Genesis 34:14 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us: That were a reproach unto us - Because the uncircumcised were not in the covenant of God; and to have given an heiress of the promise to one who had no kind of right to its spiritual blessings, from whom might spring children who would naturally walk in the way of their father would have been absurd, reproachful and wicked. Thus far they were perfectly right; but to make this holy principle a cloak for their deceitful and murderous purposes, was the full sum of all wickedness