And so we circle back to Reuben.

Disclaimer: I am not a Bible scholar in the formal sense. So, don’t take this dissection as dogma. Continue.

Remember way back when during the Womb Wars, we met Bilhah, concubine of Jacob (the Bible calls her a concubine, not I)? And remember I highlighted the mention of Reuben along with Bilhah? Yes, well, that was a messy story.

It’s a really brief mention, thus the many questions. Genesis 35:22 reads thus:

“And it happened, when Israel dwelt in that land [beyond the tower of Eder], that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard about it.”

Um. What?

In the text, that is all that is said about this incident. In chapter 35, anyway. Jacob/Israel is curiously silent.

Now, when reading such accounts, context is everything.  What had most recently happened is that Rachel, favourite wife of Jacob/Israel, had died after giving birth to Benjamin, Jacob’s youngest son. For reasons unknown to us, Reuben (firstborn of Jacob) decided that the after-tears would be the perfect opportunity ukum’sondeza uBilhah (to ‘come closer’ to Bilhah), the late Rachel’s maidservant.

WHAT in the Ridge-Brooke-Eric was Reuben thinking??????

What really happened here? The Old Testament makes no mention of calf-eyes being exchanged between R and B. So it might could’ve been that Reuben’s affections were reciprocated by B, OR that Reuben was a precursor of Amnon (2 Samuel 13), if you get catch my meaning. The text gives us no clues whatsoever. Just “Bam! Reuben went into Bilhah’s tent.”

So I headed back to Google: Place of Many Theories and Fake News.

Rabbinical tradition says that what we Gentiles think happened, did not in fact happen. It was more a game of musical mattresses. The tradition was this: Jacob’s favourite wife was Rachel, therefore home base was Rachel’s tent, with occasional forays into the other 3’s tents for the purposes of procreation. When Rachel passed on, Jakes moved into Bilhah’s tent. To feel close to Rachel. Reuben, taking offense on his mom’s behalf, went TO Bilhah’s tent to TAKE Jacob’s mattress/pallet-thingy TO Leah’s tent, because Leah was, in fact, the first wife, a fact that Jakes seemingly repeatedly disregarded. Then Reuben…placed his own pallet-thingy in Bilhah’s tent. Because, reasons. Yeeeeaaaaahhhhh. Suuuuuuure. We’re seriously side-eyeing you on this one, Reuben.

Other commentators seem to agree that what we Gentiles think happened, actually happened. Perhaps Reuben was trying to secure his own inheritance, and then some, by “using” Bilhah to further his own line. This would point to greed as an underlying motive: As firstborn, he was already in line to inherit half of Jacob’s possessions, with the remaining 50% going to the other 11 brothers.

Or maybe Reuben was just afflicted with the same impulsivity that got his uncle Esau, and he made a grave, momentary mistake.

Again, Bilhah’s voice is not represented. We could have predicted this ‘voicelessness’: she did not even have a say in the naming of her offspring. The maidservants seemed to not have had any say in what happened to them, pawns in this cold war between two houses. Dehumanised pieces of property. That’s an entire other post by itself. OT times were harsh.

Which version actually took place, we’ll probably never know for sure. But. If Reuben thought he was getting away with anything, he thought wrong. Jacob might not have said anything at the time, but he executed a final Mortal Kombat-“Finish Him” move on his deathbed. Like a boss.

Genesis 49: 3-4:

“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it.”

Tradition holds that with those words, Reuben lost his blessing as firstborn; that is, the honour of being a forefather to the Messiah, Jesus.

Reuben’s is a complicated story to say the least. I mean, he did stop his younger brothers from murdering Joseph (intending to rescue Joe-Joe and return him to the pappy in one piece, Genesis 37:21-22). Maybe he took pains to protect Joseph, because he knew he’d messed up where Mam’Bilhah was concerned, and he was trying to make amends.  But the closing chapters of Genesis end with Jacob’s pronouncement against him, and it all stemmed from the Bilhah Incident.

What do we learn from Reuben’s account?

• The Bold and the Beautiful is NOT a pattern for family relationships.
• Don’t pull a Ridge: don’t go after your ex-girlfriend/father’s wife/brother’s future fiancée. This account might be the reason that Moses had to say it in so many words later in Leviticus 18:8: “Do not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; that would dishonour your father.” The dishonour may tarry, but it will find you.

That’s it, that’s all. And I had to squeeze that lesson out of that one.

Do you see Reuben’s story from a different perspective? Let a sister know in the comments, or on Instagram (@thetreasurechest.blog). Until next time. Cause there is PLENTY material in these Old Testament Streets.

P.S. I once read a book The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (Dinah’s story), that takes some literary licence with this account too.

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