Genesis
49:5 ¶ Simeon and Levi are brethren;
instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. 6 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. 7 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 are the ones who, through deception, slaughtered the inhabitants of
Hamor the Hivite’s city in revenge for Hamor’s son, Shechem’s rape of Dinah.
Jacob lamented their actions.
Genesis
34:25 ¶ And it came to pass on the third
day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi,
Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and
slew all the males…30 And Jacob said to
Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants
of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in
number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I
shall be destroyed, I and my house.
Again,
the prophecy for these tribes is not a positive thing based on the character of
their originators. As all mankind suffers from their inheritance of a rebellious,
sin nature against God from our first ancestor, Adam, so shall these tribes
suffer with the rebelliousness of their progenitors.
Here
we also have an example of how this Bible defines words. Anger’s quality is
fierce and wrath’s quality is cruel. Our anger burns hot and our wrath is
malicious and hateful. Wrath is thought of typically as vehement anger. But,
still they have a like quality in their use making them somewhat synonymous
from a Biblical point of view.
Psalm
37:8 Cease from anger, and forsake
wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
Proverbs
15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath:
but grievous words stir up anger.
Proverbs
27:4 Wrath is cruel, and anger is
outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
Paul
warns Christians;
Ephesians
4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and
anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
Colossians
3:8 But now ye also put off all these;
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Anger
should not be allowed to turn into bitter wrath for a Christian. Don’t dwell on
it.
Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry,
and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Jacob
speaks to his soul in verse 6 warning himself not to take counsel with these two
as their way is violent and vengeful. There are similar warnings in different
contexts in both Old and New Testaments.
Amos
3:3 Can two walk together, except they
be agreed?
2Corinthian
6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
and what communion hath light with darkness?
Proverbs
16:29 A violent man enticeth his
neighbour, and leadeth him into the way that is not good.
Whatever
you think or your culture demands regarding vengeance the vengeance of Simeon
and Levi, more concerned with their own honor than an assault on their sister’s
person, was not approved, even though allowed, as most despicable and ungodly acts
of mankind are.
Here
we have the picture developing not only of the Hebrews but of a person in
general. In these two prophecies for these three men we see someone who is
unstable in his ways, lacking in moral control of his sexual impulses, violent
and vengeful, murderous even. It is not a pretty picture of humanity that is
being presented, much less of the Hebrews. And it continues.
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