La Genèse 35:23 Midrash : Sefer HaYashar (midrash)

And when Jacob saw what they had done to the city and the spoil they had made, Jacob was ‎very angry at them, and he said unto them: What is it that ye have done unto me? Behold I ‎have found rest among the inhabitants of the land of the Canaanites, and no one of them ever ‎said a word unto me. And now you have caused me to be in bad order with the inhabitants of ‎the land of the Canaanites, and the Perizzites; and I, being few in numbers, they shall gather ‎themselves together against me and slay me when they hear what you have done unto their ‎brethren, and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. And Simeon and Levi, and their brothers, ‎answered their father, saying: Behold, we are yet alive in the earth, and shall we suffer ‎Shechem to do this to our sister? Why art thou silent at all that Shechem hath done, shall our ‎sister be treated like a harlot of the street? And the number of the women captured by ‎Simeon and Levi in the city of Shechem, outside of those they had slain, was eighty-five, of ‎such as never knew a man. And amongst those captives was a young maiden of comely ‎appearance, and her name was Bunah, and Simeon took her to wife. And the number of male ‎persons which they captured and did not slay, was forty-seven men, and the rest they slew. ‎And all the youths and women that Simeon and Levi had made captives from the city of ‎Shechem became servants to the sons of Jacob and their children, even unto the day that the ‎children of Jacob went forth from the land of Egypt. And when Simeon and Levi left the city ‎the two young men that escaped death by concealing themselves in the city, arose and went ‎about in the city, and they found the city destroyed and not a single man in it, only women ‎crying and weeping. And these young men exclaimed: Behold, the evil which the sons of ‎Jacob, the Hebrew, have brought over this city, in hav ing this day devastated one of the cities ‎of Canaan without fear of their lives of all the inhabitants of Canaan' And these men went ‎forth from the city and went into the city of Tapuah; and arriving there they said unto the ‎inhabitants of Tapuah all that had occurred, and all that the sons of Jacob had done unto the ‎city of Shechem. And when the news hath been imparted to Jashub the king of Tapuah, he ‎dispatched messengers to the city of Shechem in order to see concerning what these two ‎young men had said. For the king could not believe the statement of those men, saying: How ‎can it be that two men could destroy a large city like Shechem. And Jashub’s messengers ‎returned and spoke unto him saying: Behold we have come unto the city and it is completely ‎destroyed, and we found not a single man in the entire city, only a few weeping women. And ‎there is not one sheep nor any cattle there, for everything was taken away from the city by ‎the sons of Jacob. And Jashub was astonished at that, saying: How could two men do such a ‎thing as to destroy such a large city, and not even one of the inhabitants could stand against ‎them. For such a thing hath never occurred since the days of Nimrod, nor in any of the former ‎days hath such a thing come to pass.‎

And when Jacob saw what they had done to the city and the spoil they had made, Jacob was ‎very angry at them, and he said unto them: What is it that ye have done unto me? Behold I ‎have found rest among the inhabitants of the land of the Canaanites, and no one of them ever ‎said a word unto me. And now you have caused me to be in bad order with the inhabitants of ‎the land of the Canaanites, and the Perizzites; and I, being few in numbers, they shall gather ‎themselves together against me and slay me when they hear what you have done unto their ‎brethren, and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. And Simeon and Levi, and their brothers, ‎answered their father, saying: Behold, we are yet alive in the earth, and shall we suffer ‎Shechem to do this to our sister? Why art thou silent at all that Shechem hath done, shall our ‎sister be treated like a harlot of the street? And the number of the women captured by ‎Simeon and Levi in the city of Shechem, outside of those they had slain, was eighty-five, of ‎such as never knew a man. And amongst those captives was a young maiden of comely ‎appearance, and her name was Bunah, and Simeon took her to wife. And the number of male ‎persons which they captured and did not slay, was forty-seven men, and the rest they slew. ‎And all the youths and women that Simeon and Levi had made captives from the city of ‎Shechem became servants to the sons of Jacob and their children, even unto the day that the ‎children of Jacob went forth from the land of Egypt. And when Simeon and Levi left the city ‎the two young men that escaped death by concealing themselves in the city, arose and went ‎about in the city, and they found the city destroyed and not a single man in it, only women ‎crying and weeping. And these young men exclaimed: Behold, the evil which the sons of ‎Jacob, the Hebrew, have brought over this city, in hav ing this day devastated one of the cities ‎of Canaan without fear of their lives of all the inhabitants of Canaan' And these men went ‎forth from the city and went into the city of Tapuah; and arriving there they said unto the ‎inhabitants of Tapuah all that had occurred, and all that the sons of Jacob had done unto the ‎city of Shechem. And when the news hath been imparted to Jashub the king of Tapuah, he ‎dispatched messengers to the city of Shechem in order to see concerning what these two ‎young men had said. For the king could not believe the statement of those men, saying: How ‎can it be that two men could destroy a large city like Shechem. And Jashub’s messengers ‎returned and spoke unto him saying: Behold we have come unto the city and it is completely ‎destroyed, and we found not a single man in the entire city, only a few weeping women. And ‎there is not one sheep nor any cattle there, for everything was taken away from the city by ‎the sons of Jacob. And Jashub was astonished at that, saying: How could two men do such a ‎thing as to destroy such a large city, and not even one of the inhabitants could stand against ‎them. For such a thing hath never occurred since the days of Nimrod, nor in any of the former ‎days hath such a thing come to pass. And Jashub, king of Tapuah, said unto all his people: ‎Strengthen yourselves and we will go forth to fight against those Hebrews, and we will do unto ‎them as they did unto the people of that city, and we will avenge on them the cause of all the ‎people of the city. And Jashub, king of Tapuah, consulted with his counselors concerning this ‎matter, and they said unto him: Thou alone canst not succeed against those Hebrews for they ‎must have a peculiar power being able to do such work with the whole city. If two of them ‎could destroy the whole city without one man being able to stand against them, then surely, if ‎we go against them, they will all rise and exterminate us likewise. But send thou to all the kings ‎around us and let them assemble, and with them we will go to fight against the sons of Jacob, ‎and then wilt thou prevail against them. And when Jashub heard the words of his advisers, ‎their words seemed good in his eyes and in the eyes of the people, and he did so. And Jashub ‎sent to all the kings of the Amorites around Shechem and Tapuah, saying: Send me your help ‎and come up with me to smite Jacob the Hebrew and his sons, and to exterminate them from ‎the earth, for thus did they do to the city of Shechem and ye do not even know of it. And ‎when the kings of the Amorites heard of the evil which the sons of Jacob had done to the city ‎of Shechem, they were greatly astonished. And all of them assembled, the seven kings of the ‎Amorites with their armies, altogether about ten thousand men drawing the sword, and they ‎came to wage war against the sons of Jacob. And when Jacob heard that the kings of the ‎Amorites came to fight against his sons, Jacob was in great fear and distress. And Jacob ‎rebuked Simeon and Levi, saying: What is it that ye have done unto me? why have ye done ‎unto me the evil to summon against me all the children of Canaan, to exterminate me and my ‎household? For I was in rest, I as well as my house hold, ere you have done this thing to unite ‎against me all the inhabitants of the land, by your actions. And Judah replied unto his father, ‎saying: And have my brothers Simeon and Levi slain all the inhabitants of Shechem without any ‎cause? verily they did it because Shechem had defiled our sister, transgressing the ‎commandments of God to Noah and his children, for Shechem hath both robbed us of our ‎sister and defiled her. And Shechem committed that great evil, but none of the inhabitants of ‎his city spoke unto him a word, saying: Why dost thou do this? Is it not for this reason that my ‎brothers went out and smote the city? And the Lord gave them into their hands, because all ‎her in habitants have transgressed the commandments of our God. Have, then, my brothers ‎acted without any just cause? And now why fearest thou, and wherefore art thou distressed, ‎and what causeth thy heart to think evil of my brothers and thy wrath to kindle against them? ‎And verily our God, who hath delivered into their hands the city of Shechem and its ‎inhabitants, will deliver into our hands likewise all the kings of the Canaanites that are now ‎advancing against us, and we will do unto them as my brothers have done unto Shechem. And ‎now be thou quiet concerning them, and abandon thy fears, but trust in God and pray unto ‎him in our behalf to help us and deliver us, and to give our enemies into our hands.

And Judah called one of his father's servants, saying: Go and see where the kings, that come ‎against us, are stationed with their armies. And the servant went and looked from the ‎distance, ascending opposite Mount Sihon, and he saw all the armies of the kings standing in ‎the field. And he returned unto Judah and said: Behold the kings are stationed in the field with ‎all their armies, a people of great multitude, even like the sand on the sea shore. And Judah ‎said unto Simeon and Levi and unto all his brothers: Strengthen yourselves and be brave men, ‎for the Lord our God is with us; fear them not! Stand up and arm yourselves with all the ‎utensils of war, with bow and sword, and let us go to fight against those uncircumcised ones. ‎The Lord our God he will save us! And they arose and put on their weapons great and small, ‎eleven sons of Jacob and their servants with them. And all the servants of Isaac, that were in ‎Hebron with Isaac, came to them likewise, girt with all the instruments of war. And the sons of ‎Jacob with their servants marched against the kings, one hundred and twelve men in all and ‎Jacob went along with them. And they sent unto Isaac the son of Abraham to Hebron, to ‎Kirjath-arba, saying: Pray thou for us unto the Lord our God, to deliver us from the hands of ‎the Canaanites, that are coming against us, and to give them into our hands. And Isaac the son ‎of Abraham prayed unto the Lord in behalf of his children, saying: Oh Lord God, thou who hast ‎assured my father Abraham, saying, I will multiply thy seed like the stars of heaven, and then ‎didst promise unto me likewise and thou hast fulfilled thy word, now behold the kings of ‎Canaan are all united, coming to make war against my children on whose hands there is no ‎violence. And now, oh Lord God, the God of all the earth, pervert thou the counsel of these ‎kings, so that they do not fight against my children. And wilt thou let the fear of my children ‎enter the hearts of all these kings and of all their people, and humble their pride, that they ‎may turn away from my children, and deliver my children and their servants with thy strong ‎hand and outstretched arm, for in thine hands are power and strength to do all these things. ‎And Jacob and his sons with all their servants went forth against the kings, trusting in the Lord ‎their God. And as they went on, Jacob their father also prayed un to the Lord saying: Oh Lord, ‎thou sublime and fearful God, who hast ruled from the earliest days even to this day and who ‎will rule forever, thou who provokest war and who causeth it to cease and in whose hands are ‎power and might to lift up and to cast down to the very ground, may my prayer be accepted ‎unto thee that thou turn unto me in thy mercy, to put the fear of my sons into the hearts of ‎the kings and their people, to terrify them and their armies, and to deliver by thy great mercy ‎all those that trust in thee. For it is thou who subduest peoples under us and nations under our ‎hands! And all the kings of the Amorites came and posted themselves in the field, in order to ‎consult with their counselors what to do unto the sons of Jacob; for they were still afraid of ‎them, saying: Two of them have slain the whole city of Shechem.‎