The third son of Jacob by his first wife, Leah. When Shechem, the son of Hamor, saw Dinah, Jacob's daughter by Leah, he fell in love with her but unable to control his passion, violated her and then asked for her hand in marriage, Simeon, together with his younger brother Levi, broke covenant and murdered the sons of Hamor while they were healing from their circumcision which was part of the agreement (Gen 34). Their violence earned them Jacob's curse:
Simeon and Levi are brothers—their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.
While this curse turned out to be the assimilation of the tribe of Simeon among Judah, it turned out to be a blessing for the tribe descended from Levi when they were appointed as ministers of Yahweh on behalf of all Israel.
Apart from this incident, almost nothing is known about the person of Levi.
The Levites early distinguished themselves in the history of Israel with the rise of important individuals like Moses and Aaron. Their rally on Moses's side against the idolators in the incident of the golden calf at Sinai earned them the privilege of being set aside as ministers on behalf of every firstborn in the service of the Lord (Exo 32:25-29). Aaron, forgiven for his co-conspiracy in the idolatry, and his descendants were appointed priests and the rest of the clans as ministers to assist them in the service of the tabernacle and, later, the temple.
©ALBERITH