Anger Destroys Future Blessings - Genesis 48-50

 Genesis 49:5-7 (ESV)

“Simeon and Levi are brothers;

weapons of violence are their swords.

Let my soul come not into their council;

O my glory, be not joined to their company.

For in their anger they killed men,

and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen.

Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,

and their wrath, for it is cruel!

I will divide them in Jacob

and scatter them in Israel.

In chapter 49 we read the blessings (and curses) of Israel, in regard to his sons. As he is dying, he prays over each of them.  The first three sons, Rueben, Simeon and Levi, are not blessed.  Instead Israel says nothing of blessing and instead, curses a trait of theirs.   In the above passage we see that Israel cures the anger of Simeon and Levi.   This anger comes from the story in Genesis 34 concerning Simeon and Levin defending the honor of their sister, Dianah.  She was raped by one of the men of Schechem.   In their anger, but after they had deceived the men of Schechem, they killed all the men of Schechem.   This brought disdain on Israel’s reputation. It could easily be imagined that both Simeon and Levi did not see this curse on their anger coming.  Here their dad was dying and they fully expected, as the early born sons, to have some kinds of blessing and/or favor from their father.  But, not so.  Dad remembered their evil ways.   Perhaps this is were a New Testament verse might fit:

James 1:20 (ESV)

for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

We don’t see anger carrying the weight that God sees it carry.  Certainly these two boys did not see their anger has something that would come back to hurt them in the later days of their lives.  But, anger is a bitter emotion that does not produce what God intends in our lives.  Solomon would also speak to this plight of anger:

Ecclesiastes 7:9 (ESV)

Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,

for anger lodges in the heart of fools.

Anger is a deceiving and destructive emotion of the heart.   We would do well to control it quickly. 

James 1:19 (ESV)

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

Proverbs 16:32 (ESV)

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,

and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.