Genesis 49: 5-7: “Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.”
Simeon and Levi were cruel and vicious men. The murdered a entire town in revenge for one man raping their sister. They had other options to deal with the situation but chose to offer a peace treaty to the town and then murdered them all in cold blood. After this their descendants suffered for both Simeon and Levi did not have distinct territory in Israel after the people took possession of the Land. Levi, the priestly tribe, had no land of their own but they had towns allocated to them among the territory of the other tribes (see Josh 13: 33, “But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance: the LORD God of Israel was their inheritance, as he said unto them.” Simeon’s tribe had their territory in the middle of Judah’s territory (Josh 19: 9, “Out of the portion of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon: for the part of the children of Judah was too much for them: therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the inheritance of them.”) There is an important warning for all of us in this: we act in haste but we repent at leisure. It is so easy to do something quickly without thinking but, then, discover that there are lifelong consequences that we cannot avoid. It is better to spend some time thinking before we act than to spend years regretting after we have acted.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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