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Simeon Confessed What Jealousy Did to His Body From the Inside

On his deathbed at one hundred and twenty, Simeon told his sons the truth about Joseph and described what envy feels like when it takes hold of a man.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. A Strong Man's Confession
  2. What the Prince of Deceit Found
  3. The Hand That Withered
  4. What He Told His Sons

A Strong Man's Confession

He was Leah's second son, born when his mother was still counting her worth in boys. He grew up strong in a way that required no help from anything outside himself, hard-hearted, his liver immovable, his bowels without compassion. These are his own words, delivered at one hundred and twenty years old in Egypt with his sons gathered at his bedside. He was not describing weakness. He was describing a capacity he had spent his life deploying, and the one time he was most ashamed of was the time he had aimed it at Joseph.

What the Prince of Deceit Found

Jacob loved Rachel's son more than Leah's sons. This fact had been visible in the household for years, written in every gift Jacob gave Joseph that he did not give the others, in every expression on the old man's face when Joseph walked into the room. When Joseph was seventeen and wearing the coat and reporting to his father about his brothers' behavior, the spirit of jealousy entered through the gap that love had opened.

Simeon said it plainly: the prince of deceit found him and sent forth the spirit of envy and blinded his mind, until he regarded Joseph not as a brother but as an enemy to be destroyed. He had wanted Joseph dead. Not just sold, not just removed from the household, not sent away with caravan merchants who would take him somewhere out of sight. Dead. When Judah suggested selling him instead of killing him, Simeon had not agreed out of mercy. He had agreed because the others agreed.

The Hand That Withered

For seven months after the selling of Joseph, Simeon's right hand was partially withered. He could not bring it to his mouth. Jacob saw it and did not know the cause, but Simeon knew. He had reached out to seize his brother and harm him, and the hand that had reached out paid the price.

He recovered. The withering was not permanent. But he carried the memory of what his hand had done and what had happened to it, and when he sat up in Egypt in the last year of his life and kissed his sons and told them what he had never said at full strength, the hand was part of what he confessed. The body had known before the mind admitted it.

What He Told His Sons

He told them this: beware of the spirit of deceit and envy. He told them envy masquerades as a wound in the heart from which a man cannot be comforted, but it is actually a blindness. It makes you see your brother as an enemy. It makes the most natural things of family life, a father's love, a brother's coat, a dream told at the breakfast table, into provocations that require a response. He told them to love one another plainly, without calculating what the other person has that you do not.

Jacob had cursed the anger of Simeon and Levi. What Simeon was confessing was the thing underneath the anger, the thing that anger was made from: the years of watching Joseph be loved and counting every instance and letting each one accumulate until the weight was enough to contemplate murder.

SimeonJosephJealousyEnvyRepentanceConfessionTestament
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From the tradition

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Testament of SimeonTestaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

Simeon, second son of Jacob and Leah, was dying in his hundred and twentieth year. Joseph his brother had already passed. When his sons came to visit, Simeon strengthened himself, sat up, kissed them, and began to speak.

What he confessed was monstrous.

"I was strong exceedingly," he said. "My heart was hard, my liver immovable, my bowels without compassion." In his youth, Simeon had been consumed with jealousy of Joseph, because their father loved Joseph beyond all the others. The prince of deceit sent forth the spirit of envy and blinded Simeon's mind, until he regarded Joseph not as a brother, but as an enemy to be destroyed.

He laid out the events plainly. When Simeon went to Shechem for ointment, and Reuben to Dothan for supplies, Judah sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites (Genesis 37:28). When Reuben heard, he grieved, for he had wished to restore Joseph to their father. But Simeon was furious that Judah had let Joseph go alive. For five months, rage consumed him.

Then God intervened directly. "The Lord restrained me," Simeon said, "and withheld from me the power of my hands. My right hand was half withered for seven days." This was the sign. Simeon understood: because of Joseph, this had befallen him. He repented and wept. He besought the Lord that his hand might be restored and that he might hold himself aloof from all envy and folly.

"Beware of the spirit of deceit and envy," Simeon warned his children. "For envy rules over the whole mind of a man. It suffers him neither to eat nor to drink nor to do any good thing. It ever urges him to destroy the one he envies. And so long as the envied one flourishes, the one who envies fades away." Two years of fasting in the fear of God taught Simeon the cure: if a man flees to the Lord, the evil spirit runs from him, and his mind is lightened.

When the brothers went down to Egypt, Joseph bound Simeon as a spy. Simeon knew he was suffering justly and did not grieve. And Joseph, who had the Spirit of God within him, bore no malice. He loved Simeon as he loved all his brothers. All his days, Joseph never reproached them. He loved them as his own soul, glorified them beyond his own sons, and gave them riches, cattle, and fruits.

"Love each one his brother with a good heart," Simeon pleaded, "and the spirit of envy will withdraw from you. For envy makes savage the soul and destroys the body. It causes anger and war in the mind, stirs up deeds of blood, leads the mind into frenzy. Even in sleep, malicious jealousy gnaws at a man, disturbs his soul with wicked spirits, and wakes him in confusion."

Joseph's beauty of face, Simeon explained, came from the fact that no wickedness dwelt in him. The trouble of the spirit shows itself in the face. A pure heart makes a person radiant.

Looking to the future, Simeon declared that the Mighty One of Israel would glorify Shem, and the Lord God would appear on earth to save humanity. All the spirits of deceit would be trodden underfoot, and men would rule over wicked spirits. He commanded his sons to obey Levi and Judah, for from them would arise the salvation of God: from Levi a High Priest, and from Judah a righteous King.

Simeon slept with his fathers at a hundred and twenty years old. They laid him in a wooden coffin to take his bones to Hebron. They carried them secretly during a war of the Egyptians, for the Egyptians guarded the bones of Joseph in the tombs of their kings. Their sorcerers had prophesied that when Joseph's bones departed, darkness and plague would fall upon all Egypt, so terrible that even with a lamp a man could not recognize his own brother.

Full source
Legends of the Jews 1:395Legends of the Jews

The scene: Jacob, on his deathbed, surrounded by his sons. You’d think it would be a time for peace, reflection, maybe a little bit of forgiveness. But no. Jacob’s got some things to say – and they aren’t exactly words of comfort.

He starts with Reuben (we won't get into all the details here but needless to say, Reuben was in hot water with his father.) Then, he turns his attention to Simon and Levi. Oh, Simon and Levi. These two…where do we even begin?

"Brethren ye were of Dinah, but not of Joseph, whom you sold into slavery," Jacob declares. Ouch. According to Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, Jacob is calling them out for their actions – specifically, the brutal slaughter of the men of Shechem after the incident involving their sister, Dinah.

It doesn’t stop there. Jacob accuses them of using "stolen weapons," saying it wasn't right for them to draw the sword. That, he says, was Esau’s portion, the birthright Esau forfeited. "To him was it said, 'By thy sword shalt thou live.'" (Genesis 27:40)

Then comes the really harsh stuff. "Into the council of the tribe of Simon my soul will not come…and my glory will not be united unto the assembly of Korah, the descendants of Levi." Strong words. He’s disassociating himself, even in death, from their actions. He’s essentially saying, "I want nothing to do with the violence and the rebelliousness you represent."

But why such a strong reaction? Well, Jacob saw their actions as stemming from unchecked anger. "In their anger Simon and Levi slew the prince of Shechem, and in their self-will they sold Joseph the bull into slavery." The selling of Joseph – a betrayal that shaped so much of their family history – is right there alongside the massacre at Shechem.

The consequences, according to Jacob, will be dire. "Accursed was the city of Shechem when they entered to destroy it." And then comes the kicker: "Therefore will I divide and scatter their possession among the possessions of the other tribes." Their strength, their unity, will be broken.

The tribes of Simon and Levi, Jacob prophesies, will be scattered and dependent on others. "The descendants of Simon will many of them be poor men, who will wander from tribe to tribe and beg for bread, and also Levi's tribe will gather its tithes and gifts from all the others."

And interestingly, history bears this out, at least in part. The tribe of Levi, while not exactly "poor," did become the priestly tribe, responsible for the Temple service and supported by the tithes of the other tribes. They were dispersed throughout the land, living in designated cities, but without a specific territory of their own.

So, what are we to make of this fiery deathbed scene? It's a reminder that actions have consequences, not just for ourselves, but for our descendants. It’s also a evidence of the enduring power of family – even when that power is used to wound. And perhaps it’s a warning: unchecked anger, especially when fueled by a sense of righteousness, can lead to devastating results.

It makes you think, doesn't it? About the legacies we're building, the choices we're making, and the stories that will be told about us long after we’re gone.

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