“And Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brethren had not many children, neither did all their family multiply, like to the children of Judah.” (1Ch 4:27 AV)
An interesting statement. Simeon, the second son of Jacob and Leah,
apparently did not reproduce as his brother Judah had done. It is speculated this was the case because of
a curse Jacob put on Simeon and the lack of blessing Moses bestowed upon the
tribes of Israel. Simeon, with his
brother Levi, slaughtered the Hivites because the king’s son, Shechem, slept with their sister, Dinah. Simeon, according to our passage, was given cities
within Judah in which to reside but was not given territory as other tribes
were given. Simeon was also that brother
who was held in prison by his younger brother Joseph while they retrieved Benjamin. In short, because of Simeon’s unchecked wrath,
he was cursed and never did multiple as other tribes. Simeon may have felt justified. Shechem did not offer to marry Dinah. Not as first.
He slept with her while they were both unmarried. However, Dinah was in a place where she was
not supposed to be. She went out to
consort with the Gentile women of the area.
She bares some of the blame. It
is also said that Shechem did not force her.
He defiled her. The former is a
crime punishable by death. The latter is
not. Therefore, Simeon reacted in
unjustified anger and his descendants paid the price.
Actions have consequences. Rash actions have consequences. Even if we feel justified, acting impulsively
can have dire consequences. Here, in a
major city, there are all sorts of bad news stories. One of the most alarming is a fatal shooting
where road rage was the motive. Now and
again, something like this happens.
Recently, I was reading our local news and read of a young 22-year-old
lady who was shot and killed by a younger male driver for just such a thing. The details were not forthcoming, so we can only
surmise what triggered the gunman. What
we do know is for whatever reason, he felt justified to take the life of
another over a traffic incident. His
life was not immediately in danger. He
was not protecting the life of another.
This young man was not executing state-sanctioned punitive law. There was absolutely no justifiable reason
why he took the life of another. Now, he
faces first-degree manslaughter. When he
is tried and found guilty, he will spend the rest of his natural life in
prison. He will have no liberty. No doubt, he will have no family. If he did father any children before this, he
will not be fathering any more children.
His actions affected more than just himself. His actions also affected all that could have
been if he didn’t break the law. In
other words, his rash action dissolved any possible blessings that might have
come his way sometime in the future.
This is the problem with impulsive
acts. They do not consider what is
lost. These acts may consider punitive
consequences. A person preparing to act
rashly may see the results of his choice before he chooses, but what he is
unaware of is that which is lost. There was
nothing that would have prohibited Dinah from marrying Shechem. The law, at that point, did not forbid
it. The seed of the Messiah would not
have been compromised. Other than a
relationship between the Hivites and Israel, there would not have been any
alarming concern. Simeon and Levi did
not act wisely. They acted
passionately. As a result, Simeon and
his descendants never grew into any significant numbers. They were limited in the territory they
inhabited. Simeon, because of their impulsive
nature, was also prone to idol worship.
Where they could not control their passion for justice, they also could
not control it in areas of disobedience.
The point is simple. Acting on
impulse, even if it may seem like the right thing to do, may limit future
blessings.
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