Simeon, The tribe of

The tribe of Simeon descended from Simeon the second son of Jacob and Leah. In the wilderness census of Numbers 1 it numbered 59,300 men of military age (Numbers 1:23), but by the second census in Numbers 26 this had fallen to 22,200 (Numbers 26:14) — a dramatic decline possibly connected with the plague following Baal Peor (Numbers 25), since the executed Zimri was a Simeonite prince (Numbers 25:14).

Jacob's prophecy that Simeon would be scattered in Israel (Genesis 49:7) was fulfilled through the tribe's territorial allotment: Simeon received cities within the inheritance of Judah, since Judah's portion was too large (Joshua 19:1, 9). This arrangement gradually resulted in Simeon being absorbed into Judah; by the time of the exile, the tribe of Simeon had largely disappeared as a distinct entity. Chronicles records a late Simeonite expansion in the days of Hezekiah, when Simeonites conquered Gedor and the territory of the Amalekites (1 Chronicles 4:24–43).