SIMEON, in the Old Testament, the name of a tribe of Israel, named after the second son of Jacob by Leah (Gen. xxix. 33). According to Gen. xxxiv., the brothers Simeon and Levi massacred the males of Shechem to avenge the violation of their sister Dinah ("judgment") by Shechem the son of Hamor. Jacob dis avowed the act, and on his deathbed solemnly cursed their ferocity, condemning the two to be divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel (xlix. 5-7). Subsequently the priestly Levites are found distributed throughout Israel without portion or inheritance (Deut. xviii. 1, Josh. xiii. On the other hand, Simeon is reckoned among the N. tribes in 2 Chron. xv. 9, xxxiv. 6, but is elsewhere assigned a district in S. Palestine, the cities of which are otherwise ascribed to Judah (cf. Josh. xix. 1-9 with xv. 26-32). An interpolation in 1 Chron. iv. 31 states that Judah was their seat in David's time, but there is no support for this in other records (see I Sam. xxvii., xxx.). In fact, Simeon is not mentioned in the "blessing of Moses" (Deut. xxxiii., see S. R. Driver, Deut. p. 397 seq.), or in the stories of the "judges"; and notwithstanding references to it in the chron icler's history of the monarchy, it is not named in the earlier books of Samuel and Kings. But is Gen. xxxiv. to be taken literally?
Shechem is the famous holy city, Hamor a well-known native fam ily, Jacob talks of himself as being "few in number," and the deeds of Simeon and Levi are those of communities, not of individuals. What historical facts are thus represented, and how they are to be brought into line with the early history of Israel, are problems which have defied solution (see J. Skinner, Genesis, p. 425 seq.).
It is conjectured that Dinah represents a clan or group (cf. DAN) which settled in Shechem and was exposed to danger (e.g., oppres sion or absorption) ; the tribes Simeon and Levi intervened on its behalf, the ensuing massacre was avenged by the Canaanites, and the two were broken up. These events are supposed to belong to an early stage in the invasion of Palestine by the Israelites ( isth–I3th century B.C.), perhaps to a preliminary settlement by the "sons" of Leah (Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah), previous to the entrance of the "son" of Rachel, Joseph, the "father" of Ephraim and Manasseh.
In the New Testament, (I) the seer who recognized the infant Jesus as the Redeemer; (2) an alternate form of Simon.