Simeon

The name Simeon belongs to several figures the UPDV traces across both testaments. The longest thread is the second son of Leah and the tribe descended from him — born to a wounded mother in Paddan-aram, implicated with Levi in the Shechem massacre, detained in Egypt by Joseph, settled inside Judah's allotment after the conquest, and remembered later as a partner with Judah in war and as one of the northern tribes drawn back to Jerusalem in Asa's and Josiah's reforms. A second Simeon — listed simply by name — appears in Luke's genealogy of Jesus.

Birth and Place Among the Sons of Israel

Simeon is the second son of Leah, named at his birth out of his mother's grief: "And she became pregnant again, and gave birth to a son: and said, Because Yahweh has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this [son] also. And she named him Simeon" (Gen 29:33). The Genesis roster of Jacob's sons records him in Leah's column: "The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun" (Gen 35:23). The opening of Exodus and the Chronicler's genealogy both repeat the order: "Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah" (Ex 1:2); "These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun" (1Ch 2:1).

Shechem and Jacob's Verdict

The first narrative scene gives Simeon's character with Levi at Shechem. After the violation of their sister Dinah, "two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took each man his sword, and came upon the city unawares, and slew all the males" (Gen 34:25). Jacob's immediate rebuke is that the act has put the household at risk: "You⁺ have troubled me, to make me stink to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and, I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and strike me; and I will be destroyed, I and my house" (Gen 34:30).

Jacob's deathbed oracle returns to the same brothers. The verdict is sharp and the consequence is dispersal: "Simeon and Levi are brothers; They determined to destroy violently. O my soul, don't come into their council; To their assembly, my glory, don't be united; For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will they hocked an ox. 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" (Gen 49:5-7).

Held in Egypt

In the Joseph cycle Simeon is the brother singled out and detained when the others return home for Benjamin: "And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes" (Gen 42:24). Jacob counts him among his lost sons: "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and you⁺ will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me" (Gen 42:36). On the brothers' second journey he is released — the steward of Joseph's house tells them their silver has already been received, "and he brought Simeon out to them" (Gen 43:23).

Sons and Families

Two parallel lists give Simeon's sons. Genesis records them as the household that goes down into Egypt: "Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman" (Gen 46:10). Exodus repeats the same names with the closing tag: "these are the families of Simeon" (Ex 6:15). The Numbers census, taken on the plains of Moab, organizes the descendants by family: "The sons of Simeon after their families: of Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites; of Jachin, the family of the Jachinites" (Num 26:12), then adding "of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites; of Shaul, the family of the Shaulites" (Num 26:13). The Chronicler later expands the same line through Shallum, Mibsam, Mishma, and Shimei, noting that "Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers did not have many sons, neither did all their family multiply like the sons of Judah" (1Ch 4:27).

Census, Camp, and March

At Sinai, Simeon is mustered with the other tribes. The procedural language is preserved in full: "Of the sons of Simeon, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, those who were numbered of them, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war" (Num 1:22). The Sinai total is "fifty and nine thousand and three hundred" (Num 1:23). The same number is reused in the camp arrangement (Num 2:13). On the plains of Moab the census is taken again, and the figure has dropped sharply: "These are the families of the Simeonites, twenty and two thousand and two hundred" (Num 26:14).

In the camp Simeon is placed beside Reuben on the south side: "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" (Num 2:12). The marching order keeps the same pairing, with Reuben's standard moving first and Simeon following: "And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai" (Num 10:19).

A Simeonite leader figures unfavorably in the Baal-peor episode. The Israelite struck down with the Midianite woman is identified by tribe: "Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers' house among the Simeonites" (Num 25:14).

Blessing on Mount Gerizim

When Moses arranges the tribes for the blessing and the curse to be pronounced after the crossing of the Jordan, Simeon stands among the six tribes assigned to the blessing side: "These will stand on mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you⁺ pass over the Jordan: Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin" (Deut 27:12).

Inheritance Inside Judah

The conquest narrative gives Simeon a tribal allotment that is geographically embedded in Judah's. The opening of the Joshua section is explicit: "And the second lot came out for Simeon, even for the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families: and their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Judah" (Jos 19:1). The rationale follows: "Out of the part of the sons of Judah was the inheritance of the sons of Simeon; for the portion of the sons of Judah was too much for them: therefore the sons of Simeon had inheritance in the midst of their inheritance" (Jos 19:9). The named cities — Beer-sheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual, Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, and others (Jos 19:2-6) — sit in the south of Judah's territory.

The Chronicler preserves the same pattern of Simeonite settlement. The cities of Beer-sheba, Moladah, Hazarshual, Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad, Bethuel, Hormah, and Ziklag are listed as "their cities to the reign of David" (1Ch 4:28-31), and outlying villages around Etam, En-Rimmon, Tochen, Ashan, and Baal as "their habitations" (1Ch 4:32-33). Two later migrations are recorded: in Hezekiah's day a group "went to the entrance of Gedor... to seek pasture for their flocks" and dispossessed the previous inhabitants, "for those who dwelt there previously were of Ham" (1Ch 4:39-41); and "of the sons of Simeon, five hundred men, went to mount Seir, having for their captains Pelatiah, and Neariah, and Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi. And they struck the remnant of the Amalekites who escaped, and have dwelt there to this day" (1Ch 4:42-43).

Partnership with Judah in War

The Judges narrative opens with a joint Judah-Simeon campaign that follows directly from the geographical embedding. Judah invites Simeon: "Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your lot. So Simeon went with him" (Jdg 1:3). The campaign's closing scene reverses the direction: "And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and completely destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah" (Jdg 1:17).

Drawn Back to Jerusalem under Asa and Josiah

In the Chronicler's history the tribe of Simeon turns up among the northerners who return to Judah's reforms. In Asa's day, after Azariah's prophecy, "he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him" (2Ch 15:9). Generations later Josiah's purge reaches into Simeon's territory: "And [so he did] in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, he searched their houses round about" (2Ch 34:6).

An Ancestor of Jesus

A different Simeon appears in Luke's genealogy of Jesus, where the name is spelled Symeon: "the [son] of Symeon, the [son] of Judas, the [son] of Joseph, the [son] of Jonam, the [son] of Eliakim" (Luke 3:30).