And it came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine; and Israel heard of it. And the sons of Jacob were twelve.
Jacob has just buried Rachel and moved on when his eldest son defiles his father's bed. The record is short: the deed, then the father hearing of it, then the count of twelve sons. Why does Israel say nothing? And what does the sin cost?
The sin does not stand alone. One writer follows Jacob's moves after Bethel. Each move brings a fresh sorrow.
The Bible TreasuryIt was good for Jacob to be at Bethel: that seemed to be his right place. But "they journeyed from Bethel." At once we read of the heaviest sorrow of his life falling on him. His dearly loved Rachel died. He journeys again (v. 21), and then comes the terrible wickedness of Reuben. He journeys again, and then comes his father's death.
The trouble had older roots. One writer points back to Jacob's own domestic arrangements, and to the way Reuben had been used as a child.
George C. WillisWe must also remember that Jacob has two wives and two concubines. That is a very different situation from either his father or his grandfather. Back in Haran we see Reuben his firstborn, still a child, drawn into bargaining, where love alone should enter. Little wonder that this same son later shows his lack of respect for these holy matters by lying with Bilhah, his father's concubine. That single act cost Reuben his birthright, but more, it cost Jacob the most bitter grief.
Scripture records no outburst and no rebuke — only that he heard. Commentators read the silence in two ways. One sees a man who has learned to bow, and who now watches his own nature appear in his son.
L. M. GrantHe makes no angry response, for he has learned to submit himself to God. Yet Genesis 49:3-4 shows that he felt it deeply. Now he is to see in his firstborn the unstable, untrustworthy character of the flesh, just as it surfaced in Jacob himself, though in a different way.
Another names the woman: Bilhah, the mother of Dan and Naphtali. He hears in the silence a wound too deep for speech.
William KellyJacob's long stay in that land became a grim snare to his firstborn, and, sad to say, to his father's concubine, the mother of his brothers Dan and Naphtali. The sin was a grief too deep for a passing burst of feeling, if not too deep for tears. But his heart still felt it when the sons gathered around his dying bed. Then he was given to tell them what would happen to them at the end of days.
Reuben was the son in whom Jacob's strength should have shown itself. What appeared was the opposite.
F. B. HoleReuben was the firstborn. In him especially the might, the strength, the dignity and the power of Jacob should show. He was to express the very beginning of Jacob's strength and excellence. And what did he express? Nothing but instability and self-gratification. It was defiling, and an outrage on all natural decency.
Jacob's silence was not the end of the matter. Reuben lost the privileges of the firstborn, and one writer traces where each part went.
Truth & TestimonyReuben did forfeit his birthright, and it was entirely his own fault. He had gone up to his father's bed and committed adultery with Bilhah, his father's concubine. So he lost his privileges (Genesis 35:22; Genesis 49:3-4; 1 Chronicles 5:1-2). The position linked with the birthright went to Judah, the fourth son of Leah. Simeon and Levi were passed over because of their violence against the people of Shechem (Genesis 34). The wealth linked with it went to Joseph, the first son of Rachel, the loved one. The firstborn was entitled to a double portion of the inheritance.
Yet forfeiting is not the same as being cast off. Kelly states it plainly. The man who dishonoured his father "was forgiven, but lost his birthright and could have no pre-eminence either now or when God's kingdom comes for the earth."
Right after this failure the verse counts twelve sons. Reuben is still one of them. The placing is the point.
William KellyThe listing of the family is moving at this point in the patriarchal story. No human being may boast. Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. Yet God takes pleasure in recording their names, both early and late in the Old Testament, and finally in the last book of the New.
- Drift. Reuben's sin comes in a chain of blows. It starts when Jacob journeys on from Bethel: Rachel dies, then this, then his father dies.
- Household. Jacob had two wives and two concubines, unlike his father and grandfather. As a child Reuben was drawn into bargaining, where love alone should enter. He grew up with no respect for holy things.
- Silence. "Israel heard of it" — a father submitting to God, and a grief too deep for words, which only broke open at his deathbed.
- Forfeit. Reuben lost the firstborn's privilege. Rule went to Judah, the double portion to Joseph. He was forgiven, but he never regained first place.
- Grace. God still records all twelve names, Reuben among them. No human being may boast. Yet God takes pleasure in writing those names down, early and late in the Old Testament and again in the last book of the New.
The sons of Leah Reuben -- Jacob's firstborn -- and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.
Genesis 35 has just recorded Rachel's death and Reuben's sin against his father. At that low point the text stops to list Jacob's twelve sons by their mothers — so why name this family right after such shame, and why is Reuben still called the firstborn?
This list comes when the family has nothing to boast about. One commentator finds that moving:
William KellyThe listing of the family is moving at this point in the patriarchal story. No human being will boast. Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. Yet God takes pleasure in recording their names, both early and late in the Old Testament, and at last in the final book of the New Testament. He does it with instructive variations.
Another writer notes which of the father's two names heads the list:
L. M. GrantWe are then told the names of the sons of Jacob (vv. 22-26). He is not called Israel here. His sons are to be known as coming from the same sin-infected stock as their father. Despite this inherited sinful nature, God had ordained that the twelve tribes of the nation Israel would come from these twelve men. They were not chosen because they were any better than others. They were chosen only as a sample of all mankind, an object lesson to teach us two things: our actual sinful condition, and our need of a Saviour. No doubt each one of these brothers pictures a distinct feature of the ruin of mankind, and also of God's grace in providing salvation, as Genesis 49:2-27 indicates.
These sons are not listed in the order they were born. One writer reads their birth order as a record of human scheming:
H. L. RossierThis order speaks to us of man's plans, following his own thoughts, outside the thoughts of God. We see these plans when Laban gives his daughters to Jacob, and when Rachel and Leah give Jacob their maidservants.
Here the list groups them by mother, and the same writer points to who stands at the front of it:
H. L. RossierThe first three sons of Jacob had shown themselves to be murderers and incestuous. Their only guarantee for entering into Canaan lies in the promise given to Abraham and in the free election of grace. Here we find these three guilty sons at the head of the list.
Reuben still comes first here, one chapter after the sin that cost him the position. The title stays; the standing does not.
William KellyThe man who dishonoured his father — and in a way not even found among the nations that do not know God — was forgiven. But he lost his birthright. He could have no pre-eminence, either now or when God's kingdom comes for the earth.
What he lost did not vanish; it passed to another son:
Morrish Bible DictionaryWhen Jacob was dying he said of Reuben, "You are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power." That is what he was as the firstborn. In himself he was unstable as water, and he should not excel. He forfeited his birthright for defiling his father's bed, and it passed to Joseph, who had a double portion among the tribes through Ephraim and Manasseh.
Each of the names Leah gave her first four sons carries a meaning, and one writer lines them up in order:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe names of the sons of Leah are interesting. Reuben (behold a Son!); Simeon (hearing); Levi (joined); Judah (praise). It is the order of the gospel.
Judah was Leah's fourth son, and his naming is the highest point she reaches:
William KellyWe never hear of her soul rising so high. The sorrow-stricken woman breaks out in praise of the LORD, and her fourth son carries that praise in the name she gave him that day. Yes, from Judah came, according to the flesh, the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever.
Levi joined in the killing at Shechem, and he is still counted here. See what God did with his punishment:
George C WillisLevi was scattered in Israel as a punishment for that terrible sin, committed centuries before at Shechem. But now, for our encouragement, see the grace of God. The very punishment, the scattering in Israel, becomes an unspeakable blessing. God chooses this tribe to come near to Him. They are scattered through Israel, so that the knowledge of God and His Word spreads through them across the whole nation.
- Failure named. The list comes straight after Reuben's sin. Scripture calls the father Jacob here, not Israel: his sons share his stock.
- Grace records. No one in the family can boast here, yet God takes pleasure in writing down their names, early and late in Scripture.
- Grace reorders. Human scheming set the birth order. This list changes it, and the three guilty sons come first, held there only by promise and free election.
- Grace withholds. Reuben keeps the word "firstborn." He loses the birthright and all pre-eminence, and Joseph receives it.
- Grace ends in praise. Leah's names run from "behold a son" to "praise" — and from Judah, according to the flesh, came the Christ.
The sons of Rachel Joseph and Benjamin.
This verse is one line in a family register: after Rachel's death, the account pauses to list Jacob's twelve sons by their mothers. Rachel's share is two names, Joseph and Benjamin, and they carry far more weight in Scripture than this brief mention suggests.
Rachel was the wife Jacob loved first. Yet she was the last of the four mothers to bear children. One writer sees that order as deliberate:
William KellyIt appears that Rachel was the first beloved wife, but in fact the last to enjoy the relationship and bear its fruits. Joseph was rejected by his brothers and exalted in another sphere over Gentiles. Benjamin was his mother's sorrow, but son of his father's right hand. Before this Leah is the mother of many sons, as there are before Israel comes into full and happy view.
Neither son alone gives the full picture of Christ. One writer shows what each adds:
L. M. GrantGod answered Rachel's prayer at last, and she gave birth to Joseph, whose name means "adding," because she was confident that God would add another son to her. Joseph is plainly a type of Christ. Yet Joseph gives us only one side of the truth concerning Christ, that is, that He was a Sufferer before being exalted. This is most important for us all to learn. Only then are we in any condition to appreciate the truth seen in Benjamin. He is a type of Christ as the Son of the Father's right hand, glorified and exalted to the throne, reigning in glory.
Where each brother was born adds to the contrast:
William KellyIn due time the barren one bears Joseph, who pictures Christ rejected and exalted, but making Himself known to His brothers at last. She also bears Benjamin, the only one born in the land, son of his mother's sorrow but of his father's right hand. Benjamin brings millennial power before us, as Joseph does its blessing.
Two parents named Benjamin at the same moment, and the place matters:
An Outline of Sound WordsThe dying Rachel called the child Benoni (Son of my sorrow), but Jacob called him Benjamin (Son of the right hand). Near Bethlehem, the true Son of the Right Hand would come into the world. There Jacob shows his faith in God by the name he gave his son. Jacob's deepest joys seemed to close at that place. Yet that same place would secure his brightest hopes, in the Baby to be born at Bethlehem.
The closing line of this list says these sons were born in Padan-aram — the country Jacob had left, far outside the promised land. Yet chapter 35 has just described Benjamin's birth on the road to Bethlehem. One writer answers that the statement describes the family as a whole, not each name in it:
J. N. DarbyThe main fact which characterized the family was their birth away from the land of promise, in the country where Jacob served for a wife. There was no need to make an exception of Benjamin in the statement; the aim was to give the accurate history of his birth. And this was no mistake: the writer had just given all the details of Benjamin's birth, and speaks in the passage itself of Jacob being in that land.
The list comes right after Reuben's sin against his father — not a flattering moment for the family. One writer finds that placement moving, not awkward:
William KellyThe listing of the family is moving at this point in the story. No human being will boast. Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. Yet God takes pleasure in recording their names. He does so early and late in the Old Testament, and at last in the final book of the New Testament, but with instructive variations. For the Bible is not only God's word. It is a deeply moral book, and those who make the mind their all discern little of that.
Another writer notes that the register calls the father Jacob here, not Israel:
L. M. GrantWe are then told the names of the sons of Jacob — not called Israel in this case. His sons are to be known simply as coming from the same sin-infected stock as their father. Despite this inherited sinful nature, God had ordained that the twelve tribes of the nation Israel were to come from these twelve men. They were not chosen because they were any better than others.
- Sorrow. Rachel named her last son from her dying grief — Benoni, son of my sorrow — and the grief came near Bethlehem.
- Right hand. Jacob refused that name. He called him Benjamin, son of the right hand, and showed his faith where his deepest joys seemed to close.
- Two sons, one Christ. Joseph shows the Sufferer afterwards exalted; Benjamin shows the reign in glory. Neither name alone tells the whole story.
- Inside the land. Joseph was born far from the promised land, Benjamin alone within it. Joseph pictures the blessing; Benjamin pictures the power.
- Recorded by grace. The twelve are listed right after a family disgrace. They are named as sons of "Jacob," not Israel — not chosen for merit, yet God takes pleasure in writing their names down.
And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant Dan and Naphtali.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's maidservant Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob that were born to him in Padan-Aram.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.