Genesis 49:5 “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.
Psalms 26:9 Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
Psalms 64:2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers,
2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
Proverbs 1:15-16 my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.
Proverbs 12:5 The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.
Our soul is our honor; by its powers we are distinguished from, and raised above, the beasts that perish. We ought, from our hearts, to abhor all bloody and mischievous men. Cursed be their anger. (Henry)
Simeon and Levi are brothers,…. Not because they were so in a natural sense, being brethren both by father and mother’s side, for there were others so besides them; but because they were of like tempers, dispositions, and manners (f), bold, wrathful, cruel, revengeful, and deceitful, and joined together in their evil counsels and evil actions, and so are joined together in the evils predicted of them, instruments of cruelty. (Gill)
Being in agreement with someone and joining together in an act does not necessarily make that act right, good, or just. It may make us think it is, but that will never make it so. Being angered at an act of another person(s) will surely come to us at some point in our lives, whether it be an act against us, our family, our friends, our community, or our nation. For some reason, anger is a part of our nature, and rightly so. Having the ability to recognize right and wrong, good and bad, just and injustice, and have either indignation or pleasure from it seems to be within our nature. How we treat this recognition in light of our knowledge and application of God’s Word is the difference between that which brings honor and glory to Jesus Christ or not.
By faith, trust, and reliance on God and His promises we can choose to lay the burden of our hearts about wrongs, injustice, and other sinful actions of others at His feet. Why???
- Beloved, never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of God
- Vengeance is mine; I will repay
- Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’
- Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all
- Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.
- the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
- For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
- “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
- for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
- I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon them.
- Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you
- It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
- May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you.
- O shameless nation, before the decree takes effect —before the day passes away like chaff— before there comes upon you the burning anger of the Lord, before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the Lord.
- the Lord will repay him according to his deeds
- Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
- Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
- the Lord is an avenger in all these things
I think it is good that we can see wrongs and feel indignation and anger. This means we have the ability to know the difference. However, some people may be angered by good. The civil war is an example of two groups of people who saw the same thing, one calling it wrong and one calling it good. When we look at abortion there are those who call killing unborn babies good and those who call it bad. The same can be said about pornography, sex trafficking, LGBTQ, looting and burning businesses in an outcry of retaliation, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, etc…. Let us know that it is from the heart that seeks and desires to honor and glorify Jesus Christ that a person will discern what is right, true, just, and good. Praise God that we have been given the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us unto truth in all matters. Praise God that we have been given discernment. Praise God that we have been given His promises of handling all wrongs, injustices, and cruelty. Praise God who gives us promises that allow us to lay these at His feet and know, in His Holiness and in His time they will be justly handled. Praise God we can rest and have peace when all around us are in fear and anger. Praise God and rejoice for He is God and in Him, we have hope for today and assurance for tomorrow.
