SECTION XII. Prophetic blessings of Jacob on Simeon and Levi. "Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations." "I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel." (v. 5-7.) SECTION XII. Fulfilment. The inheritance of Simeon was a scattered and divided inheritance. When Joshua cast lots in Shiloh before the Lord, the second lot came forth to Simeon. But we read of no geographical boundaries, and defined extent of territory, as in the preceding lot of Benjamin. Simeon's lot comprised merely some scattered towns and villages" within the inheritance of the children of Judah." "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 of them." (Joshua xix. 1-9.) So straitened were the Simeonites in their scattered cities, that, "when the house of their fathers increased greatly," they were compelled to migrate ; and they "went to the entrance of Gedor "-" to seek for pasture for their flocks." "And some of them, even of the sons of Simeon, five hundred men, went to Mount Seir." (1 Chron. iv. 38—42.) It is well known that "Levi had no part nor inheritance with his brethren." His tribe was "separated, to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name." (Deut. x. 8. and xviii.) Thus was Jacob's prediction literally fulfilled, that Simeon and Levi should be " divided in Jacob, and scattered in Israel." |