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:
22b 29 (P). Jacob’s Sons, and the Death of Isaac
22 b. the sons of Jacob ] The names of Jacob’s sons are enumerated after the mention of Benjamin’s birth. But the enumeration is that of P, which assumes that all the sons of Jacob, including Benjamin, were born to him in Paddan-aram ( Gen 35:26), in direct contradiction to Gen 35:16-18 (J).
twelve ] A sacred number, found also in the sons of Nahor and Ishmael (Gen 17:20, Gen 22:20-24, Gen 25:16).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 35:22-26
The sons of Jacob
I.
SIGNIFICANCE OF NAMES. Proper names had among them (the Hebrews) a deeper meaning, and were more closely connected in mens thoughts with character and condition, than among any other ancient nation with the history and character of which we are acquainted. This is apparent from the care taken in the sacred writings to record the origin of so many names of individuals and of places, from the frequent allusions to them as significant, and the remarks made upon their meaning, and from the peculiar employment of them on important and solemn occasions, when given or changed, to mark some great transaction or event, to form titles of honour; or to record a promise, or threat, or prophecy.
II. DIVERSITY OF CHARACTER. Among these twelve sons of one man no two precisely alike. Dark and bright traits of character strangely intermingle in this household. Joseph seems to have served the Lord from his youth, and Simeon appears to have been the darkest character of the twelve. As children often differ in complexion and stature, &c., so do they also in taste, moral character, &c. Often less like their immediate progenitors than their remoter ancestors; pointing far back to past times in their moral and physical portrait. How far back we point to the source of the evil there is in us. Diversity of bodily, mental, and moral qualities a blessing, when under the influence of Divine grace; otherwise a source of mischief and sorrow, engendering rivalry and strife.
III. WAYS OF PROVIDENCE. How marvellous the history wrought out in the world by means of these twelve men and their descendants! How wonderously Providence blended these unlike characters for working out His purposes! He maketh the wrath of men to praise Him. While imagining they were working their own will, their acts were subordinate, by the power of God, to high and gracious purposes. Yet the good, in the end, attain to the most honourable places, and the widest influence. The youngest, and most despised, and helpless, are in the end advanced. We often spoil the best instruments, and turn but sorry work out of most refined materials. God brings good out of evil. A world of beauty out of chaos: a great people out of these twelve shepherds. Think of another twelve whose work it was to lay the foundation of a still greater and more enduring kingdom. They also were shepherds in another sense. Learn:
I. Among all names there is only one whereby we can be saved. Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people, &c.
II. Natural differences of character may be purified by Divine grace. The worst may be saved by Christ, the best need His salvation.
III. Cast yourself upon the bountiful care and inexhaustible wisdom of Providence. He who of such material laid the foundations of a great nation, can make all things work together for our good. (J. C. Gray.)
Jacobs grief at Reubens sin
Moses expresseth not how Jacob grieved when he heard this, but only saith, It came to Israels ears that it was done. Surely the reason was this, that we might thereby conceive that the grief was greater than could be expressed, to have his bed defiled by his own son. So read we, the painter that portrayed the intended sacrifice of Iphigenia, painted her father Agamemnons face covered, because it was not possible to express well the countenance of a man so plunged in woe. Think we then earnestly of Jacobs sorrow, but know that we cannot think how it was. And what crossing griefs the Lord sends us, let us strive to patience by these examples. Yea, let us grow by these examples to a Christian strength against worldly scandals and offences, not moved by them to waver up and down as some do, condemning truth, and judging persons by faults and offences that do happen. As if one should say, See the religion of these men; can it be true, can it be good, when the professors of it have such spots? Simeon and Levi cruel bloodshedders, Dinah wanton and wantonly defiled, and now Reuben an incestuous person, defiling his own fathers bed. How should the religion of these men be good? Surely the idolatrous ignorance, and ignorant idolatry of the Gentiles, of the Canaanites, Perizzites, Jebusites, or such like, was the good religion, and not the way that Jacob served God by. But let us be wise, and learn by this to take a surer course to judge both of men and of religion. Jacob and his family had the true religion, though their sinful flesh offended sometimes. All were not evil in such degrees, though some offended too much. Bewail the falls we may of those that profess the truth, nay, bewail them we ought with a sighing heart; but forsake truth for them, or condemn truth to be no truth, we may not, we dare not, we ought not. Let God be true, and all men liars. Let truth be truth, and all men sinful; yea, such great patriarchs as these were not ever free. (Bp. Babington.)
Lessons
1. God carrieth His Jacobs sometimes from Ephrath to Edar, from one affliction to a worse.
2. The Churchs journeys and stages are appointed and ordered by God.
3. Israel is willing to pitch his tents where God allots him.
4. The Church and its pastor sit down by the tower of the flock; shepherds and sheep have their tower (Gen 35:21).
5. The Churchs habitation is not free from affection and affliction in the land of its sojournings.
6. Providence ordereth the permission of the foulest crimes sometimes in His own Church.
7. The chiefest in outward privilege in the Church may fall into greatest sin. Gods wisdom orders it.
8. God will not suffer the blots in His Church to be wholly covered or silenced. Others may learn by them.
9. Great is the fascination of lust which makes a son and wife conspire to pollute the fathers bed.
10. Deep impressions the tidings of such wickedness in the Church makes upon gracious men, to consternation.
11. Providence distinctly notes the genealogy and number of the Churchs beginnings, to observe Gods making good His promises. Now Jacob was come to twelve (Gen 35:22).
12. God doth not always cast out of His visible Church for greatest wickedness. Reuben is numbered.
13. The twelve first patriarchs were ordained of Gods grace, not for their worth.
14. Scripture useth figurative speeches, warily to be opened by Gods ministers (Gen 35:23-26). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 22. Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine] Jonathan, in his Targum, says that Reuben only overthrew the bed of Bilhah, which was set up opposite to the bed of his mother Leah, and that this was reputed to him as if he had lain with her. The colouring given to the passage by the Targumist is, that Reuben was incensed, because he found Bilhah preferred after the death of Rachel to his own mother Leah; and therefore in his anger he overthrew her couch. The same sentiment is repeated by Jonathan, and glanced at by the Jerusalem Targum, Ge 49:4. Could this view of the subject be proved to be correct, both piety and candour would rejoice.
And Israel heard it.] Not one word is added farther in the Hebrew text; but a break is left in the verse, opposite to which there is a Masoretic note, which simply states that there is a hiatus in the verse. This hiatus the Septuagint has thus supplied: , and it appeared evil in his sight.
Now the sons of Jacob were twelve] Called afterwards the twelve patriarchs, because they became heads or chiefs of numerous families or tribes, Ac 7:8; and the people that descended from them are called the twelve tribes, Ac 26:7; Jas 1:1. Twelve princes came from Ishmael, Ge 25:16, who were heads of families and tribes. And in reference to the twelve patriarchs, our Lord chose twelve apostles. Strictly speaking, there were thirteen tribes among the Hebrews, as Ephraim and Manasses were counted for tribes, Ge 48:5-6; Gen 48:6; but the Scripture in naming them, says Mr. Ainsworth, usually sets down but twelve, omitting the name now of one, then of another, as may in sundry places be observed, De 33:5-29; Eze 48:1-35; Re 7:4-8, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This was a horrid incest; for concubines were a sort of wives. See Gen 22:24; 25:1.
Israel heard it, and doubtless sadly resented it, both in Reuben, as appears from Gen 49:4; 1Ch 5:1,2; and in Bilhah, whose bed without question he forsook upon it, as afterwards David did in the like case. See 2Sa 16:22; 20:3. Yet here is no mention of Jacobs reproof of it, nor any censure of Moses added to it; possibly to teach us, that we are not to approve of every fact which is mentioned in Scripture without censure, and that the miscarriages of professors of religion are rather to be silently bewailed than publicly reproached, lest religion should suffer by it.
The sons of Jacob were twelve, which were heads of the twelve tribes; therefore his daughter Dinah is not here mentioned, because she was not the head of a tribe.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land,…. In that part of it near Bethlehem:
that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; his concubine wife; she was the maid that Rachel gave him, and this added to his affliction, and made it double, to lose Rachel by death, and to have her favourite maid, his concubine, defiled by his own son, and whom it is highly probable he abstained from hereafter. This, though a very heinous sin of his son’s, yet might be suffered as a chastisement to Jacob, for making use of concubines:
and Israel heard [it]; though the crime was committed secretly, and was thought it would have been concealed, but by some means or other Jacob heard of it, and no doubt severely reproved his son for it; and though nothing is here related, as said by him on this occasion, it is certain it gave him great offence, grief and trouble, and he remembered it to his dying day, and took away the birthright from Reuben on account of it, Ge 49:3; an empty space here follows in the original text, and a pause in it, denoting perhaps the amazement Jacob was filled with when he heard it; and the great grief of his heart, which was such, that he was not able to speak a word; the Septuagint version fills up the space by adding, “and it appeared evil in his sight”:
now the sons of Jacob were twelve; who were the heads of twelve tribes, Benjamin the last being born, and Jacob having afterwards no more children, they were all reckoned up under their respective mothers, excepting Dinah, a daughter, from whom there was no tribe, in the following verses.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
22. Reuben went and lay with Bilhah. A sad and even tragic history is now related concerning the incestuous intercourse of Reuben with his mother-in-law. Moses, indeed, calls Bilhah Jacob’s concubine: but though she had not come into the hands of her husband, as the mistress of the family and a partaker of his goods; yet, as it respected the bed, she was his lawful wife, as we have before seen. If even a stranger had defiled the wife of the holy man, it would have been a great disgrace; it was, however, far more atrocious that he should suffer such an indignity from his own son. But how great and how detestable was the dishonor, that the mother of two tribes should not only contaminate herself with adultery, but even with incest; which crime is so abhorrent to nature, that, not even among the Gentiles, has it ever been held tolerable? And truly, by the wonderful artifice of Satan, this great obscenity penetrated into the holy house, in order that the election of God might seem to be of no effect. Satan endeavors, by whatever means he can, to pervert the grace of God in the elect; and since he cannot effect that, he either covers it with infamy, or at least obscures it. Hence it happens that disgraceful examples often steal into the Church. And the Lord, in this manner, suffers his own people to be humbled, that they may be more attentively careful of themselves, that they may more earnestly watch unto prayer, and may learn entirely to depend on his mercy. Moses only relates that Jacob was informed of this crime; but he conceals his grief, not because he was unfeeling, (for he was not so stupid as to be insensible to sorrow,) but because his grief was too great to be expressed. For here Moses seems to have acted as the painter did who, in representing the sacrifice of Iphigenia, put a veil over her father’s face, because he could not sufficiently express the grief of his countenance. In addition to this eternal disgrace of the family, there were other causes of anxiety which transfixed the breast of the holy man. The sum of his happiness was in his offspring, from which the salvation of the whole world was to proceed. Whereas, already, two of his sons had been perfidious and sanguinary robbers; the first-born, now, exceeds them both in wickedness. But here the gratuitous election of God has appeared the more illustrious, because it was not on account of their worthiness that he preferred the sons of Jacob to all the world; and also because, when they had fallen so basely, this election nevertheless remained firm and efficacious. Warned by such examples, let us learn to fortify ourselves against those dreadful scandals by which Satan strives to disturb us. Let every one also privately apply this to the strengthening of his own faith. For sometimes even good men slide, as if they had fallen from grace. Desperation would necessarily be the consequence of such ruin, unless the Lord, on the other hand, held out the hope of pardon. A remarkable instance of this is set before us in Reuben; who, after this extreme act of iniquity, yet retained his rank of a patriarch in the Church. We must, however, remain under the custody of fear and watchfulness, lest temptation should seize upon us unawares, and thus the snares of Satan should envelop us. For the holy Spirit did not design to set before us an example of vile lust, in order that every one might rush into incestuous connections; but would rather expose to infamy the baseness of this crime, in an honorable person, that all, on that account, might more vehemently abhor it. This passage also refutes the error of Novatus. Reuben had been properly instructed; he bore in his flesh, from early infancy, the symbol of the divine covenant; he was even born again by the Spirit of God; we see, therefore, what was the deep abyss from which he was raised by the incredible mercy of God. The Novatians, therefore, and similar fanatics, have no right to cut off the hope of pardon from the lapsed: for it is no slight injury to Christ, if we suppose the grace of God to be more restricted by his advent.
Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. Moses again recounts the sons of Jacob in a regular series. Reuben is put the first among them, not for the sake of honor, but that he may be loaded with the greater opprobrium: for the greater the honor which any one receives from the Lord, the more severely is he to be blamed, if he afterwards makes himself the slave of Satan, and deserts his post. Moses seems to insert this catalogue before the account of the death of Isaac, for the purpose of discriminating between the progeny of Jacob and the Idumeans, of whom he is about to make mention in Gen 36:1. For on the death of Isaac the fountain of the holy race became divided, as into two streams; but since the adoption of God restrained itself to one branch only, it was necessary to distinguish it from the other.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(22) Reuben.Again another grief for Jacob to mar his return home, and this time it arises from the sin of his first-born, who thereby forfeits the birthright. It was the thought of these miseries, following upon his long years of exile, which made Jacob speak so sorrowfully of his experience of life before Pharaoh (Gen. 47:9).
And Israel heard it.The Masora notes that some words have here fallen out of the text, which the LXX. fill up by adding, And it was evil in his sight.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. Bilhah Rachel’s handmaid, and mother of Dan and of Naphtali .
Gen 30:3-8.
Israel heard And it occasioned to Reuben the loss of his birthright, and the words of reproach recorded in Gen 49:4.
LIST OF JACOB’S SONS, Gen 30:22-26.
This list is given here, at the close of this section of the book, and before the account of the death and burial of Isaac, as a sort of concluding record of Jacob’s history thus far. The subsequent historic “generations of Jacob,” do not begin until after we have, in chap. 36, “the generations of Esau.” See Gen 37:2.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 35:22. Reuben went, &c. Dr. Kennicott says, this is one of the twenty-five or twenty-eight places, where the Jewish transcribers have left a vacant place in their manuscripts in the middle of the verse; and where a space has been also left in the printed editions. But the Greek version is very full. The supplement in the Greek acquaints us, that this act of Reuben’s was considered by his father as vile and flagitious, , a censure which is naturally expected; and that Israel greatly resented this action of Reuben’s, see ch. Gen 49:4.
Israel heard it Though both Reuben and Bilhah, doubtless, flattered themselves that it would have been concealed, and bestowed all pains to conceal it.
The sons of Jacob were twelve, &c. Moses makes this remark, as after the birth of Benjamin Jacob had no more sons, and the number was here closed. When he says, Gen 49:26 that these are the sons which were born in Padan-aram; he uses a synecdoche frequent in the Scripture, as all were born there but Benjamin, whose birth every one sees to be excepted, as having been just now related. Thus the apostles are called the twelve apostles, even after Judas’s death, when they were but eleven; and after Matthias and Paul were added, which made them thirteen.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
More grief for Jacob. 1Co 5:1 ; Gen 49:4 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 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:
Ver. 23. Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.] Who, though by his sin he fell from his birthright, yet is here reckoned as a patriarch, and afterwards, upon his repentance, not a little honoured. Exo 28:21 ; Exo 28:29 Rev 21:12 God is not off and on with his elect; their frowardness interrupts not the course of his goodness.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 35:22 a
22It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it.
Gen 35:22 “Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine” This unseemly act is somehow associated with expectation of inheritance rights (i.e., 1Ki 2:13-25). Reuben was trying to force his father’s hand in naming him the head of the clan. As it turned out, he was condemned and rejected because of this incident (cf. Gen 49:3-4; 1Ch 5:1). As God had worked His unique will through the barren wives of the Patriarchs, in Genesis He shows His unique will by allowing the fourth son of Leah to be the line of the Messiah (i.e., Judah).
“Israel heard of it” The Septuagint adds, “the thing appeared grievous before him” (cf. TEV, NAB). This does not appear in the MT. We are unsure if the translation of the LXX added it or it was part of an earlier Hebrew manuscript.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
lay with. Compare Gen 49:4.
twelve. The number of governmental perfection. See App-10. Figure of speech Synecdoche (of the Whole), App-6. For the various orders of the twelve tribes, see App-45,
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
lay with: Gen 49:4, Lev 18:8, 2Sa 16:21, 2Sa 16:22, 2Sa 20:3, 1Ch 5:1, 1Co 5:1
Now the sons: In the Hebrew Text, a break is here left in the verse, opposite to which there is a Masoretic note, which states that “there is a hiatus in the verse.” This hiatus the LXX, thus supplies: [Strong’s G2532], [Strong’s G4190], [Strong’s G1726], [Strong’s G848], “and it appeared evil in his sight.” Gen 35:18, Gen 29:31-35, Gen 30:5-24, Gen 46:8-27, 49:1-28; Exo 1:1-5, Exo 6:14-16, Num 1:5-15, Num 1:20-46, Num 2:3-33, Num 7:12-89, 26:5-51, Num 26:57-62, Num 34:14-28, Deu 33:1-29, Jos 13:1 – Jos 21:45, 1Ch 2:1, 1Ch 2:2, 1Ch 12:23-40, 1Ch 27:16-22, Eze 48:1-35, Act 7:8, Rev 7:4-8, Rev 21:14
Reciprocal: Gen 16:3 – his Gen 25:6 – concubines Gen 29:29 – Bilhah Gen 29:32 – his name Gen 30:4 – to wife Gen 32:22 – his two wives Gen 35:2 – clean Gen 37:2 – wives Gen 37:21 – Reuben heard Gen 37:35 – his daughters Gen 44:7 – General Gen 46:25 – Bilhah Gen 49:28 – every one Exo 1:2 – Reuben Deu 27:20 – General 1Ch 7:13 – the sons of Bilhah Eze 22:10 – discovered
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 35:22. When Israel dwelt in that land And probably was absent from his family, which might be the unhappy occasion of these disorders. Though, perhaps, Bilhah was the greater criminal, yet Reubens crime was so provoking, that for it he lost his birthright and blessing, chap. Gen 49:4. Israel heard it No more is said: that is enough: he heard it with the utmost grief and shame, horror and displeasure. No doubt he forsook Bilhahs bed upon it, as David afterward acted in a like case. The sons of Jacob were twelve Moses makes this observation here, because Benjamin being now born, Jacob had no more sons. When he says, (Gen 35:26,) which were born to him in Padan-aram, he speaks by a synecdoche, a figure of speech often used in Scripture, whereby that which belonged to the greater part is ascribed to all. They were all born there except Benjamin, the place of whose birth had been just mentioned.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
35:22 And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and {h} lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine: and Israel heard [it]. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
(h) This teaches that the fathers were not chosen for their merits, but only by God’s mercies, whose election was not changed by their faults.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
This paragraph is important because it records the entrance of Jacob into his father’s inheritance. Jacob presumably visited Isaac in Hebron on various occasions following his return from Paddan-aram. However on this occasion he moved his family to his father’s encampment and evidently remained there as Isaac’s heir.
Jacob had left Beersheba with only a staff in his hand. Now he returned with 12 sons, a large household, and much livestock. The most important aspect of God’s blessing was his 12 sons, grouped here with their four mothers, through whom God would fulfill His promises to the patriarchs.
Benjamin was not born in Paddan-aram but near Bethlehem (Gen 35:16-18). Therefore the statement that Jacob’s 12 sons were born in Paddan-aram (Gen 35:26) must be understood as a general one, possibly a synecdoche.