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 woman 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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