaintance with the Canaanites, and to learn their ways. See what came of Dinah's gadding. The beginning of sin is as the letting forth of water. How great a matter does a little fire kindle! We should carefully avoid all occasions of sin and approaches to it.