Genesis 49:7

I will divide them. Since the brothers had committed this crime jointly, their posterity was to be divided, or scattered, in Canaan. They would not constitute independent tribes. The fulfillment of this prediction was evident by the time Israel returned to Canaan. When Moses numbered Israel the second time, Simeon had become the weakest of all the tribes (Num. 26:14), and in Moses’ blessing, Simeon was entirely passed over. This tribe received no separate assignment of territory as an inheritance, but merely a number of cities within the borders of Judah (Joshua 19:1-19). Since the families of Simeon, generally, increased but little (1 Chron. 4:27), most of them were eventually absorbed into the tribe of Judah. Others migrated, in two waves, to areas beyond the borders of the Promised Land (1 Chron. 4:38-43).

Instead of a territorial inheritance, Levi received 48 cities, scattered throughout the other tribes (Joshua 21:1-42). The scattering of Levi in Israel, however, was changed into a blessing for all, through the election of the tribe to the priesthood. Though Jacob withdrew the rights of the first-born from Reuben, and uttered a curse for the crime of Simeon and Levi, he disowned none of them. Levi’s later history is an illustration of how a curse can be fulfilled and yet result in blessing for all concerned. At Sinai, Levi’s descendants stood alone for right when all the others fell (Ex. 32:26), and were therefore appointed, as a tribe, to religious leadership. Though the curse of Jacob, that they should receive no inheritance, was not changed, its fulfillment brought blessing to them and to their brethren (Num. 18:20).