Simeon (Hebrew Bible)

Simeon (Hebrew Name 1|שִׁמְעוֹן|Shim'on) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Simeon; however some Biblical scholars view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an etiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation ["Peake's commentary on the Bible"] . With Leah as a matriarch, Biblical scholars regard the tribe as having been believed by the text's authors to have been part of the original Israelite confederation [ibid] , however, the tribe is absent from the parts of the bible which textual scholars regard as the oldest (for example, the ancient Song of Deborah), and so some scholars think that Simeon was not originally regarded as a distinct tribe ["Jewish Encyclopedia"] .

The text of the Torah argues that the name of "Simeon" refers to Leah's belief that God had heard that she was hated by Jacob, in the sense of not being as favoured as Rachel [Genesis 29:33] , implying a derivation from the Hebrew term "shama on", meaning "he has heard of my suffering"; this is a similar etymology as the Torah gives for the theophoric name "Ishmael" ("God has heard") [Genesis 16:11] , implying that the names are cognate, and that the tribe of Simeon may originally have been an Ishmaelite group [Cheyne and Black, "Encyclopedia Biblica"] . In classical rabbinical sources, the name is sometimes interpreted as meaning "he who listens to the words of God" [Genesis Rabbah 61:4] , and at other times thought to derive from "sham 'in", meaning "there is sin", which is argued to be a prophetic reference to Zimri's sexual miscegenation with a Midianite woman, a type of relationship which rabbinical sources regard as sinful ["Jewish Encyclopedia"] .

In the Torah's account of the rape of Dinah, wherein Dinah was raped (or in some versions, merely seduced) by a Canaanite named Shechem, Simeon is one of those who took violent revenge against the inhabitants of the city by tricking them into circumcising themselves and then killing them when they are weakened [Genesis 34:25] ; in the account, Jacob heavily castigates Simeon for this, and, in his blessing condemns his descendants to become "divided and scattered". Some Biblical scholars regard the account of the rape of Dinah as an aetiological myth, created by the Jahwist, to justify the presence of a sanctuary at Shechem ["Peake's commentary on the Bible"] [Richard Elliott Friedmann, "Who wrote the Bible"] ; in comparison to the Elohist's justification of the Shechem sanctuary, where the land is simply purchased by Jacob, and dedicated to "El Elohe Israel" (meaning "El is the God of Israel", "mighty is the God of Israel", or "God, the God of Israel") [Genesis 33:19] , the Jahwist's account is viewed as a veiled slight against the sanctuary [Richard Elliott Friedmann, "Who wrote the Bible"] . Simeon's vengeance, and punishment in the blessing, are viewed by biblical scholars as aetiological postdictions which were designed to explain why, in the time of the author of the blessing (900-700BC), the tribe of Simeon was dwindling out of existence [Richard Elliott Friedman, "Who wrote the Bible?"] ["Peake's commentary on the Bible"] . The midrashic book of Jasher, argues that it was Simeon who deceived Hamor by insisting that the men of Shechem would need to be circumcised ["Jewish Encyclopedia"] ; it goes on to argue that Simeon was extremely strong, despite only being 13 years old, and was able to slaughter all the men of Shechem nearly single-handedly, only having assistance from his brother Levi, and captured 85 young women, marrying the one named "Bonah" [ibid] .

The classical rabbinical sources argue that Simeon was very fearless, but also was particularly envious, and so had always been antagonistic and spiteful towards Joseph, owing to Joseph being Jacob's favourite son ["Jewish Encyclopedia"] . The midrashic book of Jasher argues that Simeon was the one who proposed that the brothers should kill Joseph, and other classical sources argue that it was Simeon who threw Joseph into a pit, and became furious when he found out that Judah had sold Joseph rather than killed him [ibid] ; according to the classical sources, Simeon suffered divine punishment for this inhumanity, with his right hand withered, but this caused Simeon to repent, and so his hand was restored a week later [ibid] .

In the biblical Joseph narrative, when Joseph, having settled in Egypt, asks his brothers to bring Benjamin to him, he takes Simeon hostage to ensure that they return [Genesis 42:24+] . According to classical rabbinical sources, Joseph chose Simeon to be the hostage because he was concerned that if Simeon wasn't separated from Levi, then Levi and Simeon might destroy Egypt together, since they had already destroyed Shechem [Genesis Rabbah 91:6] . According to the midrashic book of Jasher, Simeon wasn't willing to become a hostage, so Joseph sent 70 strong Egyptians to take Simeon by force, but Simeon had a very powerful voice, and so was able to scare off the Egyptians simply by shouting ["Jewish Encyclopedia"] ; the text states that Simeon was eventually subdued by Manasseh, and imprisoned [ibid] . The Testament of Simeon, on the other hand, declares that Simeon acknowledged that it was just for him to be imprisoned, given his earlier mistreatment of Joseph, and so he went willingly ["Testament of Simeon" 4] .

According to the Book of Jubilees, Simeon was born on the 21st of Tevet [Jubilees 28:13] , and according to the book of Genesis he had six sons [Genesis 46:8, 46:10] . Although some classical rabbinical sources argue that the mother of the children, and his wife, was "Bonah", one of the women from Shechem, other classical rabbinical sources argue that Simeon's wife (and the mother of the children) was Dinah, his sister, who had insisted on the marriage before she would be willing to leave Shechem's home (Shechem was her rapist/lover) ["Jewish Encyclopedia"] . Many of the rabbinical sources argue that Simeon died at the age of 120, roughly three years before the death of his brother Reuben [ibid] , though Numbers Rabbah states that Simeon became the senior of the brothers "after" Reuben had died [Numbers Rabbah 13:10] .

See also

*Tribe of Simeon

Citations