Search the Site

Donate

Simeon


Sim´ee-uhn; Heb., “to hear”

1 The second son of Jacob and Leah (Gen 29:33). Simeon and his brother Levi massacred the men of Shechem to avenge the rape of their sister, Dinah (Gen 34). Simeon was later held hostage in Egypt when Joseph sent the other brothers back to Canaan for Benjamin (Gen 42:24). In Jacob’s blessing, Simeon was rebuked because of his actions at Shechem and was told his descendants would be divided and scattered (Gen 49:5-7). 2The tribe of Simeon was given an allotment within the tribal territory of Judah in the southernmost region of Canaan. Beyond a mention in (Judg 1:3-17), the tribe’s history is shrouded in silence until the time of Hezekiah (1Chr 4:41-43). Reckoned among the ten tribes belonging to the Northern Kingdom (1Kgs 11:30-32; 1Kgs 12:20-23; 2Chr 15:9), it is not mentioned after the exile (586 BCE). 3 An ancestor of Jesus according to Luke’s genealogy (Luke 3:30). 4 A devout man of Jerusalem during the days of Herod who was looking for “the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25-35). He had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would see the Messiah before he died. Simeon recognized the infant Jesus as the Messiah when Jesus’s parents presented him at the Temple. 5 The Hebrew name of Simon Peter (2Pet 1:1; Acts 15:14). 6 A Christian at Antioch with prophetic and teaching gifts who served the church there together with Barnabas and Saul prior to the latter’s first missionary journey (Acts 13:1). His surname, Niger (Lat., “black”), suggests that he was an African.

  • Powell, Mark Allan, ed. HarperCollins Bible Dictionary. Abridged Edition. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2009.