Chapter III.
They predict what would happen to the sons of Simeon and Levi, whose names designate the tribes; and also the opinion of the Jews regarding the mystical interpretation of this blessing is refuted.
The righteous man protests, and disowns his posterity, which did not preserve the fatherly affection; and because he foresaw wickedness, he shudders at the influence of their advice: Let not my soul enter their council, nor let my inward parts join their assembly; for in their anger they killed a man, and by their greediness they undermined an ox (Gen. XLIX, 6). He speaks of Simeon and Levi indeed; but he signifies the tribes by their name, which were called by a similar appellation. The Jews derive a most beautiful interpretation, believing that it confirms that the sons of Jacob condemned the two brothers more than the others because of the rape of their sister Dinah. They pretended to want to enter into an agreement with them and persuaded them to be circumcised, so that peace and a bond of kinship could be established between them. However, on the third day after their circumcision, when they were still weak and in pain, they attacked and killed them. Therefore, perhaps these two are the most avenging of all, because they are the authors of the scribes and priests. For none should defend their honor more than the wise and the priests.
But in this also the Jews are mistaken. For they had provided reasons for their own grief, asserting that they had been defenders of injured piety and avengers of violated chastity in that age of youth, even though they were adversaries to their father. Certainly the holy man could not condemn this, because his own sister had not been allowed to remain unpunished and had lost her virginity, and she did not have the consolation of vengeance; especially since he himself had approved of it, as he possessed Shechem and gave her as a gift in death to his most beloved son Joseph, saying to him: I give you Shechem, above all your brothers, which I took from the hands of the Amorites with my sword and bow (Genesis 48:22). What has been done cannot be denied. However, we can interpret it as meaning that through the shoulders of Sichemhumeros, through his works. Therefore, Joseph, the chosen heir of good works, whom his brothers could not equal in his works, was sanctified above all others. For who could equal the deeds of Christ?
Then, moreover, he, being untainted and pure, brought offerings from this earthly inn, the abode of impurity, to the residence of the saints with heavenly words and wielding the spiritual sword; so that where the inhabitants had previously indulged in lasciviousness and the princes of luxury had dwelt, where there had been incentives to lust and fuel for wickedness, now holy priests teach the lessons of chastity and many examples of virginity's integrity shine forth with a certain brightness of heavenly light.
Therefore, there are three tribes designated by the names of the Patriarchs: for from the tribe of Simeon are the scribes, from the tribe of Levi are the chief priests who completed their wickedness in the passion of the Lord, fulfilling all the measure of their father's impiety. They themselves devised a plan against the Lord Jesus to kill him, as Isaiah says: Woe to their souls, for they devised an evil plan against themselves, saying: Let us bind the Just One, for he is useless to us (Isaiah 3:9-10). They themselves killed the prophets, and the apostles who proclaimed the coming of the Lord Savior, his passion, and the glory of his resurrection. Afterwards, driven by their own selfish desires and worldly vices, they rejected divine fellowship, the chastity of the body, the sobriety of the mind, the contempt of money, and the gain of grace. They undermined the bull, namely, the one who produces horns and hoofs, whom the poor see and rejoice in; for by the word of God, he has exalted the horn of his people, by which he has repelled his enemies and earned the reward of the heavenly crown. Here is the bull by which the Church is symbolized in the moon, then fuller when supported, as it were, by bull-like horns, including the space of the whole world.
However, this prophecy seems to also include the grace of blessing. For in addressing the firstborn, it states: Do not be arrogant like water, for it establishes sin; for water cleanses sins more, and is accustomed to recall our minds from every fervor of vices. And again, in speaking to Simeon and Levi: I will divide you in Jacob, and scatter you in Israel, it shows that they are to be redeemed by the gathering of the nations. For when the shepherd is struck, that flock is dispersed, which had been previously gathered; so that someone who was not there may enter, and thus all of Israel may be saved. And especially because of the tribe of Levi we must believe this; because from that tribe the Lord Jesus seems to derive his lineage according to the assumption of the body. From this tribe are the priests Levi and Nathan, whom Saint Luke in the book of the Gospel, which he himself wrote, counted among the ancestors of the Lord (Luke 3:29 and 31). For the priest of the Father and the leader of all priests, as it is written: 'You are a priest forever' (Psalm 110:4), had to claim the succession of priestly origin.
Therefore Moses also blessed this tribe, saying: Give Levi the suffrage of his vote, and his truth to the holy (Deut. XXXIII, 8). Moses also blessed the tribe of Reuben, as it is written: Let Reuben live, and not die, and be multiplied in number (Ibid., 6). For he would not have blessed them if he had known them to be unworthy according to the judgment of the Patriarch. Certainly, what he passed over loosely, he fulfilled assiduously.