Simeon

Sim'eon. (Heb. Shimon', ]שַׁמעוֹ, a hearing, i.e. by Jehovah; Sept. and New Test. Συμεών, and so Josephus, Ant. 1, 19, 7), the name of one of the heads of the Hebrew tribes, and of several .other Jews named from him. In our account of the former we collect all the ancient and modern information. See SIMON.

1. The second of Jacob's sons by Leah. B.C. 1918. His birth is recorded in Ge 29:33, and, in the explanation there given of the name it is derived from the root shama', "to hear" Jehovah hath heard that I was hated . . . and she called his name Shimeon." This metaphor is not carried on (as in the case of some of the other names) in Jacob's blessing; and in that of Moses all mention of Simeon is omitted. Fiirst, (Hebr. Handwb. s.v.) inclines to the interpretation "famous" (ruhmreicher). Redslob (Alttest. Namen, p. 93), on the other hand, adopting the Arabic root shama, considers the name to mean "sons of bondage," or "bondmen." But the above text gives the natural etymology.