101 Myths of the Bible: how ancient scribes - Conscious Evolution TV

166 101 Myths of the Bible
Exodus and thereafter, he would have been a figure of some substantial reputation in
the region around Shechem, the territory associated with Levi’s actions.
After his death, Labaya’s sons took over, but the Shechemite kingdom seems to
have faded not long after. Shechem itself became an important Israelite cult center.
Joseph’s bones were supposedly buried there and Joshua formed a tribal coalition at the
city. There is no story about Shechem being conquered by Joshua so the city must have
had a close relationship with the Israelites.
The names Labaya and Levi are remarkably similar, with“v”s and“b”s being somewhat
interchangeable in Semitic languages. It may be that recollections of this militaristic
Labaya in the city of Shechem provided a paradigm for the description of Levi
as a cruel and violent man. His strong opposition to the Egyptians may have led to his
being associated with the Levite Moses who led the Israelite opposition to Egypt.
The Simeonites occupied the territory associated with Abraham and Isaac, southern
Canaan. One of its cities was Beersheba, the place where both patriarchs confronted
an enemy king and made a treaty over a well. This connection to the
patriarchal homelands no doubt accounted for its being thought of as one of Jacob’s
oldest sons.
The linking of Simeon and Levi together on two occasions suggests that they
had once been allied. In this regard, we should note that Simeon and Levi also are
linked implicitly together in that they, along with their chief rival Judah, were omitted
from the tribal roster in the Song of Deborah. This indicates that the emergence of all
three tribes occurred late in Israelite history, well after the Exodus. The Levite group
denounced as cruel and violent would have been an earlier group unrelated to the
Israelites.
While a new entity seems to have emerged under the Levite name, Simeon
appears to have disappeared. It is the tribe that Moses omitted in his blessing of Israel
(Deut. 33, a late composition probably dating to the seventh century B.C.). The failure
of Simeon to have its own tribal boundaries, existing only as a limited presence within
Judah, indicates that when Judah finally emerged as a political presence, it absorbed
Simeon and integrated it into Judah.