This Parsha is chock full of narrative. Lots of things happen to Jacob's clan. But I'm going to discuss one small point.
Early on it's said that Jacob's ten elder sons were in Shechem. Shechem?!? How could that be? Wouldn't it be unsafe after the trick Shimon and Levi played on the men there in revenge for Shechem's raping their sister Dina? They told Shechem and his clan that for him to marry their sister, Dina, and connect the two clans by more marriages, the men all had to be circumcised. Then, when they agreed and were in the most pain afterwards, Shimon and Levi killed them all and stole many items. Yaakov was terrified afterwards:
ל וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב אֶל-שִׁמְעוֹן וְאֶל-לֵוִי, עֲכַרְתֶּם אֹתִי, לְהַבְאִישֵׁנִי בְּיֹשֵׁב הָאָרֶץ, בַּכְּנַעֲנִי וּבַפְּרִזִּי; וַאֲנִי, מְתֵי מִסְפָּר, וְנֶאֶסְפוּ עָלַי וְהִכּוּנִי, וְנִשְׁמַדְתִּי אֲנִי וּבֵיתִי.
30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: 'Ye have troubled me, to make me odious unto the inhabitants of the land, even unto the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and, I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and smite me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.'
So if it was so dangerous, how could he have sent his younger, most beloved son Joseph to a place were he had predicted revenge against them?
The locals didn't bother Jacob's sons. Their strength was respected. The only way to achieve peace is by defeating your enemy.
Biblical quotations, credit.
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