MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 49:3-4
THE BLESSING OF REUBEN
We seem to have in this, as in other instances, words of cursing rather than of blessing. But in Genesis 49:28, Jacob’s speeches concerning his sons are called “blessings.” He utters words of blame, he rebukes sharply, but does not curse the persons though he denounces the sin. He does not cast off his sons: they still continue among the tribes of Israel. As to Reuben, consider:—
I. His privileges. He was the first-born, the first-fruits of his father’s manly strength, “The excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power.” This entitled him,
1. To the first rank among his brethren.
2. To the leadership of the tribes.
3. To a double share of the inheritance. (Genesis 27:29; Deuteronomy 21:17). Such were his high privileges.
II. His forfeiture of his privileges. Jacob reminds him of his privileges, only to contrast them with his present state. He will cause him to see what he might have been. Great expectations had been formed of him and he had not answered them. For it is not privileges that make us good or great, but the use to which we put them. Reuben forfeited his privileges,—
1. By a foul sin. Jacob dwells upon it with all those aggravations that made it to be the most heinous and abhorred. He turns away from Reuben (and addressing his other sons as if by way of pathetic appeal), says, “He went up to my couch.”
2. By his instability of character. He was “unstable as water,” which is sometimes fierce and tempestuous, and always yielding and treacherous. He was that double-minded man described by St. James, whose true image in nature is the restless sea which is the sport of the inconstant winds. (James 1:6; James 1:8.)
3. By a life of sensuality. This resulted in that inveterate fault of his character, instability. His passions were heated and furious, like water boiling over. (See Critical Notes.) They were ungovernable. He could not rule himself, and therefore could have no influence over others. He was unfitted for power and place. The single sin which made him infamous grew out of his character, confirming and establishing it in evil more and more. And thus the thoughts, feelings, and deeds of a man—the whole of his character in the present—are made and determined by his past. Sin is not merely done and done with. The injury done to our soul remains in its effects.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 49:3-4. The term is well adapted both to express the unbridled lawlessness of Reuben’s conduct in the indulgence of his passions, and the effect of it in suddenly and irretrievably casting him down from his birthright. The force of a great current of water, when the barriers that restrained it are removed, is irresistible. Such is the force of corruption in men destitute of religious principle; yet nothing is weaker than water in small quantities—it has no principle of coherence or stability. Such is the weakness of men who walk after their own lusts.—(Bush.)