Commentaire sur La Genèse 35:22

בשכן ישראל בארץ ההוא WHEN ISRAEL DWELT IN THAT LAND — before he came to Isaac at Hebron, all these troubles happened to him.

AND ISRAEL HEARD OF IT. Scripture relates Jacob’s humility. He heard that his son had profaned his couch, but yet he did not command them to remove him from his house and from inclusion among his sons so that he should not inherit with them. Instead, he is counted among them, as it is written, And the sons of Jacob, were twelve, and he is counted first. It is for this reason that Scripture has combined the two sections of the Torah²³⁶In the written Torah the upper section concludes with the words, And Israel heard of it. Then a new section begins, And the sons of Jacob were twelve. Ramban explains why the Masorah combines them into one verse. through one verse. For although this is the beginning of a subject wherein Scripture commences to count the tribes now that they were all born, it hints that Reuben was not rejected on account of his deed.
In line with the simple meaning of Scripture it is possible that Reuben disturbed the couch of Bilhah [Rachel’s handmaid] because he feared that she might give birth again from Jacob, for he, being the first-born and thinking of taking two portions of the inheritance, would thus lose more than all the brothers. He had no fear of his mother for she was elderly. Zilpah had perhaps died, or it may be that he had concern for his mother’s honor, and since Zilpah was her handmaid, he did not disturb her. It was for this reason that the right of the first-born was taken away from Reuben, measure for measure. And this is the purport of the verse, And the sons of Jacob were twelve, meaning that he did not beget children after that.

וישמע ישראל, this matter has been reported only so that we can understand why Yaakov passed over his firstborn son Reuven when in his blessings before his death he referred to him as פחז כמים אל תותר כי עלית על משכבי אביך (49,4). “the one who was as unrestrained as water when you mounted the bed of your father, does not deserve the privileges associated with the birthright.” [These privileges were allocated by Yaakov in part to Yehudah, commencing with the reign of David, and in part to Joseph, as the firstborn son of Rachel. The latter was accorded two tribal heads, (Ephrayim and Menashe) among the twelve tribes. Ed.]

And Yisrael heard. Nevertheless, he did not cease to count Reuvein among his sons because he had no doubt that he repented immediately.

ויהי בשכון, Yaakov did not reside anywhere until he came to his father; however, seeing that he had so many animals and possessions that he moved extremely slowly, it appeared as if he was actually settling down.

וישמע ישראל, “Israel heard about this.” According to Nachmanides, the phrasing of Yaakov’s reaction to the manner in which he reacted to his first born son’s defiling his bedroom is an example of Yaakov’s extreme humility. He could easily have banned Reuven from his house for having been guilty of such a misdemeanour, as well as having disinherited him. Instead, the Torah reports that Reuven continued to be a full member of the 12 sons, as we have been told in verse 23. In fact, the Torah goes further by writing immediately that Reuven ranked first among all his sons. (verse 24) The Torah draws our attention to this by making a single paragraph out of what normally should have been two separate paragraphs. Looking at the plain meaning of the text, it is possible that Reuven’s intention in invading his father’s private bedroom which he shared with Bilhah, was to prevent Yaakov siring more children with Bilhah, seeing that as the firstborn, he would receive 2 shares of the eventual inheritance, any additional children Yaakov would sire would result in his share of the inheritance becoming diminished. At the same time, he did not have similar worries about his own mother giving birth to more children, as she was beyond child-bearing age, and Zilpah might have died already. It is also possible that he was simply concerned about the insult endured by his mother who had to now take a back seat not only to her deceased sister Rachel, but even to her maidservant, when he observed that his father made Bilhah’s tent his principal bedroom. It is possible that the verse “Yaakov’s sons were 12,” was meant to alert us to the fact that he sired no more children after this episode. Some commentators interpret the line “Reuven went and slept with Bilhah,” to mean that now that Yaakov had lost both Rachel and Bilhah, there was no cause to worry since the twelve sons who were to make up the Jewish people had been born already. Yet another explanation is that the line “Yaakov’s sons numbered 12, etc.,” means that originally there had been 13, seeing that Reuven being the firstborn had been considered equivalent to two sons. Now, in view of his indiscretion, he had lost his superiority vis-à-vis the other brothers. Rabbi Yehudah the pious, explains the episode as follows: at the time when Yaakov had settled in that region, Reuven left that region and set up house by himself, the reason being that he had been guilty of the above-mentioned indiscretion in Bilhah’s tent, where he had been presumed to have had relations with Yaakov’s concubine. He had done so, in order to forestall his father from doing so, now that Rachel had died. When Yaakov heard about the reason why Reuven had fled the scene, he moved his tent to Leah. As soon as Reuven heard this, he returned to the fold, i.e. “the sons of Yaakov were12.” Some commentators point to the wording of וישכב את בלהה instead of וישכב עם בלהה, as meaning that all Reuven had done was to put his bed next to that of Bilhah. [the expression את always denotes a lesser degree of intimacy than the expression עם. (compare Genesis 30,16,Samuel II 11,4; ) Ed.] Further proof that Reuven did not actually sleep with Bilhah, is provided by Yaakov himself in Genesis 49,4 when he describes Reuven’s indiscretion with the words: כי עלית משכבי אביך, אז חללת יצועי עלה, “for when you entered your father’s bedroom you desecrated him who ascended the bed that had been made for me.” All Reuven had been guilty of was to disarray the bedclothes, not to lie in them. He spoke about the person lying in the bed in the third person, instead of saying: “you lay in my bed.”

Prior to his coming to Chevron to Yitzchok... I.e., all this happened to him because he delayed coming to his father Yitzchok.

וישכב את בלהה פלגש אביו, “he lay with Bilhah, the concubine of his father.” According to some commentators (Talmud tractate Shabbat folio 55,) all he did was that he removed her couch from his father’s tent. This occurred before Yaakov had returned to his father’s house. The Torah treats the deed as if Reuben had committed incest with his aunt. Our author points to Job 31,12, [he could have used the entire sequence from verse 1 to there Ed.] as proof that harbouring incestuous thoughts may be considered as if one had carried out what one had fantasized about. Ed.

וישכב את בלהה, “he slept with Bilhah.” This is not to be understood literally, but he invaded her privacy and messed up the linen on her bedstead, or simply moved her bed from its normal position. This was a protest against her trying to replace Rachel. Reuven, Leah’s oldest son, felt that now that Rachel had died, his mother should outrank any of the other wives of his father. Rashi points out that this is not the only instance when the Torah to make its point exaggerates the indiscretion committed by some people, or when it rounds up numbers. An example of such an exaggeration quoted is the injury that the angel had caused Yaakov in their nocturnal struggle. He had not made Yaakov’s hip joint useless, but had only dislocated it. (32,26) וישמע ישראל, “Israel heard about this;” about Reuven’s indiscretion. ויהיו בני יעקב שנים עשר, “the sons of Yaakov remained 12.” Yaakov had no more sons after this. The reason was that he no longer carried on marital relations with any of his wives. Our sages derive this from the line: אז חללת יצועי עלה, “then you desecrated Him who abode on my bed.” (Genesis 49,4) Yaakov meant that ever since the sanctity which had distinguished his marital bed had ceased to exist and been profaned. (Compare Rash’bam on that verse) The reason why here we have the words: וישמע ישראל, “Israel heard,” (instead of “Yaakov” heard) is so that when you read that verse in chapter 49 you will not ask: ‘how did Yaakov ever find out about Reuven’s indiscretion?’An alternate interpretation: the reason why the line that Yaakov’s sons were and remained 12, is inserted here where reference is made to Reuven’s indiscretion, is in order not to allow anyone to think that possibly some of Yaakov’s sons might not have been his but Reuven’s, but it refers to the most recently born son born for him by Rachel. Yaakov together with all of his twelve sons returned to their father’s home.

וישכב AND HE LAY — Because he had disturbed his couch Scripture accounts it to him as though he had actually sinned in this manner. But why did he disturb his couch? When Rachel died Jacob removed to Bilhah’s tent and Reuben came and protested against the slight thus inflicted on his mother (Leah). He said: “If my mother’s sister was her rival, is that any reason why the handmaid of my mother’s sister should become a rival to her!” On this account he disturbed the couch (Shabbat 55b).

וילך ראובן, he went to Bilhah’s tent and slept with her.

Yaakov took his bed... and placed it in Bilhah’s tent... This was because Bilhah was Rachel’s handmaiden. You might ask: Why did Yaakov do this? Why did he not place it in Leah’s tent? The answer is: Yaakov did not place his bed in Leah’s tent when Rachel was alive, so he reasoned that Leah would not want to accept it now. But Reuven, who regularly spent time with his mother, knew she would accept it. Therefore he went and disturbed the sleeping arrangement. (Maharshal)

ויהיו בני יעקב שנים עשר NOW THE SONS OF JACOB WERE TWELVE — Scripture begins again where it left off the previous narrative (i.e. the birth of Benjamin): when Benjamin was born the destined number of his sons was complete and it was proper that they should then be enumerated; and therefore it enumerates them. Our Rabbis explained that these words are intended to tell us that Jacob’s twelve sons were all equal — they were all equally righteous, for Reuben had committed no actual sin (Shabbat 55b).

פלגש אביו, his father’s concubine. Actually, she was his father’s wife, but in Reuven’s view she was no better than a concubine. Reuven did not consider her as out of bounds to him as she had been a slave woman originally, and his father had subsequently taken her to be his concubine. The Torah clearly states that she had become Yaakov’s proper wife in all matters legal. (30,4) As such Bilhah was totally out of bounds to him. Even before the giving of the Torah, the laws of incest governing all of mankind (Noachide laws) included the prohibition of sleeping with one’s father’s wife. (compare our commentary on 20,24) If such legislation applied to all of mankind, how much more so did it apply to the sons of Yaakov. As a result of this trespass Reuven’s status as Yaakov’s legal firstborn was revoked on Yaakov’s deathbed when he publicly announced his unfitness for the title as we also know from Chronicles I 5,1, and his position was given to Joseph instead.

וישמע ישראל, he stopped living with Bilhah as a result of this. The meaning of the line ויהיו בני יעקב שנים עשר, is that from that time on Yisrael had no further children. He no longer slept with any woman for the remainder of his life. In fact, he basically became a recluse, not attending to mundane activities but concentrating on serving G’d directly. This is what he had meant when he said in his vow, that once he would return safely to his father’s house, והיה ה' לי לאלוקים, “the Lord will be my G’d.” According to the Talmud Shabbat 55 Reuven had not actually slept with Bilhah at all, but had only made her bed look slept in, disturbed, to give the impression that intimacy had taken place there. This was a protest against his father not only having spent most of his married life with Rachel, but even now after her death spending his time with Rachel’s maidservant instead of with his mother, with Leah.