To conclude the month, we continue on with my series called "The Twelve Tribes of Israel." For February, we take a look at Simeon, the second son of Jacob and Leah.
I found this study fascinating. Between the meaning of his name, what it revealed was going on in Leah's heart, and the significance of Jacob's prophetic blessing, there was plenty for me to dive into!
This study comes with three videos for more bitesize viewing and I pray it can be a blessing to you. Much love, Lucy x
The Tribe Of Simeon
Key Facts
Order of birth- Second.
Mother- Leah.
Meaning of name- Hearing.
Character details- Cruel, filled with anger, linked with Levi in treachery.
Tribe details- Scattered among the nation of Israel, didn’t inherit any land.
Relevant Scriptures
Genesis 29:31-33
“When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. So Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said, “The Lord has surely looked on my affliction. Now therefore, my husband will love me.” Then she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon.”
Genesis 49:1 and 5-7
“And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days:"
“Simeon and Levi are brothers; Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place.
Let not my soul enter their council; Let not my honour 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.”
SimeonI found this study fascinating. Between the meaning of his name, what it revealed was going on in Leah's heart, and the significance of Jacob's prophetic blessing, there was plenty for me to dive into!
This study comes with three videos for more bitesize viewing and I pray it can be a blessing to you. Much love, Lucy x
The Tribe Of Simeon
Key Facts
Order of birth- Second.
Mother- Leah.
Meaning of name- Hearing.
Character details- Cruel, filled with anger, linked with Levi in treachery.
Tribe details- Scattered among the nation of Israel, didn’t inherit any land.
Relevant Scriptures
Genesis 29:31-33
“When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. So Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said, “The Lord has surely looked on my affliction. Now therefore, my husband will love me.” Then she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon.”
Genesis 49:1 and 5-7
“And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days:"
“Simeon and Levi are brothers; Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place.
Let not my soul enter their council; Let not my honour 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.”
Twelve tribes of Israel from twelve different brothers,
All the sons of Jacob, but from four different mothers.
Leah bore him six of them while two came from Zilpah.
Rachel bore another two, and two more came from Bilhah.
Simeon was second; his very name means “Hearing.”
Leah, once again, revealed the pain that she was feeling.
Neglected by her husband, she hoped this second birth
Would help him see her value and show him what she’s worth.
Yet Jacob failed his lonely wife and didn’t show her love.
Reflecting not the plan for marriage, made by God above.
The consequences clear, as Leah’s sorrow took its toll.
Scripture lets us see that he did not fulfil his role.
But looking at this second son, we see more sadness, still
For Simeon did not behave according to God’s will.
An instrument of cruelty, his actions, years before
Now meant that repercussions would come knocking at his door.
In anger, he’d sought vengeance and took the task at hand.
So Jacob said his tribe would not inherit any land.
We all can learn from Simeon and the brutal path he trod—
The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Romans 12:19
“Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”
James 1:19-20
“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
Insight to Simeon
Mother-Leah
Simeon is the second son born to Jacob through his first wife, Leah. Once again, we hear Leah’s distress through the naming of this baby. Her firstborn son was called Reuben, and as I explained in my study focusing on him and his tribe, his name means, “Behold, a son” or, “Look, a son!” This was the first cry from Leah to her husband in the hope that he would notice her and value her more.
As Leah gives birth to her second son, we hear her exclaim, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon.”
Simeon’s name means “Hearing,” and so between these first two names of Reuben and Simeon, we can hear their mother saying, “Look and hear! God has heard me. He has heard my cries of unhappiness, for I am unloved. He has gifted me with another son.” These heartbreaking sentiments reflect the pagan culture of the day, which placed the value and worth of a woman on her ability to give her husband male offspring.
We know that Leah felt unloved by Jacob, and so we really hear the deep cries of sadness from her heart in these verses. It’s evident that Leah’s first two sons’ names were borne out of her misery and insecurity as a result of feeling emotionally neglected by her husband.
This is certainly not what God intends for marriage, and as Ephesians 5:25 tells us,
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.”
Marriage is a picture of Christ and His Bride, and one of the main themes in Scripture that we see displayed over and over again is the certainty the Bride of Christ should have in regards to Christ’s love. God’s Word is continually encouraging the Christian that we should be confident in our Saviour’s love for us. We should never doubt His affections towards us. He will never leave us or forsake us, and He is with us always, even to the end of the age.
Christ’s love for His Bride is one that ensures that we need never fear separation. He will never desert or divorce us. Scripture tells us that everything Jesus did was with His Bride in mind and was for our benefit. It’s emphasised over and over again that Christ is fully committed to His Bride, even unto the point of death.
Of course, most men won’t need to actually physically die for their bride, but it’s this kind of sacrificial love that husbands are called to, biblically. The kind of love that sees them die to the selfish desires of their own flesh each day and seeks to put their bride first.
God’s Word paints the perfect example of this, as it shows us that Christ loves His Bride supremely. This is the kind of love He commands husbands to have for their wives. It’s a high benchmark indeed, and no human can ever fully live up to the example Jesus gives us, but God’s Word encourages husbands to aim for and reflect this kind of love in their own marriages.
God knows that generally speaking, what a wife needs more than anything else within a marriage is the assurance that her husband loves her. In the case of Leah, we certainly see the sad repercussions and just how damaging and devastating it is when a woman does not feel loved, wanted, or cared for by her husband.
The encouraging thing we can take from Scripture, however, is that even when a person feels neglected by their spouse, God can meet their needs. Isaiah 54:5 tells us,
“For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.”
Husbands do have a biblical responsibility to care for their wives, but sadly, in this fallen world, we often don’t see this reflected in marriages, even Christian ones. Shortcomings can be found on both sides within a marriage of course, and so if we’re in a place of hurt and feeling let down by our spouse, it’s comforting to remember that God is our Husband, first and foremost, and He can minister to us in our time of need. The Father of mercies and God of all comfort can fulfil us in ways no human being can, and this is a wonderful truth we will get to witness as we continue to study the life of Leah.
Jacob’s Prophetic Blessing
After Jacob spoke his words of prophetic blessing from God to his first son Reuben, he then turned to address both his second son, Simeon, and third son, Levi, at the same time. These two brothers were linked together in a treachery, which we can read about in Genesis 34.
We discover through this chapter that Simeon and Levi’s sister, Dinah, had been assaulted by a man called Shechem. Shechem goes on to express his desire to marry Dinah, at which point the two brothers plot a plan of deception, which leads to the brutal murder of every man from Shechem’s city. The women and children are captured while all the livestock and property of the land are seized by Simeon and Levi.
Jacob is deeply grieved by his son’s actions and does not condone their retaliation to Shechem’s wrongdoing. In his final words to his sons, Simeon and Levi, he makes it clear that he does not want to be associated with what they did at all. He separates himself and berates them for such harsh and cruel behaviour through verses 5 and 6 of Genesis 49. They read,
“Simeon and Levi are brothers; Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place.
Let not my soul enter their council; Let not my honour be united to their assembly.”
His words continue,
“For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will they hamstrung an ox.”
Here, Jacob highlights that the issue is their anger. The Bible does talk about us having a righteous anger, and of course, it wasn’t that Simeon and Levi shouldn’t be righteously angry over the wicked crime committed against their sister, Dinah. Rather, it was the fact that they had allowed this event to lead them into a sinful anger of the flesh. This anger led to them taking vengeance into their own hands and unleashing punishment on innocent parties who had nothing to do with the original crime. This is what’s being referred to when Jacob declares,
“And in their self-will they hamstrung an ox.”
Jacob mentions “self-will” here, and oftentimes, the difference between righteous anger and sinful anger is rooted in self-will. When Jacob goes on to say that they “hamstrung an ox”, he’s speaking of the fact that their sinful anger led them to punishing the innocent.
In battle, men would often use the tactic of cutting the tendons of their opponent in order to disable and kill him. They would “hamstring” the enemy in order to overpower and destroy them in war. An ox, however, is not a creature man is in a battle with, and so when Jacob says, “They hamstrung an ox,” in other words, he’s saying, “They destroyed the innocent.”
There would be no need to cruelly hamstring a poor ox who has no quarrel with you, just as it was cruel and unnecessary for Simeon and Levi to destroy the lives of countless people who were blameless in the situation. Yes, the brothers went after the one who had committed the wrong, but they also went after countless others who had nothing to do with the crime and didn’t deserve to lose their lives.
The women and children who were captured by them were also innocent bystanders in all of this and did not deserve to face the callous and fierce actions of the brothers’ rage.
Jacob’s final words to these two sons were,
“I will divide them in Jacob And scatter them in Israel.”
This statement makes it clear that because of something they did in the past, they are now forfeiting something in the present. The consequences of their past actions have indeed caught up with them. Jacob declares that their tribes will be scattered throughout the nation of Israel and will not inherit any land when they come into the promised land.
The prophecy of dividing and scattering turned out to be a curse for Simeon as his tribe went from being the third largest in number at the time of leaving Egypt to the smallest numerically at the second wilderness census of Israel. 63% of the tribe of Simeon had perished during the first 35 years of wilderness wanderings, and what was left shared an allotment of land with the tribe of Judah. We can read about this in the book of Joshua, as Joshua 19:1 reads,
“The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families. And their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah.”
Both the tribes of Simeon and Levi were scattered as a direct result of their sinful actions. Sadly, in the case of Simeon, this scattering was a curse, and the tribe of Simeon ended up with no inheritance at all. His story shows us that when we act in the flesh, not only will our sinful actions have an impact on our own lives, but they can also have repercussions for those around us and those yet to come.
Closing Thoughts
As I mentioned earlier, there is a difference between righteous anger and sinful anger. There is definitely a time and place for righteous anger. We see Jesus display this kind of righteous anger in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark when He overturns the tables of the money changers in the Temple. We should get angry about wrongdoing and sin that damages others. If someone we love is hurt, we should be righteously angry about that.
Unfortunately, so often we let our righteous anger spill out into the realm of sinful anger, and before we know it, we’re seeking retaliation and vengeance upon those who have wronged us. The trouble with human retaliation is that it always seeks to not only repay the hurt caused to us, but we want to hurt back and then some! Too many times, the punishment we would deal out does not fit the crime and goes into the realm of “overkill,” you might say. When we are hurt, we tend to want to hurt back but in greater measure.
In addition to this, vengeance, when left in the hands of flawed human beings, will lead to an ever-increasing cycle of retaliation. Each time the person wronged seeks to hurt back and in greater measure, they just go on to hurt others who then in turn also want to hurt back, and also to a greater degree. It just leads to an endless pattern of people hurting more people. Vengeance in the hands of God, however, is meted out accurately and puts an end to the ever-increasing pattern of sinful retaliation.
This is why the Apostle Paul quotes Leviticus 19:18 in Romans 12:19 when he says,
“Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”
We know from God’s Word that He is a righteous God who loves justice and will see all wrongs put right, in His perfect time and in His perfect way. Vengeance is God’s to take because He will ascribe the correct level of justice as is fitting for the crime. As seen in the life of Simeon, however, our idea of “justice” is often carried out in an incorrect measure, and innocent people can be harmed in the process, including ourselves.
In saying this, it is an understandable desire to want to seek vengeance, of course, as we are created in God’s image, and so we have a built-in sense of justice. Considering this righteous desire comes from our Maker, imagine how much more He is aware of the need for justice!
In the case of Dinah, Shechem’s wicked act against her would not have gone unnoticed or undealt with in the hands of God. 2 Chronicles 16:9 assures us,
“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”
Nothing escapes God’s sight, and as the psalmist tells us in Psalm 139:11-12,
“If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.”
There is nothing that happens on this earth that the Lord doesn’t see or doesn’t care about. He loves justice, as Isaiah 61:8 and Psalm 37:28 tell us, and He will not forsake His faithful ones.
Unlike Simeon’s justice, God’s justice does not harm the innocent and punish the blameless. His justice is not measured out rashly, harshly, or cruelly. When God deals with the wrongs committed in this life, He does it according to His wisdom, sovereignty, and mercy. He deals with justice in line with His perfect nature and perfect character.
Whatever wrongdoings or injustices we may be struggling with today, may we never allow our flesh to dictate to us and cause us to act in an ungodly way. May we instead rest and find peace in the protective barrier that our Creator places around us by saying, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.”
