I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter 49. Genesis 49. I'd like to look at verses 5 to 7. We've been considering the words of Jacob. He's been admonishing his sons. We're reading actually the last words that Jacob spoke to his sons, words that were directed by the Spirit of God that would be not only for the admonition of Jacob, but for us too. We need to hear these words. These words are words of comfort. They're words of instruction. And remember, they're not just for Jacob's sons. These are for us. All believers need to hear what Jacob had to say.

And to think of the mercy of Almighty God. Here was a man, Jacob, that had been directed by God's Spirit all these years. And he's learned some things. He's been taught some things. And now the Lord been pleased to pass these things that he's learned, that God's taught him, on to his son and to us.

Now I'm saying these are the last words of Jacob. Look at verse 33 of this chapter 49. Look what it says right here. Verse 33, and when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into bed, into the bed and yielded up the ghost and was gathered unto his people. So Jacob's talking to his boys. I don't know if the boys, maybe they did know that he was very close to dying. I don't know. But can you imagine the blessing of being able to actually talk to your dad. Here, Jacob's their dad. But Jacob, he's a picture not only of their father, but he's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to us, his people, before he went to the cross. You read John 17, that blessed chapter, that chapter of intercession. that the Lord was praying for us. And right after John 17, that we've looked at so many times, I love that chapter. Immediately, Judas showed up and they took him, brought him into the hall and judged him. He soon would be on the cross.

These are the last words of Jacob, saying, we'd all do well to remember. Jacob is speaking to physical sons. He's talking to his sons. but here also is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to us. Now, last time we looked at this chapter, Jacob had spoken to Reuben, his son's, one of his, his first, his first son. He spoke to him with words of encouragement, but also he spoke to him with words of correction. He told him, when you look at verse 49, Chapter 49, verse 3, Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, beginning of my strength. This was his first son. And he's telling him, he said, you're the first one that I have been blessed by God to have. God's given me a son. You're the excellency of my dignity, power. But then he told him, after he told him, he said, You're my son, but he said, this is what you are by nature. You're unstable as water. And again, is it not a blessing that almighty God would give us life, physical life in this world, and teach us something of himself, teach us something of ourselves, and teach us all. We're all unstable as water. When it comes to stability in ourselves, it's just not that way.

But now Jacob is going to go to the next two boys. He's going to talk to two sons, Simeon and Levi. And here's where he started. I'd like to look at verses 5, 6 and 7. And he says, Simeon and Levi are brethren, instruments of cruelty. or in their habitations, O my soul, come not thou into their secret, unto their assembly. Mine honor be not thou united, for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they dig down a wall. 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. Now, these two boys, Simeon and Levi, these boys, these were brothers. Naturally speaking, they were brothers, but the scripture here reveals that they possessed something of the same nature. Not only were they natural brothers, but both of them had this disposition. That's what it said, verse 5. Simeon and Levi are brethren, instruments of cruelty, or in their habitations. Both of them were proven to be wrathful. They had a disposition to being cruel. They were deceitful. And they had a heart of revenge. And we're going to look at that to see just what kind of spirit did these boys have so that we might understand.

Turn with me. Just hold your place right here. Just turn back to Genesis 34. Genesis 34. Now, I'm going to read. It's 31 verses in Genesis 34. And I was just going to read a couple of them. And I thought, no, I want to read chapter 34. I want to know. What was it that these boys did that caused Jacob to tell them, you know, that these boys, these two boys, they were instruments of cruelty or in their habitations? And what did that mean? But let's just see what these boys did.

Look at Genesis 34. The scripture says, and Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. This young lady was probably early teens, that may take 12, 13 years old, 14 maybe, but about that age was this girl. And she'd been under the protection of her father, mother, and this young lady has decided that she's going to go out and kind of see the world, see what's out there. So here it is. His daughter, birth one, Baird Jacob, came out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem, the son of Hamar, the Habite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, lay with her, and defiled her. Actually, he raped her. He just took her, and he defiled this young lady, humbled her, that word means. And his soul clave unto Dinah. the daughter of Jacob. And he loved the damsel and spake kindly. He spoke to her in a way that spoke to her heart. He had some affection for her. He saw this young lady and probably very beautiful and he desired her and took her and he spake kindly to her.

Verse four, and Shechem spake unto his father. The young man that did this spoke to his father, Hamar, saying, get me this damsel to wife. And Jacob heard that he had defiled. Now here's Dinah's daddy, Jacob. He hears about what happened, that she was taken and defiled by this young man. And now his sons were with the cattle in the field, and Jacob held his peace. until they were come. He just didn't say anything. He didn't say anything about it until he got all the boys together. And Hamar, the father of Shechem, went out unto Jacob to commune with him. And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they had heard it. And the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he hath wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter, which thing ought not to be done. And Hamar is the daddy of this young man that defiled his daughter. And Hamar communed with them, saying, the soul of my son Shechub longeth for your daughter. I pray you, give her him to wife, and make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. And you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you dwell, and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. And Shechem said unto her father, Shechem, the boy that defiled her, said unto her father and her brethren, let me find grace in your eyes in what ye shall say unto me I will give. Ask me never so much dowry, and gift, and I will, and you shall say unto me, but give me the damsel to wife."

What he's saying is, look, I really, I really love, you know, which is Mr., well, one of the writers I wrote of him. He said it was just lust, but he, nonetheless, you know, he really cared. He really had some affection for this young lady. And he said, I really want to, I really want to marry her.

Verse 33, and the sons of Jacob answered Shechem, and Hamar his father. Now, let's check on this word right here. Grab hold of this word, because it's going to come back. They dealt with him deceitfully and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister, and they said unto them, we cannot do this thing to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised, for that were a reproach unto us. But in this will we consent unto you if we will be, if ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised. Then will we give our daughters unto you and we will take your daughters to us and we will dwell with you and we will become one people. But if you will not hearken unto us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and we will be gone.

It's just saying, now look, this is a touchy situation right here, but listen, here's what we're going, and they're being, according to scripture, they're deceitful. They said, okay, well, tell you what, Duke, we can't let our sister marry somebody that's not circumcised, because that would be a reproach on us. So here's what we'll do. If all you men will agree, to be circumcised and be, then we'll all be one happy family. We can all live together, we'll trade together, it'll all be good.

And it says in verse 18, their words pleased Hamar, pleased the daddy of this boy that had humbled his young lady. And Shechem, Hamar's son, and the young man deferred not to do the thing because he had delighted Jacob's daughter, and he was more honorable than all the house of his father. And Hamar and Shechem, his son, came unto the gate of the city and communed with the men of their city, saying, These men are peaceable with us. Therefore, let them dwell in the land and trade therein. For the land, behold, it's large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to Take us wives and let us give them our daughters. Only therein will the men consent for to dwell with us and be one people. If every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised, shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? Only let us consent unto them and dwell with them and will dwell with us.

And unto Hamar, unto Shechem his son, hearkened all that went out of the gate of the city, and every male was circumcised, and all that went out of the gate of his city. It came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. They slew Hamar, Shechem, his son, at the edge of the sword, took Dinah out of Shechem's house, went out, and the sons of Jacob came upon the slain and spoiled the city because they had defiled their sister. They took their sheep, and their oxen, their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, and all their wealth, and all the little ones, and their wives took them captive and spoiled even all that was in the house.

And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, you have troubled us to make me to stink. among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and I've been few in number. And I, being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me and slay me, and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.

And they said, should he deal with our sister as us and harlot?

Jacob came up to them, these two boys, under guise. When they found out that Chicum, this boy that humbled their sister, wanted to marry her, they deceitfully told her daddy and the rest of the city, well, we'll go along with it, but here's what we gotta do. We can't let our sister marry a heathen. What we'll do, if you'll be circumcised like us, then we'll go along with it. We'll be one with you and we'll trade with you and you with us. We'll be one big happy family. We're going to have a compromise here. That's what we're going to do.

You know, it appeared to be to the people of the city to be a good deal. I mean, this will probably work out. All we got to do is make amends, you know, and all they want us to do is be circumcised. That's all we got to do. And in that way, You know, they'll be happy. We'll be happy. We'll have business partners. Everything will work out fine. It's going to be good.

Well, the scripture says that that's what they did. They were circumcised. And third day, when the men of the city were sore, they came in. Simeon and Levi came in with all that were with them. And they slew all the people, slew the men, took the women, took the stuff.

And then Jacob found out about it, what had happened. And he was grieved in what his sons had done. And scripture says this is what he told them. Now knowing that, he said in verse 5 back in Genesis 49, Simeon and Levi are brethren. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitation.

Now the margin says, in my margin it says that they were instruments of cruelty. Now, it actually means that in the margin, in my margin of my Bible, it says their swords are weapons of violence, which obviously I can see that. I can certainly understand that being so. They came in there and took their swords and they killed all their men and that was the end result of what they did to their sister. Jacob's daughter.

But when you look up the words, the instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. Looking up those words, it gives a little bit more of an explanation to get us to understand exactly what Jacob was telling them, grieved him. That they went in there and killed those men. Okay, they did that. They did that. But that wasn't the depth of what Jacob was saying to them about what grieved him more than anything else.

Looking up those words, the words here used, it's got a deeper meaning. The words, instruments of cruelty. Now I got this out of Blue Letter Bible for, you know, if you'd like to look at it. In Blue Letter Bible, instruments of cruelty. It is, they were articles Vessels, weapons of violence are injustice. Okay, I can see that part of it. I get that part of it. But then the last part of verse five, are in their habitations. That actually means, that little phrase right there means, it means in their dubious, it means like their evil plotting. What they did was, they did kill those people. They did do that. But what grieved Jacob was how they did it. They lied to those people. They deceived them. I mean, the Israelites, under the inspiration and direction of God's Spirit, they'd come into a city, their enemies, and they'd go to war with them. They did battle, and God gave them victory and victory and victory over their enemies.

But in this situation, what they did, they did kill the people, but the way they did it was they were conniving about it. They pretended that they were gonna be friends with them. Oh, that sounds like a good idea. I think, yeah, I think we can work this out. Yeah, I see what you're saying. Yeah, okay, but now, you know, For us to be able to join with you and be one with you and unity with you, fellowship and brotherhood, you're gonna have to be circumcised. And you know, once you do that, we're good, we're good. That's all we need. And as soon as they did that three days later, they came in.

When Jacob heard what had happened, that's when he said back in Genesis 49, five, Simeon and Levi are instruments of cruelty. or in their habitations. What it is, they're dubious in their plotting. They killed him, but the way they did it, they did it under the guise of friendship. And it grieved Jacob because of that. It grieved him because of the slur that would be put upon the name of the Lord, that it would spread. You know, it kind of reminded me of whenever Back in 2 Samuel. Hold your place right there, 2 Samuel. Turn with me to 2 Samuel. And 2 Samuel 12. 2 Samuel 12. This is about David and Bathsheba, where I'm going with this.

Causing Jacob was concerned because of what it was going to do to the name of the family. The glory of God was at this. You know, they fooled, they lied to those people. Can you imagine how Jacob felt? If bad enough, they killed him. But the way they did it, pat him on the back, pat him on the back, and just, you know, tell him, said, we gonna be your buddy.

2 Samuel, chapter 12. 2 Samuel 12, starting verse seven. after David had gone into Bathsheba. He'd taken her, he'd laid with her, and then he had her husband murdered, told him to come in, you know, you need to go be with your wife, get some rest, I know you've had a tough time after the battle, and he wouldn't go. David put him up in front of the line, you know the story.

Verse 7, chapter 12, and Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. He had told him a story about this man who had two little sheep. You know the story. Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. He said, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul. And I gave thy master's house and thy master's wives to thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel of Judah. If I had been too little, I would have moreover have given thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do this evil in sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword, and the children of Ammon.

Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, behold, I will raise evil against thine own house, out of their own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor. And he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of the sun, for thou didst it secretly. Thus will I do this thing before all Israel. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord, and Nathan said unto him, David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the child also that shall be born unto thee shall die."

So it was the thing. What happened was Jacob's sons, they did what David did. He said, you did it. You were deceitful. You took this man's wife. Tried to make him think he was trying to help him. And these boys of Jacob did the same thing. They were deceitful about it.

It made me think, concerning us preaching the gospel, with us telling men and women about the glory of God, be up front. Be up front about it. Just tell them up front. Sometimes, and I've taught myself, wanting to do the same thing. So it's not something that I've not done too. Sometimes we want people to come and hear the gospel of God's grace and tell them, say, look, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll make, I'll make a deal with you. I'll go and I'll go with you. I'll worship with you at your church. Then you come with me. That's just a game. That's just game. You don't have any interest in going over there. And what is it doing? It's trying, it's dubious. It's just trust the Lord and ask the Lord, Lord, Give them a heart to want to come. Don't bargain with them. Don't try to do it. That's what these boys did. We're going to make a deal with you. And that's what grieved Jacob. You were untruthful with these people. You tried to make them believe that you were their friends. And he said, that's not the way it's done. That's not the way you do it.

They are instruments of cruelty in their habitations. And then he says in verses five and six, Oh, my soul. Here he is. He's praying to the Lord, but he's being honest with himself. Oh, my soul, come not thou into their secret. Don't don't enter in to that secret thing that they were doing, that hidden thing that they were doing. Don't don't don't. You know, it says unto their assembly, my honor, be not thou united. For in their anger they slew a man. In their self-will they dig down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce in their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel."

Now, those words that he used, he was talking about it. Like I said, the great grievance to Jacob that they killed the men, Yeah, but that they lied to him. Tried to make him think that they were their friends. He said, the way you did it, going in there and bargaining with them, telling them that if they'd be circumcised, giving them some kind of a hope that you were going to enter in with them, it just greased him. Jacob, again, then prayed a prayer for God's keeping toward him and to his sons for what they had done. Jacob confessed the actions of their sons, their secret. And that word there, it's actually talking about their counsel. He said, enter not. He said, O my soul, verse six, my soul, come not thou into their secret. Don't let me come into their counsel. Don't let me, Lord, keep me from that. Listen, he loved these boys. These were his boys. But what they did, he hated.

Now, let me ask you this. I thought about this. As a father, I thought about this. Have you ever seen while you're, you know, if you have children, raising your children, you love them, but you see some of the things that they do, and you recognize some of the things they do are things that you do yourself. You caught yourself doing, but you still hate it when you see it in them, and you want to teach them. You want to direct them, you want to guide them.

Oh, he's praying. Verse six, oh my soul, come not thou into their secret, under their assembly. Mine honor, be not thou united. Don't, don't, don't keep me, Lord, from doing that which I see in them and I know in myself.

Jacob said, for in their anger, these men had slew a man according to their own will. They digged down a wall, not a physical wall, but actually that word that's used there, this wall, it actually means an ox. They had digged down, they had taken down an ox, referring to Shekel, the ox. They used him like, referring to him like an animal, a dumb animal of labor. They had taken down this ox in their anger. They uprooted and disabled this man, Shechel, but they did it in deceitfulness.

While Jacob's words end there, he cursed the anger of his two sons. Listen, this is good. Verse 7, he said, Curse be their anger. for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. Now that right there, he's just, what he's saying is that which they did is worthy of being cursed. What they did, thanks be unto God, it be unto the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But this last part, I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. That last part, right there was actually a promise of that which the Lord would be pleased to do concerning these are the 12 sons of Israel. These are the men, the examples of God's preachers, the examples of God's elect. And look what he's going to do.

When Jacob pronounced that displeasure upon the anger and cruelty of Simeon, We see that. We understand that. But do we see the blessing in them being scattered that the gospel might be preached unto the world?

Now, here's what he's saying. Look at the last verse, verse 7. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce. And in their wrath, it was cruel what these boys did. But I'm going to show mercy. I will scatter them in Jacob. And I will, I'm sorry, I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

I'm going to send these boys into the world. These boys are going to be the ones that's going to go and they're going to preach the gospel in all the world. These are going to be the examples of those that will lead and guide and direct through the preaching of the gospel. What they were in themselves, they were cruel and hateful. but what they are in Christ. He said, I'm gonna send them, I'm gonna divide them. It wasn't an act of I'm gonna disperse them and just send them into nothing. No, you're gonna send them all over the world and preach the gospel.

You know, truly, our ways are not his ways. Our thoughts are not his thoughts. The Lord providentially ordered Jacob's dissatisfaction with Simeon and Levi's ways those that had dealt and abused their sister, his daughter, and he took what they had done that was in itself evil, and he turned it for God's good and God's glory.

Our God is in the heavens. He's done whatsoever he pleases. You that know him, aren't you thankful that God Almighty didn't deal with you in what you deserve, or me in what I deserve, but he's just, he's dealt with us, but he's dealt with us in Christ, he's dealt with us in a substitute, and given us what we deserve in Christ, in the shed blood of Christ, and then has been pleased to take what he's been made us to be, vessels of his mercy, and has sent them into all the world.

And that's what these sons of Jacob were gonna do, they were gonna become the, they were the fathers gonna be of nations, And out of these nations would come all the people of God's elect.

What a God. I pray that the Lord take these few words and would bless them to our hearts and give us some understanding of God's mercy and compassion to a people of his choosing. Amen.