“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:”
While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. Now Jacob had twelve sons. The violation of Bilhah by Reuben — the firstborn — is the act that will cost him his birthright in Genesis 49:3-4. The brief notation and Israel heard of it is another instance of the patriarch's passive response to a family violation, mirroring Genesis 34:5. The application: the covenant family's tendency toward sexual violation, from Shechem's assault to Reuben's, is the family darkness that the covenant blessing does not simply erase.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a note on this verse
0/2000
No notes on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!