Genesis 49:7

7 Cursed be their anger, for it has been fierce; their fury, for it has been cruel. I will divide them in Ya'akov and scatter them in Isra'el.

Genesis 49:7 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 49:7

Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce
It was sinful anger in the nature of it, and so criminal and detestable; it was strong, fierce, and furious in its operation and effects, and so justly cursed; not their persons, but their passions: and their wrath, for it was cruel;
it issued in the cruel and barbarous slaughter of the inhabitants of Shechem; the same thing as before in other words repeated, to express his great abhorrence of their wrath and rage. Aben Ezra thinks that the words may be considered either as a prophecy or a prayer, that their anger might cease: what follows is certainly a prophecy, I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel;
which he is said to do, because he foretold it would be done; as Jeremiah is said to root out and pull down kingdoms, because he prophesied thereof, ( Jeremiah 1:10 ) and this was fulfilled in the tribes of Simeon and Levi; as for the tribe of Simeon, that had not a distinct part by itself in the land of Canaan, but had their inheritance out of the portion, and within the inheritance of the tribe of Judah, ( Joshua 19:1-9 ) and their cities did not join to one another, as Aben Ezra observes, but lay scattered up and down in the tribe of Judah; and when they were increased and straitened for room, many of them went without the land, to the entrance of Gedor, where they of Ham, or the Egyptians, had dwelt, and others to Mount Seir in Edom, ( 1 Chronicles 4:39 1 Chronicles 4:42 ) and it is a notion which prevails with the Jews, and which Jarchi takes notice of, that a great many of this tribe were scribes and teachers of the law, and even teachers of children, and by which they lived among the several tribes; and so the Jerusalem Targum,

``I will divide the tribe of Simeon, that they may be scribes and teachers of the law in the congregation of Jacob.''
And as for the tribe of Levi, it is well known that they had no inheritance in the land of Canaan, but had forty eight cities assigned them in the several tribes here and there; and thus Jacob's prophecy had an exact accomplishment.

Genesis 49:7 In-Context

5 "Shim'on and Levi are brothers, related by weapons of violence.
6 Let me not enter their council, let my honor not be connected with their people; for in their anger they killed men, and at their whim they maimed cattle.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it has been fierce; their fury, for it has been cruel. I will divide them in Ya'akov and scatter them in Isra'el.
8 "Y'hudah, your brothers will acknowledge you, your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your father's sons will bow down before you.
9 Y'hudah is a lion's cub; my son, you stand over the prey. He crouches down and stretches like a lion; like a lioness, who dares to provoke him?
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.