And they abode at Beer-sheba, and Moladah, and Hazar-Shual,
Chapter 4 turns from Judah to Simeon. The first thing recorded about that tribe is not a battle or a king but a list of towns. Two questions sit behind that plain list. Why did Simeon settle inside another tribe's land? And why does Scripture keep the names at all?
In Chronicles Simeon comes straight after Judah, ahead of Reuben and Levi. One writer finds the reason in where Simeon lived, and in a word spoken over the tribe long before in Genesis:
Why is this tribe so closely linked with Judah, coming before Reuben and Levi who are both prominent after Judah for different reasons — Reuben lost the birthright, Levi gained the temple service? The reason is found in Joshua 19:1: Simeon's inheritance lay inside the inheritance of the children of Judah. In Genesis 49:6-7 both Levi and Simeon were to be scattered in Israel. Levi truly was scattered, but with what honour and blessing! He was appointed to keep up the worship of the LORD... Simeon was small in Israel.
Another writer gives a plain reason for the arrangement, and finds meaning in the two tribes' names:
Judah's inheritance was so large that Simeon received his possession inside Judah's borders. Simeon means "listening," and the one who makes a habit of listening to God will surely praise Him. So he has title to an inheritance inside Judah, whose name means "praise."
The list gives towns, not boundary lines. One commentator reads Simeon's whole position as the lasting mark of the judgment spoken in Genesis, and sets it beside Levi's very different outcome:
Simeon and Levi sinned, and as a result these two brothers were divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel (Genesis 49:7). But they differed from each other. In grace the Lord used Levi's dispersion to give him priestly duties suited to his position, while it was otherwise for Simeon who went on bearing the mark of God's judgment... Simeon was small in number, partly surrounded by Judah's territory, open to enemy attacks on the south, and without definite borders.
Yet the same writer does not leave the tribe there. Later in the chapter Simeon's men push out and take new ground. Their weakness, he says, did not fix how much they could hold:
How much they owned did not depend on their numbers or on their power. Like Jabez, they carried the results of the curse spoken over them. But their deep poverty, which they could not deny, drove them to conquer what God placed within their reach.
Beersheba heads the list. The name carries earlier history: an agreement sealed by an oath, a well, and a fixed point on Israel's map:
The name means well of the oath. It was given to the place where Abraham and Abimelech made a covenant not to trouble each other, and sealed it with an oath. Later it became the home of Abraham and of Isaac, who also dug a well there... It became part of Simeon's portion (Joshua 19:1-2). After Israel settled the land, Scripture keeps pointing to it as the most southern part of the land they held, and to Dan as the most northern. So "from Dan to Beersheba" was the common way of speaking of the whole country, even in Solomon's day.
One writer works through the town names as a series with spiritual meaning. He takes Moladah at its plain sense. He links it to what must come first in anyone who is to enjoy God:
Moladah means "birth." We are born of the Spirit, born of the Word. This is the first thing needed for communion: a nature able to grasp and enjoy the things of God.
The same writer draws a lesson from the missing borders, and from what the towns supply:
Simeon really has no territory at all, so Scripture draws no boundary lines for him and never speaks of any. In fact communion, so to speak, has no territory of its own — no boundary lines. The cities speak, not of what communion has for its own special enjoyment, but of what God has provided for it so that it may be kept up. Hazar-shual, for instance — the restraint of the flesh — is needed for communion to exist.
- Scattered — Genesis foretold that Simeon would be divided and scattered in Israel. So this tribe has towns, not a territory of its own.
- Housed — Judah's inheritance was large, and Simeon's towns lay inside it.
- Named — Beersheba, the well of the oath, links Simeon's home to Abraham and Isaac. It also marked the southern edge of the land.
- Enlarged — men who could not deny their poverty took what God put within reach. What they gained did not depend on numbers or power.
- Recorded — a small tribe under judgment still has its towns written down. What God provides to keep His people going is worth preserving.
and at Bilhah, and at Ezem, and at Tolad,
This verse sits in a long list of Simeon's towns and names three of them. Yet two details matter: the list comes straight after Judah's, and these towns stand inside another tribe's land.
One writer asks why Simeon comes so close to Judah, ahead of Reuben and Levi. He finds the answer in where Simeon lived and in an old prophecy:
Why is this tribe in such close touch with Judah? Why does it come before Reuben and Levi, who for different reasons are both prominent after Judah — Reuben because he lost the birthright, Levi because he gained the temple service? Joshua 19:1 gives the reason: "their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah." Turn to Genesis 49:6-7, and we see that both Levi and Simeon were to be scattered in Israel. Levi was indeed scattered, but with what honour and blessing! He was appointed to keep up the worship of the LORD, with no care or worry except what belonged to the worship of God.
These names are towns, not sons. Writers note that Chronicles mixes different kinds of lists, and counts this passage among them:
Sometimes the genealogies of Chronicles contain names of very ancient origin, which we do not find anywhere else in the Old Testament. Many names are not those of people, but of clans or families. Others are genealogies we might call geographic. Because no other source material was available, they include the names of tribes, of districts, of cities. … We find it again in 1 Chronicles 4:28-33.
The first name in the verse turns up elsewhere in Scripture under two other spellings:
Baalah. A town in the south of Judah (Joshua 15:29). It seems to have been given to Simeon. It is called Balah in Joshua 19:3, and Bilhah in 1 Chronicles 4:29.
Simeon received no block of land of his own. His towns lay scattered through ground already given to Judah, and that arrangement did two opposite things at once:
The second lot comes out for Simeon. This fits the tribe's character exactly: its weakness lay in the associations it formed so easily, and now God gives it associations after His own mind. At the same time Jacob's prophecy about them comes true: "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." These two seemingly opposite things happen together, because their inheritance is given to them as cities scattered, more or less, inside the territory already given to Judah — cities they cannot occupy, because their portion is too large for them. How little we are able to enjoy all the blessing God has made our own!
One writer takes the meaning of each town name in turn. The older form of Bilhah points to the cross:
Balah means "withered, old." It stands under the number that speaks of both the cross and salvation, and so it reminds us that "our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin." (Romans 6:6.)
Tolad, called Eltolad in Joshua, points the other way — not to what is finished, but to who begins something new:
Eltolad means "God is begetter." This gives God's own claim over us as His children, and no claim is more absolute or more dear than this. God is here called El, "the Mighty," able to make good His claim in spite of every obstacle.
The middle name of the verse is read the same way:
Ezem, or Azem, is "strength" — the ability to enter freely into the portion God has made our own, and to enjoy it with God.
Weakness is not the end of Simeon's story. One writer sees a small, hemmed-in tribe that still pushed outward:
Simeon was small in number, partly surrounded by Judah's territory, open to enemy attacks on the south, and without clear borders. But we find here the truth already shown: when the faith of the whole people has failed, the faith of a few still moves them to "enlarge their borders," just as the faith of Caleb once did on his own. … The size of their possessions depended neither on their numbers nor on their power. Like Jabez, they bore the results of the curse spoken against them. Yet their extreme poverty, which they could not deny, drove them to conquer what God placed within their reach.
- Scattered — Simeon's towns lie inside Judah's territory. That is how Jacob's word came true: this tribe would be divided and scattered in Israel.
- Named — the scattering did not erase them. God still records their towns one by one, even when one place is spelled Baalah, Balah and Bilhah in different books.
- Read — the three names trace a path: the old self withered and crucified, strength to enter the portion given, and God Himself who begets His children.
- Limited — Simeon could not occupy all that he was given. It pictures how little we enjoy of what God has already made ours.
- Enlarged — when the nation's faith failed, a few still pressed out and gained ground. What they held rested neither on their numbers nor on their power.
and at Bethuel, and at Hormah, and at Ziklag,
These three names come from a list of towns held by Simeon in the far south of the land. Why did Simeon's towns sit inside another tribe's territory, and what can a short list of small villages teach?
Two of these places appear under slightly different spellings elsewhere in Scripture, and the dictionaries tie them together. Bethuel is one of them:
Town in Simeon. Joshua 19:4; 1 Chr. 4:30. See BETHEL, No. 2.
Simeon never had a block of country of its own. Its towns came out of land Judah could not use, and that shaped where they sat and how good they were:
We learn from Joshua 19:9 that "the portion of the people of Judah was too large for them." But the inheritance of the children of Simeon was not the best, for it was taken from what Judah could not keep. So they received their portion out of what was surplus to another, at the southern limit of the land of Israel, on the border that looked towards the desert.
Jacob had said that Simeon and Levi would both be scattered. One writer shows how differently that word worked out for the two brothers:
Truly Levi was scattered, but how honourably and blessedly! — appointed to maintain the worship of Jehovah, with no care or anxiety except what belonged to the worship of God. Simeon was small in Israel. "Nor did all their clan multiply like the men of Judah." Despite this, those mentioned by name were princes, and the house of their fathers prospered (verse 38). … Levi's scattering was his exaltation. Simeon, on the other hand, dwindles to little more than a third of his earlier number.
One writer sees two opposite things done at once here, and finds in Simeon's shortfall a mirror of our own:
God has now, it appears, given them associations after His own mind, and so Jacob's prophecy about them is fulfilled: "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." These two seemingly opposite things are accomplished by their receiving their inheritance as cities scattered, more or less, within the territory already given to Judah. They are unable to occupy those cities, because their portion is too large for them. How little we are able to enjoy all the blessing God has made our own!
Of the three names here, Ziklag has the longest story. It was David's town while Saul still reigned, and the men who joined him there stand for loyalty to a rejected king:
Ziklag was a city in the south of Judah, given to David by Achish, one of the Philistine kings. The Amalekites burned it down and carried off the people while David was away, but the captives and the goods taken were recovered. Later it returned to the tribe of Judah. A list is given of the warriors who came to David at Ziklag while Saul was still alive, and therefore while David was rejected by the nation. 1 Chr. 12:1-22. Amasai, chief of the captains, said, "We are yours, O David, and with you, O son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers! For your God helps you." Cheering words to one in such a position! They seem to be a picture of those who follow the Lord Jesus now while He is still rejected by the world at large.
The tribe's weakness is not hidden in this chapter, and neither is what a handful of them went on to do with it:
Simeon was small in number, partly surrounded by Judah's territory, open to enemy attacks on the south, and without definite borders. But we find here the truth already presented, that when collective faith has failed, the faith of a few — as earlier the individual faith of a Caleb — moves them to "enlarge their borders." … The extent of their possessions depended neither on their numbers nor on their power. Like Jabez, they bore the consequences of the curse pronounced on them, but their extreme poverty, which they could not deny, drove them to conquer what God placed within their reach.
- Sentence. Jacob said Simeon would be scattered. This list shows it: no country of his own, only towns inside another tribe.
- Leftovers. The ground was Judah's surplus — the southern edge, facing the desert, what Judah could not keep.
- Shortfall. Even that was more than Simeon could occupy, a picture of how little of God's blessing we take up.
- Ziklag. One of these towns sheltered a rejected king — a picture of standing with Christ while the world refuses Him.
- Enlargement. Weakness did not end the story. The faith of a few pushed out the borders, and their holdings rested on neither numbers nor power.
and at Beth-marcaboth, and Hazar-susim, and at Beth-biri, and at Shaaraim. These were their cities until the reign of David.
The verse ends with a date: these towns belonged to Simeon only until David became king. That raises two questions — why did a tribe of Israel lose towns it once held, and why is David's reign the marker?
Simeon never received a solid block of territory. His towns sat inside land already measured out to Judah. One writer reads that arrangement as the fulfilment of Jacob's prophecy about him.
The second lot comes out for Simeon... So Jacob's prophecy about them is fulfilled: "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." These two seemingly opposite things come true at once. Simeon receives his inheritance as cities scattered, more or less, inside the territory already given to Judah — cities Judah cannot occupy, because his portion is too large for him. How little we are able to enjoy all the blessing God has made our own! But in this way He makes Simeon's need supply Judah's need. So Simeon has no real territory at all, and no boundary lines are drawn or mentioned for him.
Simeon and Levi were scattered together. But their later histories went opposite ways.
As a result of Simeon and Levi's sin, these two brothers were "divided in Jacob, and scattered in Israel" (Genesis 49:7). But they differed in this. In grace the Lord used Levi's scattering to give him priestly duties suited to his position. It was otherwise for Simeon, who went on bearing the mark of God's judgment... Simeon was small in number, partly surrounded by Judah's territory, open to enemy attacks on the south, and without fixed borders.
One of the towns in this list is named for horses. A commentator hears an uncomfortable echo in that name.
Hazar-susah, the "horse-enclosure," cannot help reminding us, in such a setting, of the psalmist's words, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses" (Psalm 20:7). Multiplying either was forbidden to the Israelites for this very reason. Both were used mainly for war; but Israel's reliance was to be the Lord their God.
A reference work adds a practical detail.
The name means "village of horses," and it may have been a supply base for horses from Egypt.
One writer notices that Simeon's gains are dated by two kings.
Notice that they obtained their blessings under the two reigns of grace in Judah: that of David (v. 31), and that of Hezekiah (v. 41), at a time when the state of the people was already bringing on them the coming judgment by the king of Babylon. How all these details keep bringing us back to the great thought of this precious book! Everything according to nature ends in complete failure. It is worth nothing before God. Grace is the only thing we can count on, as we rest on the counsels and election of grace, which are established forever.
The same writer adds what pushed them on: "their extreme poverty, which they could not deny, drove them to conquer what God placed within their reach."
Simeon's story looks like a slow disappearance. It does not end there.
The lot of Simeon was in the far south, with the Philistines on their west and the desert of Paran on their east. When the kingdom divided they belonged to the ten tribes in name only, but they were completely cut off from the other nine... They were, in a sense, lost in the land. Ezekiel prophesies a future day. The twelve tribes will be restored and the land divided again, and the tribe of Simeon has its portion. Ezekiel 48:24-35. They are also mentioned in Revelation 7:7, when a remnant of them will be sealed for blessing.
- Scattered. Jacob's word divided Simeon in Jacob and scattered him in Israel. So his towns sat inside Judah's land.
- Marked. Levi's scattering turned into priestly service. Simeon's stayed a mark of judgment: few sons, an exposed south, no fixed borders.
- Misplaced trust. One town's name means village of horses. Israel was forbidden to multiply horses and chariots, because their reliance was to be the Lord.
- Grace dated. Simeon held his towns under reigns of grace — David's here, Hezekiah's later. Everything according to nature ends in failure; only grace can be counted on.
- Not forgotten. A tribe almost lost in the land still has a portion in Ezekiel's division, and a remnant sealed in Revelation 7.
And their villages were Etam and Ain, Rimmon and Tochen, and Ashan, five cities;
This verse looks like a bare list: five small towns and their villages, tucked inside land already given to Judah. Yet Simeon's towns sit in another tribe's land because of a word spoken over Simeon generations earlier, and commentators find meaning in the names themselves.
Simeon's list follows straight after Judah's, ahead of the older tribes. One writer asks why, and answers from the original division of the land:
Why is this tribe in such close communication with Judah? It comes before Reuben and Levi, who are both prominent after Judah for different reasons — Reuben losing the birthright, Levi gaining the temple service. Joshua 19:1 gives the reason: "their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the people of Judah." And turning to Genesis 49:6-7, both Levi and Simeon were to be scattered in Israel.
The same sentence fell on both Simeon and Levi: scattering. It worked out in opposite ways:
As a consequence of Simeon and Levi's sin, these two brothers were "divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel" (Gen. 49:7). However, they differed from each other. In grace the Lord used Levi's scattering to give him priestly duties suited to his position. It was otherwise for Simeon, who went on bearing the mark of God's judgment... Simeon was small in number. He was partly enclosed within Judah's territory, open to enemy attacks on the south, and without definite borders.
Scattering and settling among brothers sound like opposites. One writer sees both at once, with one tribe's need supplying the other's:
These two seemingly so opposite things happen together in one way. Simeon receives an inheritance of cities scattered, more or less, within the territory already given to Judah. These are cities they cannot occupy, because their portion is too large for them. Alas, how little are we able to enjoy all the blessing God has made our own! But in this way He makes the need of Simeon supply the need of Judah. He also shows us how communion (which Simeon stands for) depends on worship, and how worship depends on communion, with a difference of its own.
One writer reads the two tribe names as a pair, and the town list as worth searching:
Because Judah's inheritance was so large, Simeon was given a possession within Judah's borders. Simeon means "hearkening," for the one whose habit is to listen to God will certainly praise Him, and so has title to an inheritance within Judah ("praise"). The record mentions no separating borders for Simeon, and God has a definite reason for this, but many cities with their surrounding villages are listed as belonging to Simeon. Certainly all of these also have spiritual significance. It will yield blessing for those who are concerned and enabled to search it out.
Another writer searches a nearby list of towns that shares three of these names — Ain, Rimmon and Ashan:
Two of them, Ether and Ashan, we have had already, plainly referring to our Lord's sanctuary work. Rimmon, the "pomegranate," was on the border of the high priest's garment. Ain, the first, means "eye" as well as "spring"; and the priest's eye was always in use. What we have here, then, is that priestly work of Christ for us. We need it to keep up both communion and worship.
The same writer presses the first name, Ain, into a prayer:
Ain comes in the first place: the "eye" that searches out the truth perfectly. Intercession can then match the need, and grace can be given. This eye may well be welcomed rather than feared. It is the eye of the doctor and the friend, not of the judge or accuser. And to keep up communion, what is more necessary than the cry, "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me" (Ps. 139:23-24)?
Commentators differ on how to count these towns against the parallel lists:
The last two names, "Ain and Rimmon," says Keil, are given as Simeonite towns. Because they are written without a connecting word, they are treated as one name in Joshua 19:7 and 1 Chron. 4:32... But they were also called "En-Rimmon" after the captivity, and Neh. 11:29 gives them as one single place. So they were probably so close together that in time they grew into one.
- Scattered. Simeon's towns lie inside Judah's land because of the word spoken in Genesis 49. This verse is that word carried out on a map.
- Divided. One word, two outcomes. Levi's scattering became priestly service. Simeon's left him small, borderless, and open to attack from the south.
- Supplied. Judah's inheritance was so large that Simeon was given a home inside it. God makes the need of one tribe supply the need of the other.
- Housed. Simeon means listening; Judah means praise. The listener lives inside praise, and no border wall separates them.
- Searched. These names point to the priestly work of Christ. Ain means "eye" — an eye to welcome, not to dread.
and all their villages that were round about these cities, as far as Baal. These were their habitations and their genealogical register.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.