Shelumiel

Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai is the prince of the tribe of Simeon during the wilderness generation. He is named at the Sinai census, fixed at his post beside the standard of Judah on the east-flanking arrangement of the camp, brings Simeon's offering on the fifth day of the tabernacle's dedication, and leads Simeon's host out when the camp first sets forward. Within the surveyed witness Shelumiel appears only in Numbers, and across the named verses he carries the same patronymic — son of Zurishaddai — and the same office over the same tribe.

Simeon's Representative at the Census

When Moses receives the men who will stand with him to number Israel tribe by tribe, Simeon's man is Shelumiel: "Of Simeon: Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai" (Nu 1:6). The naming is bare and formulaic — the tribe, then the prince, then his father — and it places Shelumiel inside the same roster of tribal heads called out at Sinai for the census work.

Prince at the Camp of Simeon

In the wilderness encampment Simeon takes its station next to the standard of the camp of Reuben, and Shelumiel is named as the tribe's prince at that station: "And those who encamp next to him will be the tribe of Simeon: and the prince of the sons of Simeon will be Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai" (Nu 2:12). The post is fixed by the camp diagram; the person attached to it is the same man named at the census.

Day Five of the Tabernacle Dedication

When the princes of Israel come forward in turn with their tribal offerings at the dedication of the tabernacle, Shelumiel's day is the fifth: "On the fifth day Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, prince of the sons of Simeon" (Nu 7:36). His oblation closes with the peace-offering tally that the other princes also bring on their days: "two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai" (Nu 7:41). The patronymic anchors both the opening and the closing of his day in the dedication record.

Leading Simeon's March from Sinai

When the camp breaks and the tribal hosts move out by their standards, Shelumiel is again the man set over Simeon's host: "And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai" (Nu 10:19). The prince who stood beside Reuben's standard at the count and at the camp now leads Simeon's host out at the march.