While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now 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?
Blow after blow
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 household that made it possible
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.
Why Israel says nothing
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.
The firstborn, and what came out of him
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.
The birthright changes hands
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."
Twelve names, listed anyway
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.
Summary
- 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.