Read with Me
Genesis 49:1-4 (HCSB)
Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.
Come together and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel:
Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the firstfruits of my virility,
excelling in prominence, excelling in power. Turbulent as water, you will no longer excel,
because you got into your father’s bed and you defiled it—he got into my bed.
Listen with Me
Jacob gathered his sons together for one final meeting before he died. His intention was to share with each of them what would happen to them and their descendants. And these were not simply words of blessing and hopes for a good future. Jacob was a prophet, and these were prophetic utterances, speaking God’s words to these men.
Jacob addressed his sons in order of birth, with Reuben, the eldest being addressed first. As the eldest son, he fully expected to receive the birthright, the double portion of his father’s estate, as well as the blessing, making his branch of the family the one through whom the Messiah would eventually come. But he was disappointed on both counts.
Jacob had recently conveyed the birthright to Joseph, and he did so in such a way that it could not easily be challenged: he adopted both of Joseph’s sons that had been born to him in Egypt (Genesis 48:5). Thus, Joseph, through those sons and their descendants, would receive two shares in the Promised Land.
But Reuben did not receive the blessing either. Years earlier, he had tried to cement his status as firstborn by sleeping with Bilhah, one of Jacob’s concubines (Genesis 35:21-22). But his father found out, and he never forgot that betrayal over the intervening years. At the start of the famine, Reuben had even volunteered to protect Benjamin on the brothers’ second journey to Egypt in an effort to try to get back into his father’s good graces. That offer included the over-the-top offer that Jacob could kill Reuben’s two sons if Benjamin wasn’t brought back safely (Genesis 42:37). But the suggestion was strongly rejected by Jacob.
Pray with Me
Father, any time we try to establish ourselves through mere human effort, we run the risk of boxing ourselves in and shutting doors that could actually make our goals into possibilities. Sadly, that was a lesson that Ruben didn’t learn, and it negatively affected not only Him, but his descendants as well. Help me, Lord come to always follow Your plan and Your guidance on how to get there. Amen.