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Simeon - Twelve Tribes of Israel
 The
Tribe of Simeon or Bnei Shim'on (Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן
"Hearkening; listening"
Simeon is
one of the Hebrew tribes, founded by Simeon son of
Jacob. It was "divided and scattered" according to the
prediction in Genesis 49:5-7. They gradually dwindled in
number, and sank into a position of insignificance among
the other tribes. They decreased in the wilderness by
about two-thirds (compare Numbers 1:23; 26:14). Moses
pronounces no blessing on this tribe; it is passed over
in silence in Deuteronomy (chapter 33). Contemporary
scholars believe that the tribe had been absorbed by
Judah by the time that Moses' blessings were written.
This tribe received as their portion a part of the
territory already allotted to Judah (Joshua 19:1-9). It
lay in the south-west of the land, with Judah on the
east and the Tribe of Dan on the north; but it is
unlikely that it was a compact territory. In Jacob's
blessings, Simeon is compared to his brother Levi, and
the two were cursed for their massacre of the
inhabitants of Shechem. Rather than being allotted a
separate territory, Levi was given scattered cities in
the territories of other tribes. It is therefore assumed
that Simeon was also given scattered cities in the
southern half of the Tribe of Judah.
Subsequent notices of this tribe are but few (1
Chronicles 4:24-43). Like the Tribe of Reuben on the
east of Jordan, this tribe had little influence on the
history of Israel. |
