4. The word '^I^D stands alone without any addi- tion or explanation, and in tliis position it serves as a monitor: a. When one word differs from a similar one, either by its prefix or through another letter, and in this instance it calls the attention to the difference. Thus in Lev. xxv, 25 we read ~"^ns ~'l?0'i"''3, "if tliy brother be waxen poor;" but in ver. 35 we read -jinx -;lT3i— iDl, "and if thy brother," etc. To the latter passage the Masorah adds "'CO, to call attention to the ''Z in ver. 25, and '^31 in ver. 35. b. When the difference is caused by another word. Thus in Numb. iv, 6, 14, we read 1^13 ITIDI, "and shall put in the staves thereof;" but in ver. 8, 11 we read TX ^^'Z'0^ 1^13, "and shall put," etc. Here, in this instance, the Masorah places "I'C'iD to the first form. Comp. also Lev. xix, 5 and xxii, 29; Psa. Ivi, 5, 12. c. When a difference consists in the accents. Thus in Numb, iv, 30 we read JlS'J D^'O'^n-p 11^", "even until fifty years;" but in ver. 35 we read n"1 n3';3 Qi;r'2n~"p. in this instance the attention is called to the difference of the accents, viz. the first ^S^ has the Tebir. , the second the Tiphcha, . These few examples will show the importance of the meaning of the ■(■2"'0 in its different stages. See Buxtorf, Tiberius, sen Massoreticus Commentarius, p. 259 sq. ; Frensdorff, Mussora Magna, introd. p. 9. (B. P.)
Sim'eon {Ucb. S/iimon', "1"^C", a hearing,!, c. by .Jehovah ; Sept. and New Test. l.vfi(Lor, and so Jose- phus, Ant. i, 19, 7), the name of one of the beads of the Hebrew tribes, and of several other Jews named from him. (In our account of the former we largely follow Smith's IJietiomtry of the Bible.) See also Simon.
1. The second of .Tacol)'s sons by LealL B.C. 1918. His birth is recorded in Gen. xxix, 33, and, in the ex- planation tliere given of the name it is derived from the root .>7/rtma', "to hear" — "-Jehovali hatli heard that I was hated' . . . and she called his name Sliimeon." This metaphor is not carried on (as in the case of some of the other names) in Jacob's blessing; and in that of Moses all mention of Simeon is omitted. FUrst {JJebr, Handwh. s. v.) inclines to the interpretation " famous" {ruhmreicher). Redslob (Alttesf. Xamen, p. 93), on the other hand, adopting the Arabic root shama, considers
SIMEON
748
SLMEON
the name to mean "sons of bondage," or "bondmen." JjLit tlie above text gives the natural etymology.
The lirst group of Jacob's children consists, besides Simeon, of the three other sons of Leah — IJeuben, Levi, and Judah. With each of these Simeon is mentioned in some connection. " As Reuben and Simeon are mine," says Jacob, " so shall Joseph's sons Kphraim and Manas- seh be mine" ((Jen. xlviii, 5). With Levi, Simeon was associated in the massacre of the Shechemites (xxxiv, '25). a deed which drew on them the remonstrance of their father (vcr. .-50), and evidently also his dying curse (xlix, 5-7). With .ludah the connection was drawn still closer. He and Simeon not only "went up" to- gether, side by side, in the forefront of the nation, to the conquest of the south of the Holy Land (Judg. i, 3, 17), but their allotments lay together in a more special manner than those of the other tribes, something in the .■^ame manner as Benjamin and Ephraim. Besides the massacre of Shechem — a deed not to be judged of by the standards of a more civilized and less violent age, and, when fairly estimated, nut wlniUy discreditable to its perpetrators — the onlj' personal incident related of Simeon is the fact of his being selected by Joseph, without any reason given or implied, as the hostage for tlie appearance of Benjamin (Gen. xlii, 19, 24, 30 ; xliii, 23).
These slight traits are characteristically amplified in the Jewish traditions. In the Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan it is Simeon and Levi who are the enemies of the lad Joseph. It is they who counsel his being killed, and Simeon binds him before he is lowered into the well at Dothan. (See further details in Fabricius, Cod. Pseiidep. p. 535.) Hence Joseph's selection of him as the hos- tage, his biiuling and incarceration. In the Midrash the strength of Simeon is so prodigious that the Egyp- tians are unal)le to cope with him, and his binding is only accomplished at length by the intervention of IMa- nasseh, who acts as the house steward and interpreter of Joseph. His powers are so great that at the mere roar of liis voice seventy valiant Egyptians fall at his feet and break their teeth (Weil, lUbl. Leg. p. 88). In the "Testament of Simeon" his fierceness and implaca- bility arc put prominently forward, and he dies warning his children against the indulgence of such passions (Fabricius, Cod. Pseiidep. p. 533-543).
Tuiuii OF SiMEOx. — The six sons of Simeon and the chief families of the tribe are mentioned in the lists of Gen. xlvi. 10 (in which one of them, bearing the name of Shaul [Saul J, is specified as " the son of the Canaan- itess"). Numb, xxvi, 12-14, and 1 Chron. iv, 24-43. In tlie last passage (ver. 27) it is mentioned that the fam- ily of one of the heads of the tribe " had not many children, neither did they multiply like to the children of Judah." This apjiears to have been the case not only with one family, but with the whole tribe. At the cen- sus at Sinai Simeon numbered 51»,300 fighting -men (Xuml). i, 23). It was then the most ninncrous but two, Judah and Dan alone exceeding it; but when the sec- ond census was taken, at Shittim, the nmnbcrs had fallen to 22,200, and it was the weakest of all the tribes. Tliis was no doubt partly due to the recent mortality fdllowing the idolatry of I'eor, in which the tribe of Simeon appears to have taken a prominent share, but there must have been other causes which have escaped mention.