Expunging the Generational Curses

Scripture:
Let Reuben live and not die
though his people become few.
Deuteronomy 33:6

Observation: As Moses goes through a final message of blessing, he mentions all the tribes ... except one. Moses skips Simeon entirely, and this "blessing" of Reuben is dubious at best, basically asking for his tribes' borderline survival.

Reuben and Simeon were the eldest of Jacob's sons, followed by Levi and Judah. Both Reuben and Simeon raised the anger of Jacob and were 'downgraded' in status. Levi did also, but was effectively redeemed as a tribe. When Jacob blessed his sons when he was dying, he declared hardship for Reuben, and effectively cursed Simeon and Levi to be "scattered" and eventually not receive land in Canaan.

Now hundreds of years later, Moses has laid out a land-claim model whereby Reuben will end up in the most contested of all the land and will struggle to even survive as a tribe ... the best 'blessing' Moses can muster for this tribe is that perhaps it won't be completely killed off. Levi will receive no inheritance as the priestly workers scattered through the land. Simeon will receive a claim embedded within Judah's and will fade from existence as a standalone area.

The downfall of Reuben was the sin he committed with Bilhah. However, the downfall of Simeon was the same as Levi - the slaughter of the Shechemites - yet Levi is now redeemed (still scattered but the priests and temple workers), and Simeon is totally ignored as a tribe by Moses.

Application: This omission by Moses really jumped out at me, and there must be a deeper reason behind it. Of course I did quick research, and there are several explanations that all seem valid. Most of these include some version of a) Simeon having been cursed by Jacob, b) Simeon not receiving an independent allotment of land, and c) Simeon as a tribe failing to redeem itself during the Exodus and Numbers saga the way Levi did.

Whatever the reason, the omission of even a side-comment acknowledgement of existence must have been obvious and received as an intentional slight. It remains part of the strange dynamic of Israel, how tribes that now number in the tens and hundreds of thousands each are still considered to have group attributes of one founding son of Jacob, and continue to receive treatment based on actions that individual performed as a teenager.

I have thought this before ... are their curses that will be passed to my children and descendants that stem from my bad actions when I was younger? I think I know the answer. If not for Jesus, the answer would be yes. However, because of Jesus, those wrongs and sins are completely expunged from my record, and my family is no longer cursed by my errors. In this way Jesus has not just redeemed me, but he has removed generational curse from my family.

Prayer: Lord, for all the reasons I am humbled and thankful for Jesus, this may be top of the list. I have been wicked and evil and sinful in my past, however you have fully forgiven and redeemed and restored me through faith in Jesus, and that extends to the removal of generational curse. Thank you, thank you, thank you my Lord and my savior! Amen.