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:
The 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:
We 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:
This 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:
The 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.
The 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:
When 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:
The 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:
We 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:
Levi 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:
It 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:
God 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:
In 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:
The 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:
The 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:
The 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:
We 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.
This verse ends the list of Jacob's twelve sons with Gad and Asher, born to Leah's servant Zilpah, and places the whole family in Paddan-aram, where Jacob worked for Laban. Two questions follow: why do a servant's sons count equally with the rest, and why is Benjamin included when he was born in Canaan?
These two names came out of a contest between two sisters over children. Both reach for something Leah did not yet have.
When Leah had no more children, she used the same tactics Rachel had, giving her maid Zilpah to Jacob. By her he had a son, whom Leah named Gad, then another whom she named Asher. Gad means "a troop" and Asher means "happy." So we find human support (a troop), and we try to make ourselves happy as we are, without reaching the state we long for. But Leah is not satisfied with this.
The name a mother chose showed her state of soul. One commentator sees the names of Zilpah's sons as a step down from Leah's earlier faith, yet not beyond God's power to turn to good.
Leah was drawn into the trap, and through Zilpah she wanted to match that advantage. The names she gave Zilpah's sons, Gad and Asher, do not reflect the quarrelling that governed Rachel's spirit. Even so, they came nowhere near the level of faith she had shown in naming her own sons. But God has the right to make all things work together for good to those who love Him, the ones called according to purpose. Meanwhile every wrong has its effect among people, and its judgment before Him.
Jacob had children by four women. Two of them were servants, handed over by their mistresses. Yet Scripture never ranks their sons in two classes.
Jacob's two wives gave their handmaids to their husband, and so he had four wives. God counted the twelve sons of these four women equally as sons of Jacob, and they became the heads of the twelve tribes. You might have thought God would not bless the children of these unions, but He did.
Abraham's household worked differently. And the number twelve itself carries meaning.
Unlike Ishmael in the story of Abraham, the sons of the servants do not take a separate or lower place here. They are blessed together with the other sons of Jacob. God said of Ishmael that the son of the servant should by no means be an heir with the son of the free woman... Jacob's twelve sons give a complete picture of God's earthly people. This is in line with God's government. They are blessed together, because in Scripture the number twelve is always connected with God's rule over His people.
This list comes right after Rachel's death and Reuben's sin against his father. It is a low point, not a proud one.
The listing of the family is moving at this point in the story of the patriarchs. 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 Testament, though with instructive variations.
Eleven of the twelve sons were born during Jacob's years with Laban. Benjamin was the exception, and Genesis records his birth in Canaan a few verses earlier. So why does the verse sweep him in?
The exact genealogy was the important thing, and it is given accurately. The main fact that characterised the family was their birth away from the land of promise, in the country where Jacob served for a wife. There was no reason to make an exception of Benjamin in the statement... But once Benjamin was born, the time had come to give the whole family.
The same writer calls this a normal way of speaking:
It is a general fact, not exactly true of each individual in it, though it describes the subject being told.
- Names: Gad means "a troop" and Asher means "happy" — Leah reaching for support and contentment she did not yet have.
- Rivalry: Leah gave Zilpah to Jacob as a move in a contest with her sister. Yet God works all things together for good to those who love Him.
- Equality: God counts the servants' sons as fully Jacob's sons, and they become heads of tribes. Ishmael was no heir with the son of the free woman; these twelve are.
- Twelve: The full number marks God's rule over His earthly people. The whole family is the picture, not a favoured part of it.
- Paddan-aram: One phrase sums up the family by where it began — away from the promised land, while Jacob served for a wife. Even there, God delights to record every name.