Simeon And Levi, United Then Divided Series

Introduction: Simeon and Levi were Jacob’s second and third sons. Leah was the mother of both. These two brothers aren’t mentioned often in Scripture, but both are known for one specific incident of cruelty at Shechem (Genesis 34). Jacob never forgot what they had done and when he was dying, gave a cruel but accurate prediction about these two sons and their tribes.

1 Simeon and Levi: the incident at Shechem

Text, Genesis 34: 25-31, KJV: 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. 26 And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, 29 And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house. 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. 31 And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?

This incident at Shechem is one of the darkest periods of Jacob’s life. True, he had departed from Laban more or less peaceably and he must have thought that he had reached a place of peace when he settled in Shechem. That was not the case, and he almost lost his daughter forever plus, if he had stayed there much longer, he may have lost everything. At the least, this was the plan which Hamor, “prince of the country (34::2” and father of the man who assaulted Dinah sexually had in mind (see Genesis 34:18-24). Sermon Central has one of my messages on Jacob’s life during this era (see “Jacob-The ‘Dinah Jacobs’ Story”) which goes into a slightly different angle than this message here.

In one of the most incredible scenes in the Bible, all the men of Shechem agreed to become circumcised. They did this, as the text suggests, in order to become worthy to marry the women in Jacob’s household. Clearly there were more girls than only Dinah or Jacob and his sons wouldn’t have made the offer; some think this may refer to Jacob’s granddaughters or the girls born to his sons. We may never know the answer down here.

And it was while these men of Shechem were recovering, more or less, from the procedure of becoming circumcised, when Simeon and Levi performed one of the most wicked, most cruel acts ever recorded in Scripture. These two (and perhaps more) promptly slew all the males, including Hamor (the leader) and his son Shechem. Something odd seemed to take place because, as some of the commentators note, Dinah didn’t seem to want to leave (!) and her brothers had to forcibly take her out of Shechem’s house!

Even worse, these two “spoiled the city,” probably a reference to looting the place. It was bad enough they had murdered men who had agreed to a painful procedure but to take their property was not and nowhere justified. Jacob eventually found out about what they had done—it would have been hard to miss, given the increase in people and property!—and gave what seems to be a very mild reproof or expression of disappointment, Jacob said, “You got me in trouble and you just made me stink! The other peoples around here are going to kill me (and, you, too, by implication) and it’s anybody’s guess what they’ll do afterwards (paraphrased).”

The reply of Simeon and Levi is strange, to me: “Should he (Shechem or Hamor, maybe both) deal with our sister like a prostitute?” Shechem had laid an awful lot of sweet talk on Dinah and it seemed to work. She could have left, but she didn’t; and when her brothers came to rescue her, as mentioned, she didn’t want to leave. One wonders just what Shechem really had in mind when he and his father approached Jacob and his sons with the offer of “dowry for the daughter”.

Oddly, the story stops here, with a reclaimed daughter, a rebuked pair of brothers, and a rattled father. Nothing more was said about this, and years passed by, until Jacob let these two know he never approved of this deed. As some have observed, God did indeed “divide them in Jacob”, as Simeon’s tribe became one of the smallest and the Levites, or descendants of Levi, settled in various parts of Israel. In the days of Joshua, the priests and Levites, all sons of Levi, received various cities where they could live.