GENESIS 34

25 And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males.

Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. (Gen 49:5)

àThis circumstance is taken as a characteristic of their tribes in the last days.

"Instruments of cruelty,"

said Jacob,

"are in their habitations."

And foreseeing the part they would play in relation to the Seed, he exclaimed,

"0 my soul, come not thou unto their secret, unto their assembly (Psalm 2:2 ; Matt. 26:14), mine honour be not thou united."

But why not Jacob?

"For in their anger they slew a man (Matt.26:57, 59), and in their self-will they digged down a wall," that is, overthrew a city (Gen. 34:25-29). "Cursed be their anger for it was fierce: and their wrath, for it was cruel."

The verification of these things will easily be recognized in the history of the tribe of Levi at the era of the crucifixion.

It was the priests who sought and at last accomplished the death of Jesus, to whom Jacob refers; and to mark his sense of their conduct, he said

"I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel."

This was fulfilled in giving Levi no cantonal inheritance in the land, and in including Simeon's portion within the limits of the canton of Judah (Josh. 19:1,9).

From this arrangement, Levi, Simeon, and Judah, became the tribes principally concerned in the transactions of the last days.

Elpis Israel 2.3.