Word of Encouragement (04/27/2022)
Jacob begins his prayers for his sons with Reuben, his firstborn son. In the first part of his prayer, Jacob describes Reuben. He doesn’t do this in all of his prayers for his sons. Sometimes, he just pronounces his benediction/prophecy. But in many cases, he gives a brief description of the son he is praying for. This description provides the basis for what benediction/prophecy he gives.
Jacob’s description of Reuben fits his status as the firstborn son—“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.” We can see how Reuben was blessed as the firstborn son. The firstborn son was usually expected to carry the family name and be the leader among the siblings. Some rise to this challenge and thrive; others get crushed under the pressure. It seems that Reuben was the former. Jacob attributes might and strength to Reuben. This may be because he was the first issue from his body. And Reuben is described as “preeminent” twice—preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. At this point, it is not so clear what Jacob means by the preeminence of dignity and power—whether it is about Reuben’s status as the firstborn or his character.
We get a clearer picture in the second half of the prayer. After a seemingly glowing commendation comes, “Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!” We are told that Reuben was “unstable as water,” which doesn’t seem to go well with dignity in character. We see that this instability of character was exemplified when he slept with Bilhah, a maid of Rachel, through whom Jacob had Dan and Naphtali. He was not able to control his lust, even after the mother of his stepbrothers! For this, he would have to be punished: “you shall not have preeminence....” The privilege he was given would be taken away from him (and, consequently, from his tribe). As we will see, the privilege of carrying the line of promise will be given to Judah, the fourth son.
Here is a warning against taking our sins lightly. This shows how grave our sin is and what our sin deserves (which is much more than what Reuben received). If we think that Reuben’s punishment is too great for his sin, we are not seeing it from the perspective of God’s holiness.
But let us notice what is not done to Reuben despite his grave sin: his membership in the covenant family was not revoked as a result. Here, we are reminded of two things. The first is, “...the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29). No matter how great and many our sins may be, we cannot be dropped from God’s election. Think about it: when God chose us in Jesus Christ, was He unaware of all our sins? Would any of our sins surprise and shock the all-knowing God? Knowing all about our sins and the depth of our sinfulness (that is, even what kind of sins we are capable of committing if we were given the opportunity), God still chose us from the foundation of the world. He will not change His mind.
The second is that, while our election is secure, we can lose the gifts and privileges God has granted to us as a result of our sin. This is what Job spoke of when he said, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21). These include not only our worldly treasures but also our spiritual gifts and positions of leadership in the church. While important, these things do not rise to the level of our eternal life and inheritance in heaven, which God will never take away from us.
Let us give thanks to God for the unshakable security we have concerning our eternal salvation in Jesus Christ. But let us also have this sobering thought deeply embedded in our hearts—God’s rightful authority to withdraw from us His special gifts when we sin and rebel against Him. To lose such things is not to lose our salvation. But how tragic it would be to lose the position and authority with which we can serve God in a greater capacity! Let us strive to resist sin to the point of shedding blood (Heb. 12:4)!