“These men are peaceable with us. Therefore let them dwell in the land and trade in it. For behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. But only on this condition will the men give consent to us to live among us to become one people, and that is if every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. Will not their cattle and their substance and all their animals be ours? Only let us give consent to them and they will live among us.”
These words remind us once again how large a family tribe Jacob has. His wealth is clearly sufficient to impress a small city and its inhabitants and make their continued presence worthwhile. There is no suggestion of a threat (Hamor is totally taken in) it is all promise. They will be given spare land of which there is a plentiful supply and be absorbed into the community along with their wealth. And the city as a whole will gain by this increase in its wealth, for once they are an established part of the community the possessions will be looked on as in a sense the community's as well as Jacob's.
Thus the subtle Hamor and the influential Shechem convince the townsfolk of the benefit of the agreement without admitting the real reason. And the only thing they have to do is to be circumcised, something which was clearly a well known practise elsewhere. Two prisoners of a Canaanite king on a 12th century BC Megiddo ivory were circumcised, as is an Egyptian boy on a sixth dynasty tomb relief which depicts his circumcision. A flint knife was used there as among the descendants of Abraham (see on Genesis 17).