Unblessed - Devastating Truth & Enduring Promise Hidden in the Genealogy of Moses

Worth Remembering: From the Book "Exiting Egypt"

Julie West

Mar 31, 2025

If Moses needed to be reminded of his family tree, Levi had to be included, but why are Rueben and Simeon represented? Why did these three make the cut? Why were the other tribes left out? What do they have in common? Of course, Moses and Aaron are from the tribe of Levi, but what common link do they share with Rueben and Simeon? What these brothers shared was heartbreak and disappointment. Rueben, Simeon, and Levi are the only tribes denied blessings from their father. As his life waned, Jacob used the words and moments he had left to articulate a prophetic set of blessings and curses over his sons.

Genesis 49:1-7 NIV Then Jacob called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.2 “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.

3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it.

“Simeon and Levi are brothers— their swords are weapons of violence.

6 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.7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.

Speaking prophetically Jacob’s words would not just express his emotions towards his sons. They announced the future of a nation.

Rueben is the embodiment of Matthew 19:30 reminding us sometimes the one who is first truly is last. As if to remind us the second Adam would be greater than the first, it is unlikely any of the patriarchs were firstborns. Culturally, as the eldest, Rueben was entitled to inheritance rights. Typically, his birthright would have been double what his brothers received. Even in childhood, he likely believed he would assume his father’s position as the spiritual and social leader of the clan. The priesthood went to Levi. Kings would rise from Benjamin, Judah, and Ephraim. Recklessness and immorality would force Reuben to pay an exceedingly high price.

Because he slept with his father’s concubine, Genesis 35:22, the mother of his brothers Dan and Naphtali, Reuben forfeited what could have been his. For Abraham’s children, the hope was not limited to receiving houses or chariots. Each longed for and likely expected words of blessing. Living as the fallen first born meant the dying farewell from his father would include the prophetic pro nouncement, “Unstable as water, you shall not excel.” Indeed, no priest, king, or prophet would ever arise from Reuben. He could have been great, but sin and a lack of self-control would make Reuben small.

Simeon and Levi

Initially, the actions of Jacob’s next two sons, Simeon and Levi, appear more sympathetic than those of their older brother, Reuben. Had their actions not contained so much cruelty and deception, many would be tempted to argue the actions were justified or boys meant well.

Jacob and his family had been living among the Hivites when Shechem, a prince of the land, raped Dinah, the sister of Simeon and Levi, Genesis 34. Yielding to his son’s desire and attempting to secure peace, Shechem’s father, Hamor, approached Jacob suggesting Dinah be given to Shechem in marriage arguing uniting the people would have financial and social benefits for them all. Disgusted by the suggestion, Dinah’s brothers, Simeon, and Levi, objected citing the fact the men of the land were uncircumcised, (an indication they did not follow the God of Israel).

To make peace, all the men of city, in which Hamor and his son lived, agreed to be circumcised. While those men still ached unable to defend themselves, the brothers slaughtered every man in the city. Multiplying the sins committed against their sister, Simeon and Levi looted homes, seized livestock, abducted women and children, and murdered.

The action infuriated Jacob. His sons broke covenant and killed innocents. Provoking the inhabitants of the land, the brothers endangered their own clan. Most tragically, the boys’ fervor to avenge their sister caused them to shed the blood of innocent men, who were vulnerable only because they were striving to avoid conflict. Jacob was right. Their actions were premeditated and cruel. Scripture holds no record Jacob did anything in response to the massacre, but neither he nor the Lord forgot. Their willful violence was sure to have lasting consequences.

Divided and Scattered in Israel…

There is good news. Being side by side in the committing of their sin did not mean the siblings’ destinies would be linked together eternally. The words their father had spoken proved to be prophetic for both brothers, but that proclamation did not have to equal doom. In time, Levi would hold a place of honor. Unfortunately, for Simeon, the declaration would prove to be a curse.

A year after the leaving Egypt, Simeon’s offspring consisted of 59,300 heads of households. This included men between the ages of 20 and 60. Four decades later, their numbers would be less than half of what they had been at the outset of the journey. The tribe’s population faded to the point they would not even receive a land of their own. Although Simeon was one of the largest tribes leaving Egypt, their numbers would wither. By the time the Israelites arrived in the Promised Land, they would be the smallest tribe in number, Numbers 1:22-23, Numbers 26:14.

Because the census was included immediately after the sin at Shittim, where the wilderness wanderers engaged in idolatry and gross sexual immorality, Numbers 25:1-15, the reduction in number seems at least partially linked with the more than twenty thousand, who died as a consequence for their sin. As Jacob prophesied, they would be scattered and receive no land of their own. Simeon’s heirs would be absorbed and receive an allotment in Judah.

When saying his final goodbyes and offering blessings to the various tribes, as his life drew to a close, Moses would completely ignore Simeon. No other tribe earned this exclusion. While Moses did not exhibit the freedom Jacob possessed, as a father, to rebuke Simeon, omitting the name spoke volumes. Despite being side by side as they avenged their sister, the tribes bearing the names Simeon and Levi would choose very different paths.

Even as Moses and the people of Israel grieved the idolatry and sexual immorality plaguing Israel in the wilderness, Zimri, a Simeonite chief, brought a Midianite woman to the entrance of the tabernacle. In an act of open defiance, Zimri produced the object of his personal sin and a source of Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness at holy ground, the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. It was Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson, a Levite, who would grab a spear destroying Zimri and Cozbi, his Midianite lover. God utilized the passion and forcefulness of Levites as tens of thousands thousand were struck down that day, because of willful sin.

Previously, Levi’s descendants had demonstrated their loyalty to the Lord and Moses, as others in their nation worshipped the golden calf. When they left Egypt, the firstborns of all Israel were to represent their clans before the LORD, Exodus 13:11-15. The failures at the idol would move that mantle to the tribe of Levi alone, Numbers 3:11-13, 41- 45. When Moses asked, “Who is on Yahweh’s side?”, Exodus 32:26, it was the Levites who gathered around Moses. On that day, Levites would cull 3,000 of their brethren who chose a graven image over the LORD. Despite the tribe’s imperfections, Levi’s loyalty to the God of Israel would see them rewarded with the priesthood and words of blessing from Moses, Deuteronomy 33:8-11.

The very same prophecy of dividing and scattering which became a curse to Simeon, proved to be a blessing for Levi and all of Israel. Much like Simeon, the tribe of Levi did not receive land of their own. Levites were scattered amongst their kinsmen as representatives of God teaching the people His law. Being a Levite, it is not surprising Moses blessed his family, but what was it that caused the tribe of Levi to be distinguished and blessed while Simeon floundered?

Jacob rebuked his sons for their lawlessness in his lifetime. Continuing down that path during the Exodus wanderings, the sins of the Simeonites would continue to grow out of self will and a lack of restraint. In contrast, unlike their namesake, the Levites would not be driven by anger and revenge. The tribe would find guidance and restraint in a righteous zeal for the LORD.

Levites would not divorce themselves from the warrior spirit which marked their namesake. These were not mild-mannered pacifist priests. Their claim to the to the priesthood was birthed in the purge that took place in the shadow of the golden calf. Back in the days when Israel was a military force moving through the land, Jehovah was their commander. When some in the camp aligned themselves with the enemy, foreign gods and pagan peoples, the Levites rose to defend the honor of God and the purity of their nation.

Levites were warriors clothed in power and purity. They did not shy away from battle. They were marked by it. Levites would not turn from bloodshed. They would offer sacrifices at the temple and sanctuary in cities of refuge. This people would guard God’s house and His worship. They had demonstrated the muscle to back His words and will.

Because they moved near to God after suffering for sin, God distinguished Levites from their brothers in Simeon and the rest of the tribes of Israel. Choices made by the tribe transformed what could have been a curse into a blessing. Legendary minister Charles Spurgeon preached, “Happy is that man who, though he begins with a dark shadow resting upon him, so lives as to turn even that shadow into bright sunlight. Levi gained a blessing at the hands of Moses, one of the richest blessings of any of the tribes.”

Jacob left Reuben, Simeon, and Levi as children without a blessing. God did not. The patriarch’s prophetic words provided insight. They did not dictate paths. Blessing was withheld from Levi, by his earthly father, but God allowed Levi’s descendants to bless the world through the families of Moses and Aaron. By including only the unblessed sons in the Exodus 6 genealogy, it was as if the Lord was saying, “I have not forgotten you.” “I have not given up on you.” “It is not hopeless.” “Your fathers may have left you rejected and unblessed, I did not” “A blessing can still be yours.” “You still have a place in my plan.”

Countless understand that wounding, longing to receive any words of blessing from a parent only to be disappointed. Staggering through life maimed by maltreatment or misunderstandings, many abandon hope, convinced others have trapped generations of their families in hopeless cycles of doom and despair. Understand, our faith cannot be undermined by interactions of demons or detractors which transpired before our birth. Our savior’s sacrifice will not be negated by the will or words of anyone else. Others may call you cursed, but then and now the Lord declares you can be blessed. That is Worth Remembering.