Sexual Purity and Destinyნიმუში

Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob, sleeps with Bilhah (his father's concubine). Bilhah was the maidservant of Rachel (Jacob's favourite wife). Rachel had just died. You can imagine that both Jacob and Bilhah are grieving her death. In her emotional vulnerability, Reuben fornicates with Bilhah. The Bible says that Jacob heard about it. But he did nothing.

More than 40 years later, Jacob is about to die, and he calls his 12 sons to bless them. The blessing that Jacob is about to confer has a history. It is from God, passed down to Abraham, passed down to Isaac, and passed down to Jacob. The blessing is to go to the firstborn son. He gets a double portion of the wealth and a spiritual legacy of God's favour. Everyone expects Reuben to get the blessing. Reuben and everyone else must have been shocked (Genesis 49:1-4) when his scandal was exposed. Reuben does not receive a blessing but a curse instead.

Much later, when the history of Israel is being penned (1 Chronicles 5:1-2), the authors refuse to enlist the generations of Reuben because of his grave sexual sin. The Bible tells us that Joseph's sons were given Reuben's blessings. The firstborn privilege of leadership was granted to another son- Judah. And from Judah come the kings of Israel. Judah himself was not a pure man. He slept with a prostitute and came to discover that it was his daughter-in-law, Tamar. However, with a contrite heart, Judah is repentant. This repentance grants him restoration, and his destiny is rescued, while Reuben's destiny is scattered. If we are repentant, God can restore us. If we hide our sin and imagine that the passage of time will undo it, we will lose our place like Reuben.

It takes the prophet Moses to speak a blessing over Reuben so that the curse of Jacob does not torment Reuben's descendants. We have one better than Moses, who speaks on behalf of our foolishness- Jesus. Jesus Christ is the greater Moses who can reverse our sin and restore us. May we turn to Him and receive a restoration greater than that of the patriarchs.