All About Simeon

We are continuing along our Journey in the Book of Joshua. As Joshua is giving out the alloted land. Which tells us about each tribe. It is a wonderful time to look at each tribe as a whole.

This week we are looking at the tribe of Simeon

Joshua 19:1-9

Joshua 19:1–9 LEB

The second allotment fell for Simeon, for the tribe of the descendants of Simeon, according to their families. And their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the descendants of Judah. And they had as their inheritance Beersheba, Sheba, Moladah, Hazar Shual, Balah, Ezem, Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, Ziklag, Beth Marcaboth, Hazar Susah, Beth Lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities and their villages. Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan; four cities and their villages, and all the villages that were around these towns up to Baalat-Beor, Ramath of the Negev. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Simeon according to their families. Part of the portion allotted to the descendants of Judah became the inheritance of the descendants of Simeon because the portion for the descendants of Judah was too large for them, so the descendants of Simeon inherited from their inheritance.

Map of Isreal

Simeon is hard to talk about as a single tribe. It is linked with both Levi and Judah. In fact the temptation is to do just one sermon over both Levi and Simeon because they are so linked. But that’s not what you will see here. But do expect overlap.

This shouldn’t surprise you, the Tribes will overlap.

The man Simeon gets his name from a play on words in Genesis 29:33 Because the Lord has heard that I am Hated. Simeon is in play with both Heard and Hated in the Hebrew.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Origins

It is possible the name derives from the Arabic simʿ, meaning “hyena,” so KBL “little hyena” or the Akkadian asu(m), “bear” (HALOT).

He is what we might call a contradiction or maybe even a Hypocrite. He acts violently to avoid intermarriage with foreigners, yet he later marries a Canaanite.

The Most important passage in evaluating Simeon is Genesis 34

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Genesis 34

Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, has intercourse with Dinah, Simeon’s sister (Gen 34:2). When Shechem and his father ask for Dinah to be Shechem’s wife, Jacob’s sons answer “deceitfully” (Gen 34:13). They agree only on the condition that all the males of the town of Shechem be circumcised (Gen 34:15). Three days after the men are circumcised, when they are incapacitated with pain, Simeon and Levi kill them, including Shechem and Hamor (Gen 34:25–26)

The Tribe at the time of exodus is the third-largest tribe. But by the time of the conquest, the tribe’s numbers had declined enough to become the smallest tribe.

The Tribe itself seems to show a lack of prominence from the earliest period.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary The Low-Ranking Tribe of Simeon

There is no allocation of land to the tribe of Simeon; instead, its allotment overlapped with land that belonged to the tribe of Judah.

• Towns listed as Simeonite dwellings (Josh 19:1–9; 1 Chr 4:24–33) were within the wider territory of Judah (Josh 15:26–32).

• Although the tribe of Simeon helped Judah conquer its territory (Judg 1:3, 17), this relationship was not reciprocal, which suggests that Simeon was the weaker tribe in the partnership.

• Simeon is the only tribe that Moses does not mention in his final blessing on the Israelites (Deut 33).

We don’t really know why but Simeon is not one you want to emulate

In Jacobs blessing of his sons Levi and Simeon it is said that “their swords are weapons of violence

Genesis 49:5–7 LEB

Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. Let me not come into their council. Let not my person be joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and at their pleasure they hamstrung cattle. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and I will scatter them in Israel.

Anger

Jacob pronounces a curse upon the anger of Simeon and Levi.

Anger is one of those emotions that many of us struggle with. Some automatically jump to Anger is a sin. But that is to over simplify an emotion that is part of who we are in the image bearers of God.

God Get’s Angry, Christ Gets angry and we get angry.

The Difference.

Simeon’s anger was evil, not because indignation against sin is unwarrantable in itself (read Genesis 34) but because his wrath was marked by deeds of fierceness and cruelty.

Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered What Should We Learn from the Tribe of Simeon?

Righteous anger and indignation, the kind Jesus exhibited in cleansing the Temple, for example, is never characterized by cruelty. The swords of Simeon, which should have been only weapons of defense, were weapons of violence (v. 5), to do wrong to others, not to save themselves from wrong.

Anger pushes us to action. We need anger. It forces us to look at what is happening and say why does this make me anger. As Christians we can learn from the tribe of Simeon that anger is, however, the cause of and origin of a great deal of sin when it is allowed to boil over without restraint, resulting in a scenario in which hurts are multiplied

Proverbs 29:11 CSB

A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise person holds it in check.

Anger leaves devastation in its wake, often with irreparable consequences.

And as we are angry at sin we must be careful to vent our anger at sin not the sinner. Love others with the love of Jesus Christ. So others the grace that Christ has shown to you.

Next Steps

Anger in you

Person that always angry with

Why am I angry

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