We are in chapter 49 of Genesis with our word for today. חָמָס violence, wrong, oppression, an act of aggression especially involving physical contact. It is used 60 times in the Old Testament. A good example of how bad our word is can be seen in the flood. It is used by God as the reason why he had to destroy everyone except Noah and his family. Genesis 6:11-13 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with חָמָֽס violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with חָמָ֖ס violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
This very serious corrupting influence of our word is seen in our chapter today. Jacob is addressing his family before he dies and is now speaking to both Simeon and Levi together. Genesis 49:5-7 Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of חָמָ֖ס violence are their swords. Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
Simeon and Levi were guilty of anger and violence in their unrestrained massacre of the Shechemites (Gen. 34:25–31). It was right to avenge the raping of their sister Dinah, but it wasn’t necessary to wipe out innocent people just to gratify their own desire for revenge. Since it was dangerous to be “in their assembly,” God arranged that the two tribes would not be able to assemble or do anything together. The tribe of Simeon was eventually absorbed into the tribe of Judah (Joshua 19:1, 9), and the tribe of Levi was given forty-eight towns to live in, scattered throughout the land (Joshua 21). Indeed, the brothers were “divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel.”
Simeon and Levi failed to trust God with their anger. God wants to take our anger and lead us into passion. Passion about being like God and serving him. Instead, they acted on their anger and let it turn into violence. Anger is one of the ways the evil one uses to get a place in our life and begin to destroy it this is why God warns us to deal with it immediately. Ephesians 4:26, 31-32 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil…Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. I’ll close with this great reminder of how God desires us to respond and relate to each other. James 1:19-20 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
