Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 49:7
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.
7. In the curse here pronounced upon Simeon and Levi, no mention is made of the Levitical priesthood. Nevertheless, the patriarch’s curse is evidently assumed to have produced its effect upon the two tribes. One (Levi) was scattered up and down Palestine without territorial possession; and the other (Simeon) occupied territory in a limited area, enclosed within the tribe of Judah. Cf. Jos 19:1-9; 1Ch 4:24-39. In the Song of Moses, Simeon is not even mentioned. Levi, on the other hand, is blessed, as the tribe of the priesthood, Deu 33:8-11.
in Jacob Israel ] See note on Gen 49:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 7. Cursed was their anger] The first motions of their violence were savage; and their excessive or overflowing wrath, ebrah, for it was inflexible – neither the supplications of the males, nor the entreaties, tears, cries, and shrieks of the helpless females, could deter them from their murderous purpose; for this, Ge 49:5, they are said to have accomplished.
I will divide them out, achallekem, I will make them into lots, giving a portion of them to one tribe, and a portion to another; but they shall never attain to any political consequence. This appears to have been literally fulfilled. Levi had no inheritance except forty-eight cities, scattered through different parts of the land of Canaan: and as to the tribe of Simeon, it is generally believed among the Jews that they became schoolmasters to the other tribes; and when they entered Canaan they had only a small portion, a few towns and villages in the worst part of Judah’s lot, Jos 19:1, which afterwards finding too little, they formed different colonies in districts which they conquered from the Idumeans and Amalekites, 1Ch 4:39, &c. Thus these two tribes were not only separated from each other, but even divided from themselves, according to this prediction of Jacob.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Cursed be their anger, or, cursed was. It was execrable and abominable both before God and men; such as deserved and brought the curse of God upon themselves, which I, as Gods instrument, am now to pronounce against them.
I do here declare, in the name of God, that they shall be divided and dispersed
in Jacob, & c.; that is, among the children or tribes of Jacob or Israel. Prophets are said to do what they foretell that God will do, as Jeremiah is said to root out and pull down kingdoms, Jer 1:10, and Ezekiel to destroy the city, Eze 43:3. Add Hos 6:5. Note here how suitable their punishment was to their crime. They sinned by conspiracy and confederation in the counsel and action, and they are punished with division or separation, not only of the two brethren and their tribes, but of the children and families of the several tribes, one from another. This was eminently fulfilled in the tribe of Levi, which had no proper portion or inheritance, but was scattered among all the tribes, Jos 18:7, though afterwards God turned this curse into a blessing. And for Simeon, he had no part of his own in the division of the land; but the portion of Judah being too large for that tribe, he was taken into that lot, and was as an inmate to them, Jos 19:1,2,9, and afterwards part of them were forced to seek new seats, and so were divided from the rest of their brethren, 1Ch 4:27,39,42. And moreover, the Jewish doctors write, that that tribe was so straitened in their habitations and conveniences, that a very great number of them were forced to scatter themselves amongst the other tribes to get a subsistence by teaching their children.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce,…. It was sinful anger in the nature of it, and so criminal and detestable; it was strong, fierce, and furious in its operation and effects, and so justly cursed; not their persons, but their passions:
and their wrath, for it was cruel; it issued in the cruel and barbarous slaughter of the inhabitants of Shechem; the same thing as before in other words repeated, to express his great abhorrence of their wrath and rage. Aben Ezra thinks that the words may be considered either as a prophecy or a prayer, that their anger might cease: what follows is certainly a prophecy,
I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel; which he is said to do, because he foretold it would be done; as Jeremiah is said to root out and pull down kingdoms, because he prophesied thereof, Jer 1:10 and this was fulfilled in the tribes of Simeon and Levi; as for the tribe of Simeon, that had not a distinct part by itself in the land of Canaan, but had their inheritance out of the portion, and within the inheritance of the tribe of Judah, Jos 19:1 and their cities did not join to one another, as Aben Ezra observes, but lay scattered up and down in the tribe of Judah; and when they were increased and straitened for room, many of them went without the land, to the entrance of Gedor, where they of Ham, or the Egyptians, had dwelt, and others to Mount Seir in Edom, 1Ch 4:39 and it is a notion which prevails with the Jews, and which Jarchi takes notice of, that a great many of this tribe were scribes and teachers of the law, and even teachers of children, and by which they lived among the several tribes; and so the Jerusalem Targum,
“I will divide the tribe of Simeon, that they may be scribes and teachers of the law in the congregation of Jacob.”
And as for the tribe of Levi, it is well known that they had no inheritance in the land of Canaan, but had forty eight cities assigned them in the several tribes here and there; and thus Jacob’s prophecy had an exact accomplishment.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
7. Cursed be their anger. What I have said must be kept in mind; namely, that we are divinely admonished by the mouth of the holy prophet, to keep at a distance from all wicked counsels. Jacob pronounces a woe upon their fury. Why is this, unless that others may learn to put a restraint upon themselves, and to be on their guard against such cruelty? However, (as I have already observed,) it will not suffice to preserve our hands pure, unless we are far removed from all association with crime. For though it may not always be in our power to repress unjust violence; yet that concealment of it is culpable, which approaches to the appearance of consent. Here even the ties of kindred, and whatever else would bias a sound judgment, must be dismissed from the mind: since we see a holy father, at the command of God, so severely thundering against his own sons. He pronounces the anger of Simon and Levi to be so much the more hateful, because, in its commencement, it was violent, and even to the end, it was implacable.
I will divide them in Jacob. It may seem a strange method of proceeding, that Jacob, while designating his sons patriarchs of the Church, and calling them heirs of the divine covenant, should pronounce a malediction upon them instead of a blessing. Nevertheless it was necessary for him to begin with the chastisement, which should prepare the way for the manifestation of God’s grace, as will be made to appear at the close of the chapter: but God mitigates the punishment, by giving them an honorable name in the Church, and leaving them their right unimpaired: yea, his incredible goodness unexpectedly shone forth, when that which was the punishment of Levi, became changed into the reward of the priesthood. The dispersion of the Levitical tribe had its origin in the crime of their father, lest he should congratulate himself on account of his perverse and lawless spirit of revenge. But God, who in the beginning had produced light out of darkness, found another reason why the Levites should be dispersed abroad among the people, — a reason not only free from disgrace, but highly honorable, — namely, that no corner of the land might be destitute of competent instructors. Lastly, he constituted them overseers and governors, in his name, over every part of the land, as if he would scatter everywhere the seed of eternal salvation, or would send forth ministers of his grace. Whence we conclude, how much better it was for Levi to be chastised at the time, for his own good, than to be left to perish, in consequence of present impunity in sin. And it is not to be deemed strange, that, when the land was distributed, and cities were given to the Levites, far apart from each other, this reason was suppressed, (202) and one entirely different was adduced; namely, that the Lord was their inheritance. For this, as I have lately said, is one of the miracles of God, to brine light out of darkness. Had Levi been sentenced to distant exile, he would have been most worthy of the punishment: but now, God in a measure spares him, by assigning him a wandering life in his paternal inheritance. Afterwards, the mark of infamy being removed, God sends his posterity into different parts, under the title of a distinguished embassy. In Simon there remained a certain, though obscure trace of the curse: because a distinct territory did not fall to his sons by lot; but they were mixed with the tribe of Judah, as is stated in Jos 19:1. Afterwards they went to Mount Seir, having expelled the Amalekites and taken possession of their land, as it is written, (1Ch 4:40.) Here, also, we perceive the manly fortitude of holy Jacob’s breast, who, though a decrepit old man and an exile, lying on his private and lowly couch, nevertheless assigns provinces to his sons, as from the lofty throne of a great king. He also does this in his own right, knowing that the covenant of God was deposited with him, by which he had been called the heir and lord of the land: and at the same time he claims for himself authority as sustaining the character of a prophet of God. For it greatly concerns us, when the word of God sounds in our ears, to apprehend by faith the thing proclaimed, as if his ministers had been commanded to carry into effect what they pronounce. Therefore it was said to Jeremiah,
“
See I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to build, and to plant.” (Jer 1:10.)
And the prophets are generally commanded to set their faces against the countries which they threaten, as if they were furnished with a large army to make the attack.
(202) As being no longer applicable to the case, because it was purely personal and belonged to Levi, only as an individual, and not to his descendents. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) Cursed . . . Jacob condemns Simeon and Levi not because they were angry, but because they vented their anger in a perfidious and violent manner. The next sentence literally is, And their rage, for it was hard. The indignation at Josephs dreams, told them by him innocently, led them to an act harsh and in human (see Gen. 42:21).
I will divide them . . . This prediction was equally fulfilled in the fact that neither of the tribes of Simeon and Levi possessed any political importance in Israel. The brothers had banded together to oppress their kindred; their descendants were powerless. But in every other respect the fulfilment was utterly diverse. In the wilderness the Simeonites dwindled from 59,300 to 22,200 men (Num. 1:23; Num. 26:14); and after the conquest of Canaan, were so feeble as to have only fifteen towns assigned them, scattered about in the territory of Judah. And there they melted away, being either absorbed into the tribe among whom they dwelt, crwithdrawing to wander as nomads in the wilderness of Paran. In Levis case the curse was changed into a blessing by the faithfulness of the tribe upon a very trying occasion (Exo. 32:26-28); and we learn from it the great lesson that the Divine rewards and punishments, even when specified in prophecy, are nevertheless conditional upon human conduct. Of this diversity of fulfilment there is not the slightest indication in Jacobs blessing, while in that of Moses the lot of Levi is described in terms of the highest praise, and that of Simeon is passed over in inglorious silence.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. I will divide scatter He speaks as one conscious of divine authority . Their guilty uniting in conspiracy and cruelty is to be punished by dividing and scattering them in Israel . In the census of Numbers xxvi, the Simeonites number only 22,200 less than any other tribe; in Moses’s blessing (Deuteronomy 33,) they are not mentioned at all; and in the allotment of Canaan their inheritance consisted of scattered cities within the territory previously assigned to Judah . Jos 19:1-9.
The Jews have a tradition that the Simeonites became largely the scribes and teachers among the other tribes, and so were scattered in Israel. In 1Ch 4:27, it is said they did not increase like the children of Judah, and in Gen 49:39-43, of the same chapter, it appears that they were scattered beyond the limits of Judah southward . The Levites, as is well-known, obtained no separate territory as a tribe, but were scattered about in various cities of the other tribes. See Joshua 21. But this curse of the patriarch did not hinder these tribes from sharing in the blessings of the covenant. Though divided and scattered, they were made a means of blessing to the whole house of Israel. Compare Moses’s words on Levi, Deu 33:8-11, where their character as priests and teachers is made prominent .
The words used of Simeon and Levi in Jacob’s prophecy have been a great trouble to the critics who would explain it as the production of a later time. So far from being an accurate detail of facts, some writers have pronounced it inconsistent with the history of those tribes, for, according to Jos 19:1-9, Simeon did have a definite tribe-territory allotted him, and to the Levites were assigned several of the most important cities in the land, with their suburbs, and they were made the priests and ministers of the sanctuary instead of the firstborn. These facts are hard to reconcile with the theory that the song was written after the conquest of Canaan; but, in the mouth of Jacob, the language may be naturally explained.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 49:7. Cursed The excessive anger and resentment here mentioned may be justly said to have produced cursed effects, and, in consequence, the curse which immediately follows. Job pours this execration not upon their persons, far less upon their posterity, but upon their boisterous passion; as much as to say, let the implacable desire of revenge, which they cherished in so settled and inflexible a manner, and the cruel and bloody issue of that revenge, for ever appear execrable in the eyes of all the world.
I will divide them in Jacob Jacob, full of the Holy Spirit, speaks here as an oracle of GOD, attributing to himself what belonged to the Supreme Disposer of all things, and what did not come to pass till some generations after. By Jacob and Israel, he here means the land of Canaan and the other countries which were to be divided among his sons. In this division the Simeonites had only some towns and villages given them in the worst part of Judah’s lot, Jos 19:1; Jos 19:51. which not finding large enough for them, they removed at different times, and formed colonies in different parts, which they conquered from the Idumeans and Amalekites. See 1Ch 4:39; 1Ch 4:43. The Levites had their forty-eight cities dispersed among the twelve tribes in proportion to their extent, Joshua 21. These two tribes, therefore, were not only separated from one another, but each from itself, in a great measure, according to Jacob’s prediction. Bishop Newton observes from Fagius, that it hath been a constant tradition among the Jews, (which is also confirmed by the Jerusalem Targum,) that the tribe of Simeon were so straitened in their situation and circumstances, that great numbers were necessitated to seek a subsistence among the other tribes, by teaching and instructing their children. As maledictions of this kind are only temporary and conditional, this was, in future time, taken off the tribe of Levi for their zeal against idolaters, their dispersion being turned into a blessing.
We subjoin a paraphrase of these verses: “Simeon or Levi might have succeeded to the right of primogeniture, of which their brother’s incest has justly deprived him, had they not proved such instruments of treacherous cruelty. May my soul be for ever preserved from such bloody counsels, and my honour unstained by such horrid guilt! for the fierceness of their anger hurried them to commit murder, and the impetuousness of their fury made them break through all obstacles which opposed them. Cursed be their anger, for it was violent, and their revenge, for it was cruel. This savage and inhuman society, which they contracted for such vile purposes, obliges me to divide their tribes, and, by the spirit of prophecy, to foretel that they shall be disunited, and scattered in Israel.”
REFLECTIONS.Simeon and Levi have still a severer judgment pronounced on them than Reuben. They were men of a bloody disposition, utterly unlike their peaceable father; and the murder of the Shechemites, though a prosperous wickedness, meets now its recompence: since they will not be restrained by their father’s advice, they shall lie under his curse. With abhorrence of their deeds, he professes his innocence, and brands their cruel wrath with deepest detestation: though preserved by Providence from being scattered by the enraged Canaanites, yet God will visit them, and scatter them among the tribes. Note; (1.) The best fathers frequently cannot restrain their children from vile deeds. (2.) The greater dissimilarity of children from their parents is often observable; the meekest man has often a most passionate child. (3.) Though wickedness seems to succeed for a time, we may be assured the curse is coming. (4.) We must disdain all fellowship with wicked men and their deeds.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 49:7 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.
Ver. 7. Cursed be their anger. ] Of the mischief of rash anger, and means to repress it. See Trapp on “ Gen 34:7 “ See my “Commonplace of Anger.”
I will divide them in Jacob.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
divide. Fulfilled, Jos 19:1. 1Ch 4:39-43. Lev 25:32-34. Levi’s turned to blessing later, Exo 32:26-29. Deu 10:8, Deu 10:9.
Jacob. First occurance as used of the whole nation.
Israel. See note on Gen 34:7. Compare Gen 47:27.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Cursed: 2Sa 13:15, 2Sa 13:22-28, Pro 26:24, Pro 26:25, Pro 27:3
I will divide: Jos 19:1-9, Jos 21:1-45, 1Ch 4:24-31, 1Ch 4:39, 1Ch 4:40, 1Ch 6:65
Reciprocal: Gen 9:25 – Cursed Gen 11:8 – Lord Gen 31:36 – was wroth Gen 34:25 – Simeon Gen 34:31 – General Num 35:8 – possession Jos 21:3 – unto the Levites Jos 21:41 – within Neh 11:36 – divisions Lam 4:16 – hath Mat 2:16 – and slew Mat 14:11 – and given 2Ti 3:3 – fierce
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 49:7. Cursed be their anger Not their persons. We ought always, in the expressions of our zeal, carefully to distinguish between the sinner and the sin, so as not to love or bless the sin for the sake of the person, nor to hate or curse the person for the sake of the sin. I will divide them The Levites were scattered throughout all the tribes, and Simeons lot lay not together, and was so strait that many of that tribe were forced to disperse themselves in quest of settlements and subsistence. This curse was afterward turned into a blessing to the Levites; but the Simeonites, for Zimris sin, Numbers 25., had it bound on.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
49:7 Cursed [be] their anger, for [it was] fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will {f} divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
(f) For Levi had no part, and Simeon was under Judah, Jos 19:1 till God gave them the place of the Amalekites, 1Ch 4:43.