In this week’s parshah we read of the incident involving Dina and Shechem, the son of Chamor the nasi of the city of Shechem. Upon learning that Dina was abducted by Shechem, Shimon and Levi killed all the male residents of the city, including Shechem and Chamor. There are various opinions that explain what the rational of Shimon and Levi was in killing all the inhabitants of the city.
The Rambam (Hilchos Melachim 9:14) says that it was because all of the inhabitants of the city knew that Shechem kidnapped Dinah and they did not bring him to judgment. A ben Noach who knows that another has committed a crime and does not bring him to justice is liable for death. Since the residents of Shechem were guilty of not enacting judgment, they were therefore deserving of the death penalty.
The Ramban disagrees with the Rambam and asks the following questions: If everyone in the whole city was guilty and deserved the death penalty, why then did Yaakov Avinu not kill them himself? And if he was afraid of them, why did he disapprove of Shimon and Levi’s actions? After all, they believed in Hashem and did what was right. Additionally, the Ramban disagrees that a ben Noach is not killed when he does not bring another to judgment, since it is a positive commandment and bnei Noach are only killed when they transgress a negative commandment.
The Ramban writes that the residents of Shechem in fact deserved death, but for other reasons. He says that all of the seven nations of Cena’an worshiped idols and transgressed with arayos (immoral relations) and many other abominations whereby they deserved death. However, Yaakov believed that the penalty for these actions was not for Shimon and Levi to carry out. Additionally, Yaakov knew that they did not kill them for this reason, but rather in retaliation for what happened to Dina. Thus he disapproved, and scorned them for acting out their anger.
The Ramban adds that when Yaakov initially heard all of his sons telling Shechem and his father to circumcise the entire city’s populace, he did not object because he thought that they would only use this ploy to rescue Dina and then leave. Indeed while the rest of the brothers only intended to rescue Dina, Shimon and Levi intended to take further action.
The Meshech Chachma suggests an alternative explanation as to why Shimon and Levi were permitted to kill the entire city of Shechem. We know that the entire city was convinced that if they would perform gerus and circumcise themselves, they would be allowed to marry into Yaakov’s family. If one converts for the sole purpose of marrying a Jew the conversion is invalid. Therefore their conversion was not valid and their circumcision was nothing more than a self inflicted wound. The Meshech Chachma states that a ben Noach is not permitted to inflict himself. If one does inflict themselves they are deserving of death. If one is actually becoming a true ger, then his milah serves as a part of gerus. However, if the gerus is not valid the mila will be viewed as a self inflicted wound.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin 58b states that a ben Noach who hits a Yid deserves death. The Ran there says that the same applies if a ben Noach hits another ben Noach. He explains that this is because hitting another person is stealing. What difference does it make if one steals another person’s money or if he steals his body. Since a ben Noach is given the death penalty for staeling, concludes the Ran, a ben Noach is deserving of death even if he hits another ben Noach.