Genesis 49:5-7

“Simeon and Levi are brothers.
Their swords are weapons of violence.
My soul, don’t come into their council.
My glory, don’t be united to their assembly;
for in their anger they killed men.
In their self-will they hamstrung cattle.
Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce;
and their wrath, for it was cruel.
I will divide them in Jacob,
and scatter them in Israel.

Did you know that God loves cattle? He actually mentions them quite often in the Bible. Remember back in Genesis one, our Creator, after making the animals, said that it was good. He really meant it. He loves the animals and He made them with their own kind of personality. One of the horrible things that man’s sin caused was the death and eating of animals. God has allowed us to use them for our survival which shows us that we are more valuable to Him, but that does not mean that He allows cruelty to either the animals or to people. This is a very important topic that we should take very seriously. God will separate Himself from the cruel ones.

So now we learn the horror that God felt concerning the day when Simeon and Levi, in their wrath, destroyed a whole town because a man abused their sister.

Notice that God tells us that we should not give men like this any glory and we should not listen to their counsel. It is good to separate from a cruel person. God doesn’t want to be around them. Some people believe that the God of the Old Testament was cruel. Obviously, it is mankind that is cruel. If God did destroy us, He would only be right to do it because we are so cruel to each other. The Bible tells us that God doesn’t take pleasure in the death of the wicked. This is the real God of the Old Testament, the one who fortunately is also the God of the New Testament.

Because of this act of violence, God would punish them by dividing them. Notice how no detail was overlooked by God. We should never think that we are getting away with evil. God is very patient and will always punish sin. Fortunately, there is a way for sinners to be saved from their punishment by trusting in God’s provision.