Genesis 37: 21-22: “And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him. And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.”
This section is rich in God’s grace. From the beginning of Joseph’s document to the end, at the end of Genesis, we discover a process of sin followed by rehabilitation. Reuben’s sin did not occur in this section, we saw earlier how he lost his respect as the firstborn son by having a sexual affair with one of his father’s concubines. This act was more than just a betrayal of marital trust, it was also symbolic of taking his father’s authority. There are two significant examples of this later in the Bible. In 2 Samuel 16: 22 (“So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.”) we read that Absalom took his father’s concubines in order to show Israel that he had taken his father’s place and was now king. In 1 Kings 2: 22 (“And king Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he is mine elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.”) after Solomon was crowned king of Israel, his older brother, Adnonijah, asked Solomon’s mother if he could marry King David’s last concubine. This act was deliberate to show that Adonijah had taken David’s place as king and he was executed for this act of treason. However, this section shows that Reuben was rehabilitated for he was the one who tried to protect his brother Joseph from death. God always deals with people in grace and there are always opportunities for rehabilitation unless we choose to die in our sins.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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