“O Lord God of my father Simeon, into whose hand you gave a sword to take vengeance on the strangers who loosened the belt of a virgin to defile her, uncovered her thigh to her shame, and profaned her womb to her reproach; for you said, ‘It shall not be so;’ and they did so.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 2. Gavest him a sword, and so forth The justice of God is here praised, in punishing by the sword of Simeon the crime of the Sichemites: and not the fact of Simeon, which was justly condemned by his father. Genesis 49:5. Though even with regard to this fact, we may distinguish between his zeal against the crime committed by the ravishers of his sister, which zeal may be considered just: and the manner of his punishing that crime, which was irregular and excessive. Challoner.—The former is here commended. Worthington. Menochius.—Yet Simeon was not blameless. God put the sword into his hand as he makes use of tyrants; in which sense Nabuchodonosor is styled his servant. Jeremiah 25:9. Ezekiel 29:18. Genesis 24:2. 25.