478 LECTURES AND ESSAYS [ l8 8o- 



of Judah, but they do not appear there as a complete and 

 independent local tribe, and according to Gen. xlix. there 

 must also have been branches of the tribe elsewhere. 

 Now in the name Simeon (p*D), the on is a mere ter 

 mination, and the gentilicium may as well be Shimei 

 (^DE) as ^otp. This is clear from i Chron. iv. 27, 

 where Shimei is just the Judean Simeonites collectively. 

 But there is also a family Shimei in Levi, viz. Shimei ben 

 Gershon (Exod. vi. 17) . We find the same name in Reuben 

 i Chron. v. 4; and the Benjamite Shimei who plays so 

 important a figure in David s history was a great chieftain. 

 The connection of Simeon and Benjamin is also expressed 

 in the genealogy which makes Jamin and Saul sons of 

 Simeon (i Chron. iv. 24). This dispersion of the tribe 

 of Simeon is most easily understood on the principles of 

 exogamy and female kinship. While the men of other 

 stocks separated themselves out and formed a political 

 and local unity by conquest of territory, as strong totem 

 tribes sometimes have been known to do among the 

 Indians (Fort. Rev. 1869, p. 413), Simeon may be supposed 

 to have remained in the position of a divided stock, having 

 representatives through the female line in different local 

 groups. Hence as the old system of kinship was displaced, 

 Simeon lost all importance and ultimately dropped from 

 the list of tribes. In confirmation of this view we may 

 remember that the Danites in like manner did not estab 

 lish themselves as a local tribe till a comparatively late 

 date (Judges xviii. i ; cf. Gen. xlix. I6). 1 



I might add a number of minor confirmations to this 

 theory by comparing proper names of different tribes or 

 of Israel and foreign countries. For example, the Edomite 

 or rather Horite names Bilhan and Jeush reappear in 

 Benjamin (i Chron. vii. io). 2 Achbor (the Mouse) is an 



1 Hitzig s identification of Simeon and Sim , which we have found as 

 an Arabic tribe, has been noticed above. 



2 The former name is perhaps equivalent to the Arabic Bahila 

 (Sprenger, p. 212). May we also compare Bilhah ? 



