Word of Encouragement (04/28/2022)
“Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. 6 Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. 7 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.” (Gen. 49:5-7)
Here, Jacob prays for both Simeon and Levi, his second and third sons. The reason is that they have done something together, which became their defining event, at least in Jacob’s mind. This happened when Dinah, their sister, was raped by Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land of Shechem. When Shechem asked for Dinah’s hand in marriage, the sons of Jacob deceived them into getting circumcised. On the third day when their pain was the greatest, Simeon and Levi took their swords and killed all the males, including Shechem and his father, Hamor. And the other sons plundered the city. This greatly displeased Jacob and he harshly rebuked Simeon and Levi.
It seems like Jacob never forgot that incident and it comes out in his prayer concerning them. He calls them “brothers” because they, along with Dinah, were born of the same mother, Leah. He describes them as agents of violence by saying, “weapons of violence are their swords.” He distances himself from what they did: “Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company.” He gives the reason: “For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen.” Then, he curses their anger and wrath for being fierce and cruel and pronounces what the consequence will be: “I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.”
You see how Jacob’s prophecy came true. As you know, the Levites were scattered throughout the promised land because they were not given any inheritance in the land. This was not God’s punishment, of course. They were not given any inheritance in the land because they were set aside as the priestly tribe and God was their inheritance (Num. 18:20). They were scattered among the other tribes because they were supposed to teach God’s law to them. Even so, Jacob’s prophecy was fulfilled.
Simeon’s inheritance was “in the midst of the inheritance of the people of Judah” (Josh. 19:1). And when their numbers increased, many of them went outside of their inheritance and scattered (1 Chron. 4:39, 42). And Simeon’s inheritance was absorbed by Judah when Israel was divided into Judah (the southern kingdom) and Israel (the northern kingdom).
What was so bad about Simeon and Levi’s action? Wasn’t it “righteous anger” for the rape of their sister? Isn’t there something honorable about what they did? We can say that the anger they felt was righteous; it would have been wrong for them not to feel it! But it was the way they acted on it. We must be careful about taking matters into our own hands and avenging ourselves. The Lord declared, “Vengeance is mine...” (Deut. 32:35). Of course, these words in Deuteronomy came long after the incident in view. But God had done precisely that for Abraham in Egypt (Gen. 12) and in Gerar (Gen. 20) and for Isaac in Gerar (Gen. 26).
They also lied and deceived Shechem and Hamor. Not only that, they used something sacred—the covenantal sign that the LORD gave them, circumcision—in their deceptive, murderous scheme. And in their cruel anger, they killed not only Shechem, who raped their sister, but also his father and all the males of the city.
Jacob’s prayers for his three oldest sons make us wonder how we will be remembered. What is the defining moment of our lives? By what event of our lives or what action of ours will people remember us? This is a humbling thought. While we judge ourselves according to our good intentions, others judge us according to what we actually did. If people judge us this way, how about God, who sees all things, even our most shameful and wicked thoughts?
Yet, in our study of Revelation, we saw that two different books will be opened on the Day of Judgment: the book of all the deeds of the reprobates and the book of life. The former contains all the deeds, for which the reprobates will be judged (Rev. 20:12). The latter, the book of life, contains the names of all those who are saved. Those, who placed their faith in Jesus Christ, will not be judged according to what they have done, but according to their relation to Christ, who has paid for their sins and fulfilled righteousness on their behalf. How wonderful it is that Christ’s blood washes away all our sins and His righteousness covers all our shame! God will remember us by what Christ has done! What is more, He will reward us according to whatever we have done for Him in faith.
So then, instead of living in regrets and despair for all the things we have done wrong, let us trust in the power of Jesus’ blood to cleanse us from sin and free us from our past! Let us repent of our sins and strive to do His will for His glory with thankfulness!