Genesis 34: Only God Is Sufficient

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.” -Genesis 34:30

Genesis 34 is one of those chapters in the Bible that is hard to discuss. Jacob’s daughter is raped by a well-respected guy in a neighboring town. He then asks her brothers for permission to marry her. Her brothers agree on one condition–all the men of their community must undergo circumcision. After convincing the guys in his town to go through with it, Dinah’s brothers take advantage of their sensitive physical condition and kill every man in the town.

Real spiritual stuff, right? That’s why you will probably never hear this chapter unless you read through the Bible start to finish. In the end, Jacob is upset that he and his family will now be the target of his neighbor’s hatred and could result in a larger war. Once again, Jacob is forced to trust in God to provide safety for he and his family when he is unable to do so in his own strength.

Our situations are different, but we often find ourselves in places where we could never make it in our own power. Only God’s strength is sufficient.

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Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.