📌Simeon (Son of Jacob)

Person

[See Jacob's Family Tree]

Simeon was the second of Jacob (son of Isaac)'s twelve sons. His mother was Leah.

When Jacob (son of Isaac) returned to the land of Canaan, his daughter Dinah was raped by the son of the chieftain of the Shechem region. However, after the rape, the chieftain's son fell in love with Dinah and asked to marry her. When Jacob's sons learned of this, they set a condition that all the men must be circumcised if they wished to marry her. In response to this condition, all the men of Shechem underwent circumcision. While they were still recovering, Simeon, along with his younger brother Levi, took up swords and massacred all the men. (See Genesis 34)

Later, after Joseph (son of Jacob) was sold into Egypt, a famine struck, and Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to obtain grain. However, the person they met in Egypt was Joseph, who had become the prime minister. Joseph, wanting to see his youngest brother Benjamin, held Simeon hostage and ordered them to bring Benjamin.

Considering these points, it can be inferred that Simeon, like his brother Levi (son of Jacob), had a fiery and violent personality, but also deeply cared for his sister and was loyal enough to become a hostage for his brothers.

Before his death, his father Jacob blessed Simeon and Levi together, and the content is as follows:

Gen 49:5Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence.Gen 49:6May my soul not enter their council, nor my glory join their assembly, for in their anger they killed men, and in their self-will they hamstrung oxen.Gen 49:7Cursed 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.

As prophesied that their descendants would be scattered, Levi became a priestly tribe scattered among the other tribes, and the tribe of Simeon literally scattered and perished.

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