What Does Genesis 35:22 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Reuben’s name means “See, a son,” yet this verse turns to what his father hears about him.
THE MEANING
This verse names a serious violation within the family and says Israel hears of it. It then counts Jacob’s sons as twelve, holding the breach within the household’s account while leaving Israel’s response unstated.
THE ROOT
רְאוּבֵן
Re’uven
GROWS FROM
רָאָה
r-ʾ-h
To see or look; in Re’uven, this root is joined to בֵּן (ben, “son”), giving the phrase “See, a son.”
The name carries Leah’s “See, a son” from Genesis 29:32, where she says the LORD has looked upon her affliction. Here that language of seeing stands beside the report that Israel hears what Reuben has done.
ALSO GROWS
ro’eh: One who sees; a seer
רֹאֶה
It keeps the name’s root in the act of seeing, which Genesis 29:32 also connects to being seen in affliction.
mar’eh: Appearance, vision
מַרְאֶה
It shows how the root of “See, a son” extends into what is seen or made visible.
שָׁמַע
shama
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear or listen; in some uses, hearing extends into heeding or responding.
The verse says Israel hears the report, but does not name his response. The same root appears in שְׁמַע (shema, “hear and respond”), so the wording holds open a distinction between receiving what is heard and what follows.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond
שְׁמַע
It shows how hearing can carry an answering response, though Genesis 35:22 states only that Israel hears.
shemu’ah: Report, tidings
שְׁמוּעָה
It names the report carried to a hearer, making explicit the kind of news Israel receives.
THE PATTERN
A violation within a father’s household is named openly and carried into the family’s account.
Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.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.It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.THE THREAD
Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.Genesis says Israel hears of Reuben’s act but leaves his response unstated. Chronicles names the lasting consequence: Reuben’s birthright goes to Joseph’s sons because he defiled his father’s bed.
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