29_The price of broken vows Gen 33:18-34:2 Now Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-Aram, and camped before the city. 19 He bought the plot of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of money. 20 Then he erected there an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel. 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 and raped her. In the days of king Ahab, there was a severe famine in Israel that lasted three and a half years. During this time, God spoke to the prophet Elijah, saying, “Go from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Kerith, east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” Imagine if Elijah had ignored God’s command. The ravens would still have brought bread and meat, morning and evening, but there would have been no one by the brook to receive the provision. This example highlights an important truth: God’s blessings require our obedience to his express instruction. He will not compromise with other places and paths that He has not commanded, for his plans are eternally fine-tuned to the moment and the place. When we stray from His will, we risk forfeiting the blessings He has prepared for us. Jacob’s story tells us so. This was a man who, despite experiencing God’s faithfulness, chose to deviate from the path God had marked for him—and the consequences were devastating. Jacob had finally returned to Canaan, the land of promise, after years of hardship and separation. He had vowed to God that he would return to Bethel, the place where he first encountered God in a dream, and worship Him there. Bethel represented Jacob’s spiritual homecoming—a place of gratitude, fulfillment and renewed commitment. But instead of continuing to Bethel, Jacob settled near the city of Shechem, in Canaan. He purchased land, pitched his tent, and even built an altar there. Outwardly, this may have seemed like a pious act, but it was rooted in disobedience and a lack of trust. Jacob chose convenience and comfort over obedience to God’s call. His justification for buying land might have sounded reasonable—after all, wasn’t it for the purpose of worshiping God? But this rationalization could not erase the underlying disobedience. Jacob’s forefathers had wandered as pilgrims in the land without buying property, building altars on land they did not own. Jacob’s decision was a compromise, one that opened the door to unforeseen consequences. The consequences of Jacob’s compromise began to unfold with his daughter Dinah. Dinah, curious about the culture of the people around her, ventured out to visit the women of the land. This seemingly innocent act exposed her to danger. She was taken and violated by Shechem, the