Genesis 35:5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right.” This is the thought that came to me when I read chapters 34 and 35 of Genesis. There is rape, deceit, covetousness, treachery and murder – all the evil that is in the human heart. In the midst of it Jacob is in pain and fear when he learned what his sons had done. He realized that although the men of Shechem had been slaughtered, their neighbors the Canaanites and Perizzites would come after him and his family.

God intervened and told Jacob to get out of there “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” (Genesis 35:1). I believe this is one of those situations where God intervened for the sake of his own name, not because he condoned the conduct of Jacob’s sons. By that I mean that God’s plans for his people cannot be thwarted by anyone. God did not allow the actions of mere men to derail his plans for the whole nation of Israel and for saving humanity. He would keep his covenant promise to Abraham and Isaac and now Jacob.

God displayed his mercy and power in delivering Jacob because the text says “the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.” What does that mean? Were they physically paralyzed or just paralyzed by fear? I don’t know, but either way, it meant deliverance for Jacob.  As I stopped to meditate on what I had read, the Holy Spirit spoke:

“The terror of the Lord is like nothing else that men have experienced. He moves and shakes the heavens and the foundations of the earth and none can stop his hand. The Lord God is his name and exemplifies his character. He is accountable to no mortal. He is the Lord.”