Wednesday Bible Study: R is for Reuben

I wondered why God would lead me to Reuben at this point, but if we remember that I have been trying to bring out the unanswerable questions, Reuben is sure the place to go!  If nothing else, a lot of preconceived notions I had about the story of Jacob fell to the study I have done just trying to untie this tangled knot.  There are four points at which Jacob's firstborn takes center stage, and each one led me to a question.


The first point led me to discover that I'd been reading something wrong for about 40 years!  And that would be the story about the mandrakes...

Gen 30:14  In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." 
Gen 30:15  But she said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?" Rachel said, "Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes." 

Oh, boy, does this passage open a LOT of cans of worms!  But let me narrow to the particular annelids that are part of my story.  So Reuben went out and found mandrakes, which- after tons of debates and a whole lot of unnecessaries- I determined to basically be some very strong-smelling flowers, like any little kid might pick for his mommy, that just happened to be alleged to have procreative properties, which brought them to the barren Rachel's attention.  So I wondered how old Reuben was when he picked the flowers.  Assuming the Biblical account had the children in order of birth, I counted the total of children to be 8 at this point, and thus figured him to be 8-10 years old.  However, John Gill pegged him at 4 or 5, and John Wesley at 5 or 6... and I thought, how could that be?  If Leah had a seven year lead on having kids before Rachel even married Jacob, how was it she deduced she was barren and passed on a maidservant for a concubine already?  I was assuming that Leah stretched out her 1st 4 boys over the seven years that Jacob worked to obtain Rachel.  But then, my fundamental flaw came to light...

Gen 29:25  And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?" 

Gen 29:26  Laban said, "It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 

Gen 29:27  Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years." 

Gen 29:28  Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. 

I am embarrassed to say that all these years I thought he worked 7 years only to get Leah, and had to work the second seven BEFORE he got Rachel!  When in fact he got Rachel a week later, and they were in competition from the start!  Which opened up the door for my discovery that the children are listed by mother, but not necessarily by birth- and some scholars believe that Dan and Napthali were actually older than Leah's fourth born, Judah.  And from there, the chronology snarls into a huge mess that I haven't decided what is right- and neither has anyone else.  But since this is about Reuben, it doesn't actually matter, so I move onto that second point.

We find it here...

Gen 35:19  So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 

Gen 35:20  and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day. 

Gen 35:21  Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 

Gen 35:22  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. 

Now, I used the whole passage so that you can see that Reuben sleeping with the ancient Hebrew equivalent of his stepmom was JUST after Rachel's death, because this becomes crucial.  But before we go to that section of our story, I want you to note that while Israel/Jacob KNEW about it, apparently he did nothing.

But just to expand on this a bit, the rabbinical tradition, in their ongoing efforts to get people off the hook when advantageous, speculate that the above passage did NOT mean that Reuben had sex with Bilhah... their idea is, with Rachel dead, Jacob made Bilhah (Rachel's handmaid) wife #1 instead of Reuben's mom Leah (who should have been #1 all along).  This angered Number One Son, and he "moved" Bilhah's bed out from its prime position and put Leah's there.  I sure can see how you get one out of the other (sarcasm font activated)...

But, as I say, the moment is forgotten till much later.  Then we come to Reuben's involvement with the selling of Joseph:

Gen 37:19  They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer. 

Gen 37:20  Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams." 

Gen 37:21  But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, "Let us not take his life." 

Gen 37:22  And Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him"--that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. 

Gen 37:23  So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. 

Gen 37:24  And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. 

Gen 37:25  Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 

Gen 37:26  Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 

Gen 37:27  Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers listened to him. 

Gen 37:28  Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt. 

Gen 37:29  When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes 

Gen 37:30  and returned to his brothers and said, "The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?" 

So here, Reuben- knowing he was on the hook with Dad if Joseph came to harm, figured to play both ends, and salvage something out of it.  But it didn't work- when he left (to supervise other things for his father, so say the commentators), they decided that Reuben would just let Joseph off the hook, and selling him would get rid of him just as sure.  MY wondering at this point- read those last 2 verses- Reuben DID NOT KNOW the others hadn't killed him, did he?  All he knew was, "the boy is gone".  And he was in deep water.  I'm thinking:  The commentators say that they did this in Reuben's absence since he wouldn't have went along with it- so why tell him about the Ishmaelites, whom he could have just as easily caught up to and purchased him back?  Another point about this- Ishmael himself was not dead quite yet- even if he lost the trail, he could have hooked up with Uncle Ish and probably found him.  Whether he EVER knew what happened to Joseph, I don't know (I suspect he didn't and that's coming up), I'm sure he didn't know right then.

So now we get to his fourth less-than-starring role- when Jacob sends the boys to go get grain from Egypt, only to meet up with the incognito Joseph:

Gen 42:18  On the third day Joseph said to them, "Do this and you will live, for I fear God: 

Gen 42:19  if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, 

Gen 42:20  and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die." And they did so. 

Gen 42:21  Then they said to one another, "In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us." 

Gen 42:22  And Reuben answered them, "Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood." 

Which gives me the sense that Reuben still thought the others had killed him.  But, not where I'm headed... as we return to Jacob, and they relate the story of how they had to leave Simeon in Egyptian custody...

Gen 42:35  As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. 

Gen 42:36  And Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me." 

Gen 42:37  Then Reuben said to his father, "Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you." 

Gen 42:38  But he said, "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol." 

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(Side note here:  in addition to knowing Reuben slept with Bilhah and said nothing about it, Jacob's words make one think that he also knew that his other sons- and not the 'wild beast' they lied about- had killed Joseph ("You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin...") and said nothing all these years on that, either.  But still not where I'm headed.)

So we note in all this first encounter- right up to this argument (which I believe is a 'more to the story' deal) with his Father, Reuben has taken the lead.  But thereafter, Reuben is NOT MENTIONED until the blessing (still coming up).  Instead, the second trip sees Judah being the spokesman...

Gen 43:1  Now the famine was severe in the land. 

Gen 43:2  And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, "Go again, buy us a little food." 

Gen 43:3  But Judah said to him, "The man solemnly warned us, saying, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.' 

Gen 44:14  When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, he was still there. They fell before him to the ground. 

Gen 44:15  Joseph said to them, "What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?" 

Gen 44:16  And Judah said, "What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; behold, we are my lord's servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found." 

Gen 44:17  But he said, "Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father." 

Gen 44:18  Then Judah went up to him and said, "Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself... 

So here's the next question:  WHERE IS REUBEN?  He's not dead; each of the many differing chronologies say he has at least 50 years of life to go.  And besides, there is the little matter of the Blessing.

For those of you not in the know, eventually the whole family moves, lock, stock and Jacob, into Egypt.  Jacob lives there 17 years, and when he's ready to die, he pronounces a prophecy (at least, more prophecy than blessing, because at least three of the boys didn't end up very 'blessed') on each of his sons.  And for Reuben, it's a prophecy of old sins...

Gen 49:3  "Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. 

Gen 49:4  Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it--he went up to my couch! 

What we glean from this: The Jews' hokey story about moving beds around doesn't fly; the 'big secret' is out- and I doubt this is a surprise revelation.  This is ONLY speculation, but I bet the exchange over bringing Benjamin to Egypt was a lot longer argument than the Bible shows- and Reuben lost the 'preeminence' something like this:

Reuben:  "Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you." 

Jacob: "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol." 

Reuben:  "Father, trust me on this.  I promise..."

Jacob: "Trust?  You slept with my concubine- the mother of your brothers, and hid it from me- and you want TRUST???"

Consider:  The 'preeminence' was taken from Reuben FOR the sin against Bilhah.  The 'preeminence' was taken BETWEEN the two journeys to Egypt.  And it was already gone before the "blessings", because we see before that...

Gen 48:3  And Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 

Gen 48:4  and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.' 

Gen 48:5  And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. 

Gen 48:6  And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. 

Jacob took the birthright of Reuben and gave it to Ephraim; and Simeon's second-in-line status went to Manasseh.  Simeon (and Levi) were cut out of the power structure for their evil deeds as well (which we won't go into here), but Judah then became the leader DESPITE his own evil ( not only had he arranged the selling of Joseph and the lie to Jacob, but slept with his widowed daughter in law).  None of that gets mentioned, though, and it makes me wonder why.  A clue might be provided quite by accident by the Rabbinical lit.

See, they believe that after 'moving Bilhah's bed', Reuben repented of the deed, becoming the first penitent.  But, here's the thing about THAT story...

Reuben did penance in secret meditation, and he chastened himself by frequent abstinence from meat and wine. When, however, Judah confessed his sin and justified Tamar , Reuben publicly acknowleged his own fault , lest his other brothers might be suspected . In reward for this penitence and voluntary confession he was granted life in the future world.

Not that I'm suggesting that a shred of that story happened, but it does point out one thing- Judah as a confessor.   Perhaps sometime down the line, to comfort his father, he had confessed what they had done.  Perhaps at that argument over Benjamin, all the family's sins were laid bare- including Judah and his plan to kill Joseph.  We do not know.  What we DO know is that after that argument, all of the sudden Judah became the leader of the family.

And what we do learn:

Reuben getting demoted and his promise to protect the boy at the risk of his own ignored comes from one simple thing:  You can't act dishonorably and expect to be considered honorable.

Ecc 12:13  The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 

Ecc 12:14  For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.