shama on, meaning he has heard of my suffering;
Dinah was raped (or in some versions, merely seduced) by a Canaanite named Shechem, Simeon and his brother Levi took violent revenge against the inhabitants of the city by tricking them into circumcising themselves and then killing them when they are weakened;[8]
Simeon was extremely strong, despite only being 14 years old, and was able to slaughter all the men of Shechem nearly single-handedly, only having assistance from his brother Levi, and captured 100 young women, marrying the one named Bonah.[14]
Simeon was very fearless, but also was particularly envious, and so had always been antagonistic and spiteful towards Joseph, owing to Joseph being Jacob's favourite son.[
Simeon was the one who proposed that the brothers should kill Joseph, and other classical sources argue that it was Simeon who threw Joseph into a pit, and became furious when he found out that Judah had sold Joseph rather than killed him;
Genesis 49 - The Blessing of the Sons of Jacob
A. The cryptic blessings.
1. (1-2) What will befall the sons of Jacob in the last days.
And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I
may tell you what shall befall you in the last days:
Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob,
And listen to Israel your father.”
a. Jacob
called his sons: Jacob, in what amounted to his last significant act
as a patriarch and as the heir to Abraham and Isaac, will here pronounce one-by-one
a blessing upon each son.
b. What
shall befall you in the last days: Some of what follows are not so
much blessings as they are prophecies regarding what God will do with
these tribes in the future.
i. This is the first conscious
prophecy spoken by man in the Bible. There were many prophecies announced by
God (such as the promise of the triumph of the seed of the woman in Genesis
3:15), and other veiled prophecies by men, but this is the first knowing
prophecy of the Bible.
ii. Jewish traditions tell us that
as Jacob was about to bless his sons he was ready to tell them the “great
secret concerning the end of time.” But at that moment, the glory of God
visited and left just as quickly, taking all trace of the knowledge of the
great mystery, so he couldn’t tell them. Again, just an interesting legend.
c. You
sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel your father: At the very
beginning of the blessing, Jacob realized he was both Jacob and Israel,
and his sons are sons of each. This was a place of spiritual maturity,
realizing both what God made him (Israel)
and what he had to battle against (Jacob).
3. (5-7) Simeon and Levi: I will…scatter them in Israel.
“Simeon and Levi are brothers;
Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place.
Let not my soul enter their council;
Let not my honor be united to their assembly;
For in their anger they slew a man,
And in their self-will they hamstrung an ox.
Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;
And their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will divide them in Jacob
And scatter them in Israel.”
a. Simeon
and Levi are brothers: The second-born son Simeon and the third-born
son Levi received the same blessing for the same evil deed. They were instruments of cruelty when they wiped out all
the men of Shechem in retaliation for the rape of their sister Dinah (Genesis
34:25-29).
i. Jacob, perhaps in weakness, did
nothing at the time except register a small, self-centered complaint (Genesis
34:30). Yet he (and the Lord)
remembered this event. This illustrates the principle that the sins of our past
can come back and haunt us. Even when forgiven, they may carry consequences we
must face for a lifetime.
b. Cursed
be their anger, for it is fierce: The real problem with Simeon and
Levi was their anger (in their anger they slew a man). Their anger
was sin because it was rooted in self-will
(in their self-will they hamstrung an ox).
i. The Bible speaks of a godly
anger (Be angry and do not sin, Ephesians 4:26) and an ungodly anger (Let
all bitterness, wrath, anger…be put away from you, Ephesians 4:31). Often,
the difference between a godly, righteous anger and an ungodly anger is self-will.
c. I
will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel: The prophecy
of dividing and scattering turned out to be a curse for Simeon. The
tribe of Simeon was the weakest numerically of the 12 (Numbers 26:14) and
shared an allotment of land with Judah (Joshua 19:1).
i. The tribe of Simeon became
small during the wilderness wanderings. They started out from Egypt being the
third largest tribe (Numbers 1:23), but some 35 years later, at the second
wilderness census of Israel, 63% of the tribe perished and they became the
smallest tribe (Numbers 26:14).
d. I
will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel: The prophecy
of dividing and scattering became a blessing for Levi. Because of the
faithfulness of this tribe during the rebellion of the golden calf (Exodus
32:26-28), it was scattered as a blessing throughout the whole nation of
Israel. They received no large tract of land, for the Lord was their inheritance, not land (Joshua 13:33).
i. So both Simeon and Levi were
scattered, but one as a blessing and the other as a curse.
ii. The American author Washington
Irving said: “It lightens the stroke to draw near to him who handles the rod.”
When we suffer from our sin, we should draw near to God and anticipate that in
mercy He will turn suffering into blessing.
children of simeon:
- Jemuel
- Ohad
- Jachin
- Zohar (also called Zerah)[26]
- Shaul
- Jamin
=================================
TESTAMENT OF SIMEON
The Second Son of Jacob and Leah.
CHAP. I.
Simeon, the second son of Jacob and Leah. The
strong man. He becomes jealous of Joseph and is an instigator of the
plot against Joseph.
THE copy of the words of Simeon, the things which he spake to his
sons before he died, in the hundred and twentieth year of his life, at
which time Joseph, his brother, died.2 For when Simeon was sick, his sons came to visit him. and he strengthened himself and sat up and kissed them, and said:--
3 Hearken, my children, to Simeon your father and I will declare unto you what things I have in my heart.
4 I was born of Jacob as my father's second son; and my mother Leah called me Simeon, because the Lord had heard her prayer.
5 Moreover, I became strong exceedingly; I shrank from no achievement nor was I afraid of ought. For my heart was hard, and my liver was immovable, and my bowels without compassion.
6 Because valour also has been given from the Most High to men in soul and body.
7 For in the time of my youth I was jealous in many things of Joseph, because my father loved him beyond all.
8 And I set my mind against him to destroy him because the prince of deceit sent forth the spirit of jealousy and blinded my mind, so that I regarded him not as a brother, nor did I spare even Jacob my father.
9 But his God and the God of his fathers sent forth His angel, and delivered him out of my hands.
10 For when I went to Shechem to bring ointment for the flocks, and Reuben to Dothan, where were our necessaries and all our stores, Judah my brother sold him to the Ishmaelites.
11 And when Reuben heard these things he was grieved, for he wished to restore him to his father.
12 But on hearing this I was exceedingly wroth against Judah in that he let him go away alive, and for five months I continued wrathful against him.
13 But the Lord restrained me, and withheld from me the power of my hands; for my right hand was half withered for seven days.
14 And I knew, my children, that because of Joseph this had befallen me, and I repented and wept; and I besought the Lord God that my hand might be restored and that I might hold aloof from all pollution and envy and from all folly.
15 For I knew that I had devised an evil thing before the Lord and Jacob my father, on account of Joseph my brother, in that I envied him.
16 And now, my children, hearken unto me and beware of the spirit of deceit and envy.
17 For envy ruleth over the whole mind of a man, and suffereth him neither to eat nor to drink, nor to do any good thing. But it ever suggesteth to him to destroy him that he envieth; and so long as he that is envied flourisheth, he that envieth fadeth away.
18 Two years therefore I afflicted my soul with fasting in the fear of the Lord, and I learnt that deliverance from envy cometh by the fear of God.
19 For if a man flee to the
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Lord, the evil spirit runneth away from him and his mind is lightened.
20 And henceforward he sympathiseth with him whom he envied and forgiveth those who are hostile to him, and so ceaseth from his envy.
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