Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SIMEON

(Heb. šimʿôn)

1. The second son of Jacob (Gen. 35:23); the eponymous ancestor of the tribe whose territory was within the southern limits of Judah (Josh. 19:1-9). Simeon and his brother Levi exacted treacherous and violent revenge for the rape of their sister Dinah by a local prince called Shechem (Gen. 34); consequently Jacob’s testament singles out Simeon and Levi for chastisement (49:5-7). Ultimately Simeon lost its distinctiveness as a tribe. During David’s reign the concept of a territory for Simeon was absent altogether, perhaps because of administrative changes (cf. 1 Chr. 4:31). During the reign of Hezekiah Simeonites took pasturelands by force from non-Israelites both to the west and southeast or south of their original territory (1 Chr. 4:34-43).

2. Grandfather of the Hasmonean priest Mattathias and great-grandfather of Judas Maccabeus (1 Macc. 1:1-5).

3. Simon Maccabeus, a son of Matthias and elder brother of Judas Maccabeus (1 Macc. 2:65).

4. A righteous and devout man who encountered Joseph and Mary when they brought the infant Jesus to the temple for presentation. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Simeon recognized the baby to be Israel’s messiah. He offered a prayer to God (“Nunc Dimittis”) and then a prophecy to Mary (Luke 2:25-35).

5. An ancestor of Jesus in the Lukan genealogy (Luke 3:30).

6. One of the prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch (Acts 13:1-3). His Latin nickname Niger suggests that he was of African origin. He was among those who commissioned Barnabas and Saul.

7. The Hebrew equivalent of Gk. Simon, another name for the Apostle Peter (Acts 15:14; 2 Pet. 1:1).

Bibliography. B. Goodnick, “Simeon the Scapegoat,” Jewish Bible Quarterly 20 (1992): 168-73, 181; S. F. Plymale, “The Prayer of Simeon (Luke 2:29-33),” in The Lord’s Prayer and Other Prayer Texts from the Greco-Roman Era, ed. J. H. Charlesworth (Valley Forge, 1994), 28-38.

Edwin C. Hostetter

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SIMEON

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)