Genesis 49:5-7

"Simeon and Levi are brethren. Weapons of violence are their swords. O my soul, come not thou into their council. Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou united; For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will they hocked an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce. And their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel."

The background of this prophecy is the shameful conduct of these two brothers in the events hinging upon the rape of their sister Dinah; but a careful reading of that passage in Genesis 34 has nothing about their "hocking an ox." "This verse, therefore, provides a detail omitted in the previous reference."[12] This is a common practice in the Holy Scriptures. Another example is the additional detail that Jonah told the mariners (when he boarded with them) that he was fleeing from Jehovah (Jonah 1:10). There are numerous other examples throughout the Bible, and the foolish notion that every such detail worked into later references to an event is sure proof of some "other document's contradictory account" is merely an outstanding evidence of blindness to the Biblical method.

"Scatter them in Israel ..." Since the cooperation of these brothers had produced some very shameful results, God would divide them. Jacob's prophecy was fulfilled in the most remarkable manner.

At the time of the conquest of Canaan, Simeon had become the smallest of the tribes of Israel (Numbers 26:14). The tribe was passed over in the blessing of Moses (Deuteronomy 33). It received no separate assignment of territory, but merely a few cities within the limits of Judah (Joshua 19:1-9). Those were absorbed into Judah, and those who remained emigrated in two detachments, and sought out settlements for themselves outside the limits of Canaan (1 Chronicles 4:27-43).

These circumstances meet with the usual critical prejudice that assigns this prophecy of the separation and scattering to a period "after the events," and thus they presume to date the prophecy after the conquest of Canaan. Well, if that is the way this prophecy came about, why did not the pseudonymous imposter throw in an account of the future glory of the Levites in the time of Moses? As Keil wisely observed, "Here is strong proof of the genuineness of the prophecy."[13] This prophetic "scattering of Levi" occurred all right, but the implied curse was changed into a great blessing in their election to the priesthood, concerning which there is not the slightest hint in the words of Jacob. "It is totally incredible that any later writer would have omitted to forecast the future glory of the Levites."[14]