The Tribes and Us: Simeon the Hostage

[Genesis 49 is the record of Jacob’s prophecies about his sons and Deuteronomy 33 is Moses’ blessings to each of the tribes those sons engendered.  This is an exploration of these passages and others about the tribes of Israel and what we can learn from them for us today.]

When famine crippled the land of Canaan and his family was in danger of starvation, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt because there was food there for sale.  He sent the sons of his wife Leah, Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, the sons of his wife’s servant Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali, the sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah, Gad and Asher, and the last sons of Leah, Issachar and Zebulun.  But he did not, could not send Rachel’s son Joseph, believing he was dead at the hands of a fierce animal, not knowing that he was a slave in Egypt who had risen to the rank of second to Pharaoh.  And he did not send Benjamin, the last son of his wife Rachel, of whom he could not stand to be bereaved.

But in Egypt, when Joseph, who was in charge of selling the grain, realized his brothers were in front of him purchasing food, he conspired within himself to test them to see if they had changed from that time they jealously sold him into slavery.  He accused them of being spies and would not believe them unless they brought their youngest brother, Benjamin, down with them to prove their veracity.  He confined them three days then released them all but Simeon, to go and bring back Benjamin.  Keeping Simeon was the guarantee they would return if they were who they said they were and not spies.  He bound Simeon in front of them and sent them off.

What was that like for Simeon?  Can you imagine being bound in a foreign land and watching your family leave you alone?  This, in essence was what Simeon and his brothers had done to Joseph, selling him into the hands of the Midianites and sending him to Egypt.  The brothers see the parallel and say to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen” (Genesis 42:21).  Now Simeon was experiencing in part what his brother Joseph had experienced at his hand.

I doubt that Joseph mistreated Simeon while he was in custody, except by not telling him it was all a ruse he kept Simeon in fear and anxiety.  But Simeon’s stay was a lengthy one.  His brothers returned to their father Jacob and explained the situation but he would not send Benjamin back down with them to redeem Simeon.  As time passed Simeon surely realized that he was abandoned.  How would that make you feel?  You’re waiting, thinking that release is just around the corner as your family has to travel back and get your brother and then travel to Egypt again with him to secure your emancipation.  You wait, and you wait, and they don’t show.  You know how long it should have taken, and it has taken too long.

Simeon must have struggled with whether his father loved him or not, and with whether his family had given up on him.  Did he have a wife and children back home?  What were they doing to get him back?  This is the struggle of every hostage.  You don’t know if you’ll ever be free again.  Despair is your cellmate.  Joseph, Simeon’s brother, fared well during his hostage experience only because he knew the living God and trusted in His perfect plan for his life.  Did Simeon have that kind of faith?

Simeon’s family wasn’t partying while he was held hostage, but they weren’t doing anything to retrieve him, either.  That couldn’t have been very affirming when he found that out.  Hope is the only thing that keeps the hostage sane and alive.  Being a hostage is sometimes being a hostage emotionally.  A family member cuts you off and will not reconcile and you are emotionally hostage to them.  You can be held hostage economically, seeing no way out of poverty, no hope of a better life, and this has led many to a life of crime.  And you can be held hostage spiritually, never allowed to consider another answer to life than the one your family and community says is right, punished, in fact, if you even question it.

Our only hope in such situations is knowing the living God of Joseph, whose purpose for our lives transcends any human purpose.  Simeon may not have been able to see the purpose Joseph had for keeping him in confinement, let alone see what purpose God had in all this.  You may not be able to see the purpose God has for your hostage experience.  But you don’t have to see that purpose to have hope.  You just have to see Him.