THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF JACOB
SIMEON AND LEVI
THE EVIL CONFEDERATION OF ANGER
TEXT: Genesis 49:5-7
Genesis 49:5-7 KJV 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.
Genesis 49:5-7 MESSAGE Simeon and Levi are two of a kind, ready to fight at the drop of a hat. [6] I don’t want anything to do with their vendettas, want no part in their bitter feuds; They kill men in fits of temper, slash oxen on a whim. [7] A curse on their uncontrolled anger, on their indiscriminate wrath. I’ll throw them out with the trash; I’ll shred and scatter them like confetti throughout Israel.
I. INTRODUCTION -- ANGER
Chinese Proverb -- The fire you kindle for your enemy often burns yourself more than him.
Colton -- The intoxication of anger, like that of the grape, shows us to others, but hides us from ourselves.
Proverbs 15:1 KJV A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
Proverbs 22:24-25 KJV Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: [25] Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.
Proverbs 25:28 KJV He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
-Google “anger” and you find 60,100,000 results. Google “anger management” and you find 4,910,000 possibilities. By and large it appears that America is angry about something. Somebody is “ticked off.” America is “ticked” because of bumper-to-bumper traffic, schedules that are crammed to over-commitment, and pressured demands from jobs that demand more while wanting you to work with less.
-Add to this, financial pressures that are compounded by out-of-control credit card spending and past-due collection notices. Pile on the demands of marital pressures, mid-life crisis points, raising adolescents, grade problems, and a host of other issues that are constantly pulling at us and the seething almost becomes a boiling point.
-Our society has come to point that instead of dealing with it we are turning toward violence, as in violent words, violent actions, and violent solutions.
We hear of angry motorists who allow road-rage to take over and they begin to drive with aggressive and reckless abandon to strike back.
We hear of angry drivers who get out of their cars and pull guns and shoot people who cut them off in traffic.
A. Anger and Your Body
-A study from Harvard Medical School determined that of 1,623 heart-attack survivors, anger brought on by emotional conflicts doubled the risk of subsequent heart attacks. (From the medical journal, Circulation)
-Closely related to this anger issue are feelings of hostility that often accompany anger. A study in Finland showed that hostility is a major risk factor to coronary artery disease. Those who have feelings of uncontrolled hostility are almost three times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those who do not experience this.
-Uncontrolled anger forces people to have to guzzle Maalox by the gallon, eat Prilosec by the pound, and sometimes resort to downing anti-depressants because of the unresolved emotional issues that anger brings about.
-Those that experience anger generally will do two things with it. First, they “blow up” and all sorts of chaotic things happen in their lives, homes, marriages, families, and jobs because of their uncontrolled emotions. Secondly, they hold it all in and this anger becomes a seething cynicism that only brews bitterness in their soul.
B. Alba, Texas Murders
The beginning of this message began last Sunday (March 2, 2008) when I became aware of the horrendous murders that happened in a small east-Texas town. A sixteen year old girl is now facing (along with three others) life behind bars because of an angry response to the guidelines that her parents were trying to set up for her. Terry and Penny Caffey had some objections to the boy that their daughter was dating and because of this, the daughter and three others are now looking out from a jail cell that very well could be where they spend the rest of their lives. Penny Caffey, along with her two sons (aged 8 and 13) are now dead and husband Terry is beginning a very slow recovery that will require months of rehabilitation before he really overcomes it.
The two boys involved in the murders, stabbed and shot the girl’s family while she sat in a car down the road in this small, rural setting. As they left the scene, the boys set a two story home on fire that when it was finally brought under control only the foundation was left.
-Late last Sunday night, I begin to feel the stirring of the Spirit to preach this message to you. It will be a different sort of message and honestly I have some reservations about it but sometimes we need to be confronted by the Word of the Lord to see if we measure up to God’s standard for life.
II. THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST
-Several months ago (August 2006), I preached from a portion of this text on the life of Reuben and how that Jacob’s blessing in Genesis 49 was actually a foreshadowing of the judgment seat of Christ. We all will face judgment for this little vapor called life.
-When we get to the judgment seat of Christ there some things that we will be held accountable for:
Every Word We Speak -- Matthew 12:36
What Our Life Has Been Lived For -- 1 Timothy 5:24-25
An Account of Stewardship -- Luke 16:1-2
Positions of Authority Will Have To Give an Account -- Hebrews 13:17
An Account of Witnessing -- Ezekiel 3:18; Acts 20:26-27
-At the judgment seat of Christ we shall find ourselves having to deal with the review of our life and service. I firmly believe that there will be some rebukes delivered to all men who are there. In fact, this analogy is drawn from what the seven churches of Revelation had to endure. Five of the seven were condemned for their actions. Yet, just as their will be rebukes, I also am of the certainty that there will be certain rewards that are given to men on that day.
-Those that have been filled with the Spirit are in the Kingdom but what is coming as a reward is at stake by how faithfully we discharge our calling in this life! There will be many on that great day that will be so convicted and embarrassed by their pursuit of lesser priorities in this life. Only what we do for Christ will last!
III. THE JUDGEMENT SEAT OF JACOB
-Genesis 49 finds an old Jacob about to pass off the scene of life and he now is going to both judge and bless the boys. He starts with Reuben, “You are as unstable as water!” Then he progresses on to Simeon and Levi.
-Suddenly the forgotten past is summoned forward and brought to bear. That past was something they did not want to face but they would have to face it down. Every step that you take in this life will either crown you or confront you in the fateful days of the future.
A. The Judgment
Genesis 49:5-7 KJV 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.
-This text was literally fulfilled. Levi did not have any inheritance at all except for 48 cities scattered about Canaan. Simeon received only a few towns and villages in Judah and he would have to conquer the Idumeans and Amalekites to gain more room.
-All of this was because of their anger (described as “fierce”), their wrath (described as “cruel”), both being motivated by their self-will. These attitudes in our lives will have a lasting effect on the spiritual inheritances in our lives. Because of these traits their reward was divided in Jacob and scattered throughout Israel.
-In this text, the same pattern that Jacob started with Reuben also is carried through with Simeon and Levi. It starts so well, “Reuben, my firstborn, my might, excellence in dignity and power. . .”
-“Simeon and Levi. . . . brethren!” They were brothers who looked out for each other. Incredible concern, good fellowship, and great nobility between them.
-Then it all changes:
Instruments of cruelty.
You are bearers of secrets.
Dishonor will be poured out on those who associate with you.
Anger has the potential to become a slayer.
Self-will will destroy the innocents that you come into contact with.
-There is a whole message that could be carried from the angle that we can form a brotherhood with some things that will ultimately lead to our own cursing. There are brotherhoods that will curse instead of bless.
-Their sin was so different than that of Reuben.
His was one of weakness.
His was one of moral stumbling.
His sin took advantage of a weaker vessel.
-Simeon and Levi’s actions spanned a great gulf away from Reuben’s actions.
Their sin was deliberate and deadly.
Their sin was meticulously planned out and executed.
They went into action knowing what the fate of the Shechemites would be.
-Deliberate sin is far worse than when a man simply stumbles in the path of sudden temptation. The old man, Jacob, takes this into the justice of consideration. The matter will be weighed out in the balances.
-Just because they were in the family, Jacob would not allow this to absolve them of their sin. No whitewash for the sin because sin always has a curse in it.
-Just as in our day, different people respond differently to words of judgment. Looking back through the scope of history, we find that Levi profited from the judgment and his tribe would rise to do great service to the Lord. He stood up for the Lord when Israel sinned with the daughters of Moab.
-Simeon would live out his judgment and not recover from it. The tribe of Simeon would lose their identity and would be counted among the tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Naphtali. A few of Simeon’s descendants would wander off to Gedor and Mount Seir (1 Chron. 4:39-43).
-He looked at an alliance that had been formed and it had gotten deadly.
B. How Did They Get This Curse?
-Some may be asking, “what in the world did these two guys do to get such a curse?”
-The answer to that is found in Genesis 34. Their little sister, Dinah, had been dishonored and defiled by the prince of Shechem.
Genesis 34:1-7 KJV And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. [2] And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. [3] And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. [4] And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. [5] And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come. [6] And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. [7] And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done.
-This innocent Dinah became marked for life. When she came home and it was discovered what had happened, Simeon’s mind went into overdrive and he became the ringleader and Levi his willing lieutenant.
-Some bartering went on back and forth between Jacob and Hamor, the father of Shechem, and some deals were made to provide for a dowry for Dinah. Simeon and Levi begin to press the issue and stated that money would not be able to cover the dilemma.
-Simeon and Levi begin to demand that the covenant of circumcision be carried out because they would not consent to their sister being given to a pagan. So after much discussion, the men of Shechem relented to the procedure.
-On the second day as they were recovering, Simeon and Levi rode into Shechem and begin to slowly and methodically massacre the men. Two lone, angry, violent men begin to let their anger push them toward retribution and vengeance.
-They had operated under the cover of a friendliness motivated by treachery. They hinted at the religious with some pious zeal about their actions. Yet all-in-all they were involved in one of the darkest tales in the Bible.
Villians masked in hypocrisy.
Cruelty that was barbaric and vindictive.
Acting out in a semblance of righteous indignation.
Two men who took law and justice into their own hands.
-The town of Shechem is ransacked and its citizens are terrorized. The men are killed and the women and children are captured. The livestock in the city are taken as their own, and they pillage the treasures. Perhaps the phrase that sums it up best is in Genesis 34:29, “and spoiled even all that was in the house.”
-When Jacob hears the report of the attack, he was troubled to no end about it. He knew that some terrible consequences could come from this. Simeon and Levi blew off his concern and justified their sin with this statement, “Should he deal with our sister as a harlot?” Sin always resorts to some justification that implies, “We have taken the high road of justice, now you need to overlook what we have done in the name of revenge.”
IV. WHAT THE COUNCIL OF ANGER DEMANDS
Genesis 49:6 KJV 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.
-The lesson: “O my soul, come thou not into their council.” If a man cannot break up the confederacy of evil that Simeon and Levi brings about, one can at least stand away from them and have not part with their antics.
-This world is full of people like Simeon and Levi who seek out in the name of justice to undertake a certain cause and to seemingly want to avenge the wrongs done to a brother or sister. A strong clarion call can be made when it is cloaked in righteous indignation.
-But there are some penalties that will have to be paid because the council of anger always demands a payday. It is sort of like “interest free for 365 days” but there will come a day when the merchandise will have to be paid for.
-Jacob pleads with us from Genesis 49 not to get involved in their counsel because they will ruin you.
-Right now, four teenagers are sitting in a jail cell in Texas. Their actions were motivated by anger at the restricting but concerned hands of parents. However, there were some payments that never entered their minds. You can certainly count on one thing that all of them would like to go back and re-live that terrible night that is probably going to put them in prison for the rest of their lives and very well could lead to the death-penalty for the two young men.
Butler -- Anger is a sharp sword put into our hand by nature itself; and she does not intend that the sharp sword should rust in its scabbard.”
-The curse of Jacob was not so much on the anger and wrath but the actions that it motivated Simeon and Levi to manifest. Anger loves to masquerade itself under the fakery of righteous indignation.
-When they gave into revenge, it came with the compounded interest of cruelty, violence, deceit and self-will. They murdered innocent men and maimed the cattle. Uncontrolled anger always attaches itself to sin. Those who do not let go of past injustice and even present insult will be destroyed by the eating away of anger.
It has the capacity to destroy marriages.
It can destroy homes.
It can rip apart long-held friendships.
It can split churches.
Frederick Buechner (on anger being a “fun” sin and what happens when person feasts on it, he is feasting on himself) -- To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain your are giving back—in many ways it is a feast fit for a king.”
V. CONCLUSION -- WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH YOUR ANGER?
-How shall we be able to take care of this anger that wants to destroy us? There is a biblical answer that seems almost too easy and yet the power of a sound mind is found in this passage. . . .
Ephesians 4:26 KJV Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
-You must deal with your anger now. Apologize to others quickly. Let your life give way to a sense of gratitude. The fact of the matter is that most of us haven’t gotten what we deserve. We deserve hell but God has given to us mercy instead.
Philip Harrelson
March 9, 2008
www.barnabas14blog.blogspot.com
