Simeon (son of Jacob)

Biblical figure and son of Jacob and Leah

Simeon was the second of the six sons of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite tribe, The Tribe of Simeon, according to the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible. Biblical scholars regard the tribe as having been part of the original Israelite confederation. The tribe is absent from the parts of the Bible. Some scholars think that Simeon was not originally regarded as a distinct tribe. However, many Biblical scholars believe that Simeon isn't regarded as a distinct tribe due to the scandal involving Zimri. The Blessing of Moses before his death had omitted the Tribe of Simeon because Jacob had castigated him Genesis 49:5 7, and because of the terrible affair of Baal peor.

The text of the Torah states that the name of Simeon is in reference that God heard that Leah was unloved by Jacob and preferred her sister Rachel. This implies a derivation from the Hebrew root šāma meaning 'to hear', 'to listen', and the verb ʾōnī meaning 'my suffering'. At other times it is thought to derive from šhām and ʿāvōn, 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. Alternatively, Hitzig, W. R. Smith, Stade, and Kerber compared שִׁמְעוֹן Šīmə‘ōn to Arabic سِمع simˤ 'the offspring of the hyena and the female wolf'; as supports, Smith points to Arabic tribal names Simˤ 'a subdivision of the defenders (the Medinites)' and Samˤān 'a subdivision of Tamim'.

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 and his brother Levi took violent revenge against the inhabitants of Shechem by tricking them into circumcising themselves and then killing them when they are weakened. The account dramatizes the theme of tension between marriage within a group (endogamy) and marriage with outsiders (exogamy). Jacob castigates Simeon and Levi for this as their actions have placed the family in danger of a retaliatory strike by their neighbors. Later, in his final blessing, he condemns Simeon's 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; 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). The Jahwist's account is viewed as a veiled slight against the sanctuary. 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. According to classical rabbinical sources, Joseph chose Simeon to be the hostage because he was concerned that if Simeon was not separated from Levi, then Levi and Simeon might destroy Egypt together, since they had already destroyed Shechem. Another theory was that Joseph singled out Simeon due to his taking a prominent role in Joseph's betrayal. According to the midrashic book of Jasher, Simeon was not 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. The text states that Simeon was eventually subdued by Manasseh, and imprisoned. and according to the book of Genesis he had six sons. Although some classical rabbinical sources argue that the mother of his 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 his 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). Many of the rabbinical sources argue that Simeon died aged 120, roughly three years before the death of his brother Reuben,

A Samaritan tradition recorded in the late 19th century considered Neby Shem'on, a maqam near Kfar Saba, to be the burial place of Simeon.