Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #26 in Genesis 35, and I will read Genesis 35:22-26:

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: The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun: The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin: And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali: And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram.

Here, we are told in Genesis 35:22:

And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land…

That would be “beyond the tower of Edar.”  We talked about that in our last study.  Then it says in Genesis 35:22:

… that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it.

Bilhah was the handmaid that was given to Jacob to wife by Rachel when Rachel could not bear children.  Her sister was having son after son, so Rachel determined she would compete with her sister by giving her husband Jacob her handmaid Bilhah, to have children through her.  That is why we read that Bilhah was Jacob’s concubine, but we should not think she was not a wife.  She was a wife.  A concubine is a wife.  A woman in that situation was not considered to be equal to a wife like Sarah, or like Leah, or Rachel, but concubines were still wives, and God viewed them as wives.

Reuben was the firstborn son of Leah, and the firstborn son of Jacob.  He was the first son Jacob had, and we know that Jacob was 60 when he went to Haran, and then he worked seven years, and then he was given Leah to wife and “went in unto her.”  So we can expect that nine months later (or soon after that) Reuben would have been born.  We can calculate this according to the biblical calendar of history because Jacob entered Haran at age 60 in 1947 B. C.  He worked seven years until 1940 B. C.  (Remember that on the Old Testament side of the calendar, you count down as years increase.)  So he finished that seven-year contract in 1940 B. C., and he was given Leah to wife.  He realized the deception after that marriage night.  Then he worked seven more years for Rachel, but he was given Rachel at the beginning of that period.  So, in all likelihood, Reuben was conceived and born in that next year, which was 1939 B. C.  It is not definite.  It would be circumstantial evidence, but I think it is good circumstantial evidence.  And if Reuben was born in 1939 B. C., it means that Jacob was 68 at the time of Reuben’s birth, and Reuben would have been in his 30s at this point when he lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. 

And, significantly, we are told, “…and Israel heard it.”  That is the only statement made at this point.  Israel, his father, who is Jacob, heard this evil report that his firstborn son Reuben had sexual relations with Jacob’s concubine Bilhah.  Apparently nothing happened, and then we are given a list of the twelve sons, and it continues with other accounts.  So maybe it was not a big deal?  Or maybe it did not trouble Jacob all that much?  No.  We should not think that.  It did trouble Jacob, and it would also be a troubling thing to Reuben – more than he could ever have known. 

It is also significant that Bilhah’s name, Strong’s #1090, comes from a related word, Strong’s #1089, that is actually translated as “troubled” in one place, in Ezra 4:4:

Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

The word “troubled” is this word that is related to Bilhah.  Her name means “trouble,” and she certainly did bring trouble into the life of Reuben because Jacob did not forget.  He kept it in his mind, and God brought it to his mind, if we go to Genesis 49 where Jacob was near death.  And we know the age of Jacob’s death was 147.  He entered into Egypt when he was 130, and he lived 17 years in Egypt.  He would have become a very frail man as he was near death, and he called his sons to him to give them blessing, or a benediction to each one, as some of what he said was certainly not a blessing.  And, of course, God was moving Jacob to says these things for His own purposes.  So this would have been the year 1860 B. C., about 40 years from the incident we are reading about in Genesis 35, and it says in Genesis 49:1-4:

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. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: 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.

So we see that it was not forgotten.  Jacob remembered the incident of long ago concerning his firstborn son Reuben, who was said to be “thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power,”  and then he added, “Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel…”  We wonder what this means, but I do not want to go too deeply into Genesis 49 because one day we will get there in our Genesis studies.  But we can see that the word “unstable” is only found here.  It is Strong’s #1649.  It is the same word (the same consonants) as #1648, which is translated as “light,” but not in the sense of a shining light, but something negative.  It is the word that is found in Judges 9:4:

And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baalberith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him.

We also find it in Zephaniah 3:3-4:

Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.  Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.

So we see “vain and light persons,” and “light and treacherous persons,” and these are not flattering descriptions at all.  It is indicating someone we could say is shallow and empty, and certainly not filled with the Spirit of God.  They are ungodly, even though they have relationship with God, as it says, “Her prophets are light and treacherous,” so, obviously, they are prophesying falsely.

Jacob said of Reuben: “Unstable (light) as water, thou shalt not excel…”  The word “excel” is Strong’s #3498, and this word is translated as “remain,” or “left.”  For example, if we go to Isaiah 1, this word is used a couple of times.  It says in Isaiah 1:8-9:

And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except JEHOVAH of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

This word is also found in Zechariah 13:8-9:

And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith JEHOVAH, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, JEHOVAH is my God.

So those that are left, the remnant, would be the true people of God.  But, again, our verse is saying that Reuben is “light” as water, and he will not be left, and that is also used in a negative way in Psalm 106:11 concerning the Egyptians who perished in the Red Sea: “And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.”  They did not “excel,” and they were slain, and that is why it is a very grievous thing that God is saying this concerning Reuben.

Let us go to 1Chronicles 5, but we will not have time to get into this passage.  It says in 1Chronicles 5:1-2:

Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's:)

Here, God is making it clear that Reuben lost the right of the firstborn son, the birthright, and the reason was that he defiled his father’s bed.  As a result, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph, who were Ephraim and Manasseh, and the genealogy was not reckoned after the birthright.  It is “history repeating itself,” is it not?  Remember, Jacob was the recipient of the blessing and the birthright of the firstborn.  The blessing did not go to the firstborn son Esau, but it went to Jacob because his mother arranged the circumstances of the deception when she dressed him in his brother Esau’s clothes, and she put hairy skin on his arms and the back of his neck, and Jacob went to Isaac, pretending to be his brother, and Isaac blessed Jacob because he thought it was Esau.  But it was actually Jacob who received the blessing.

Now this has happened in Jacob’s own family.  His firstborn son had done a horrible thing.  When we get together in our next study, we will see just how horrible it was according to the Law of God.  As a result, Jacob’s firstborn son could not receive the blessing of the birthright, but another son would receive it.  Again, God is teaching spiritual truth, but we will have to look at that when we get together in our next Bible study.