Jacob is on his deathbed, and when he reaches Simeon and Levi, he doesn’t lighten his words. He has strong words for them.
“Simeon and Levi are brothers—their swords are weapons of violence. 6 Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. 7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.” (Genesis 49 v 5-7)
This is not an easy read. As Jacob remembers, he curses. He is speaking of Shechem; he hasn’t forgotten. Remember? His sons massacred every man because of the horrible treatment of their sister, Dinah. Their anger led to their violence. It wasn’t fair justice.
The result of their actions was that the family had to scatter. There was no territory and no legacy. The anger of Simeon and Levi may have looked powerful at the time, and they themselves thought they were defending honour. Perhaps they thought their actions were righteous. However, unchecked anger always destroys more than it protects. The end result was that eventually it cost them their inheritance.
But the story doesn’t end with the curse.
Levi’s descendants would go on to become the priestly tribe, the ones who stood closest to God and who served at the altar. God himself was their inheritance.
The blood that Simeon and Levi shed in anger was answered, eventually, by blood shed in love. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” (Galatians 3:13)
Your past does not have the last word. The cross does.
Missions Paul 