Genesis
49:1 ¶ And Jacob called unto his sons,
and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall
befall you in the last days. 2 Gather
yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your
father. 3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn,
my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the
excellency of power: 4 Unstable as
water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then
defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
Jacob
calls his sons together to give them his prophecies concerning their future
and, in doing so, the future of their offspring. This is of tremendous
importance in what is to come. We must look not only to the individual’s
future, but to the future of their tribes in history, and to the prophecy in
Revelation regarding the conditions under which they survive until the end of
human history even if they do not know themselves as political entities. DNA
studies like those on 23andme.com and other websites have shown us that our actual
ancestry may be surprising with details previously unknown to us. The Bible,
unlike most other books of the world’s important religions, is a book filled
with prophecy of the future, prophetic warnings and declarations.
Reuben
was Leah’s hope that Jacob would love her when she knew that it was Rachel to
whom he was emotionally attached.
Genesis
29:32 And Leah conceived, and bare a
son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked
upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.
But
Reuben had sex with Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid, her personal servant.
Genesis
29:29 And Laban gave to Rachel his
daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
Whom
Rachel had given to Jacob as another wife.
Genesis
30:4 And she gave him Bilhah her
handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.
Genesis
35:22 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 it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
A
concubine was a sort of secondary, lesser wife in this culture. This was not
ordained by God but part of what He permits sinful man to do which condemns
sinful man and reveals his weakness. God’s plan is for one man and one women to
unite in marriage for life.
Genesis
2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one
flesh.
Matthew
19:3 ¶ The Pharisees also came unto him,
tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife
for every cause? 4 And he answered and
said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made
them male and female, 5 And said, For
this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife:
and they twain shall be one flesh? 6
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath
joined together, let not man put asunder.
So,
Reuben committed a great wrong by doing what he did. In the age of the church
Paul criticizes a congregation for permitting such a thing before asking that
the man be forgiven as he was deeply repentant and anguished over his sin.
1Corinthians
5:1 It is reported commonly that there
is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among
the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather
mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
3 For I verily, as absent in body, but
present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning
him that hath so done this deed, 4 In
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my
spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction
of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a
little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7 ¶
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are
unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old
leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 ¶
I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of
this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then
must ye needs go out of the world. 11
But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is
called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or
a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 12 For what have I to do to judge them also that
are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 13 But them that are without God judgeth.
Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
Then;
2Corinthians
2:5 ¶ But if any have caused grief, he
hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. 6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment,
which was inflicted of many. 7 So that
contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such
a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. 8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm
your love toward him. 9 For to this end
also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in
all things. 10 To whom ye forgive any
thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for
your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; 11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for
we are not ignorant of his devices.
Would
it were that Christian congregations had a zeal against sin in their midst.
Today we tend to justify or ignore instances of people committing fornication
and other sins. There is little shame regarding sin against God in today’s
church.
Reuben
is judged unstable and weak and will not be the tribe through which Christ will
come to offer redemption to mankind.
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