Gen 49:1-7

As the end of the book draws near, Jacob now turns his attention to the rest of his sons and gives them his blessing and prophesy. It is interesting to note that not all of his sons were blessed and ultimately their descendants were denied land and prominence in the new nation. Reuben (from whom a great sandwich is named, ha!) had all the makings of being the leader and the chosen one but because of his sin of defiling his father's concubine he was not. Simeon and Levi, were the ones who killed on behalf of Dinah's attackers an entire tribe of men. Their cruelty even streched to attacking livestock and used the covenant between the tribes to their advantage and killed. All three of these tribes received little prominence and/or no land (Levites) as they entered into the promised land.

From the commentary:

The tribe of Levi became very important. Moses belonged to this tribe. And God appointed families from this tribe to become the priests. Because they were priests, they were responsible for all the people in Israel. So, the tribe of Levi could not receive its own region. Instead, the people from this tribe received their own towns. These towns were in every region in Canaan (Joshua chapter 21). So, people from the tribe of Levi were available to help people from all the tribes to worship God.

So ultimately, they were the servants of the other tribes.

Today, I will head home after my company's holiday party and relax tomorrow. In some ways I look forward to it but the mass of humanity becomes sometimes too much. Oh well....

Praise for today: Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. Luke 1:68