Skip to Content
intertextual.bible
Go to Related Reading
About this book

Genesis

About this book

Jacob Returns to Bethel

Chapter 35

1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once to Bethel and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you.⁠ Purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Let us go up at once to Bethel. Then I will make an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress and has been with me wherever I went.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem⁠ 5 and they started on their journey. The surrounding cities were afraid of God, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 Jacob and all those who were with him arrived at Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 He built an altar there and named the place El Bethel because there God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. 8 (Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel; thus it was named Oak of Weeping.) 9 God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan Aram and blessed him. 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will no longer be called Jacob; Israel will be your name.” So God named him Israel. 11 Then God said to him, “I am the Sovereign God. Be fruitful and multiply!⁠ A nation—even a company of nations—will descend from you; kings will be among your descendants! 12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you. To your descendants I will also give this land.” 13 Then God went up from the place where he spoke with him. 14 So Jacob set up a sacred stone pillar in the place where God spoke with him. He poured out a drink offering on it, and then he poured oil on it. 15 Jacob named the place where God spoke with him Bethel.

Rachel's Death and Benjamin's Birth

16 They traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away, Rachel went into labor—and her labor was hard. 17 When her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you are having another son.” 18 With her dying breath, she named him Ben Oni. But his father called him Benjamin instead.⁠ 19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20 Jacob set up a marker over her grave; it is the Marker of Rachel’s Grave to this day. 21 Then Israel traveled on and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of the Flock.43⁠

Reuben and Jacob's Sons

22 While Israel was living in that land, Reuben went to bed with Bilhah, his father’s concubine,⁠ and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:⁠ 23 The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, as well as Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, were Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

Isaac's Death

27 So Jacob came back to his father Isaac in Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. 28 Isaac lived to be 180 years old. 29 Then Isaac breathed his last and joined his ancestors. He died an old man who had lived a full life. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 35:22 and Shabbat 55b

Hebrew Bible · Rabbinic

Share:

Summary

In Genesis, Reuben sleeps with his father’s concubine Bilhah. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Shabbat says anyone who claims Reuben actually sinned is mistaken, interpreting the moment instead as Reuben rearranging his father’s couches in protest.

Passages

Genesis 35:22

Hebrew Bible
21 Then Israel traveled on and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of the Flock.43 22 While Israel was living in that land, Reuben went to bed with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons: 23 The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, as well as Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Shabbat 55b

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
Having mentioned the sins of some of the significant ancestors of the Jewish people, the Gemara now addresses several additional ancestors. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yonatan said: Anyone who says that Reuben sinned with Bilhah is nothing other than mistaken, as it is stated: “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 of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve” (Genesis 35:22). The fact that the Torah stated the number of Jacob’s sons at that point in the narrative teaches that, even after the incident involving Bilhah, all of the brothers were equal in righteousness. Apparently, Reuben did not sin. How then do I establish the meaning of the verse: “And he lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine”? The plain understanding of the verse indicates sin. This verse teaches that Reuben rearranged his father’s bed in protest of Jacob’s placement of his bed in the tent of Bilhah and not in the tent of his mother Leah after the death of Rachel. And the verse ascribes to him liability for his action as if he had actually lain with Bilhah.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Shabbat

References

... However, an altogether different and, in a sense, opposite solution is attributed to Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel: that Reuben did not commit adultery with Bilhah (but only appeared to have done so). Rabbi Simeon derives this from Moses’ instructions to the tribes to perform a ritual of blessings and curses after entering the land and arriving at Mts. Gerizim and Ebal (Deuteronomy 27:11–26), according to which the tribe of Reuben is the first mentioned of the tribes to stand on Mt. Ebal and utter the “curses” (27:13), one of which is specifically against lying with one’s father’s wife (27:20). If so, then Reuben’s mounting Bilhah’s bed must be interpreted to refer to something other than sexual intercourse, since, to quote the Mishnah, “Whoever is suspected of something, may neither judge nor bear witness with respect to it” (Mishnah Bekhorot 4:10, 5:4). The tradition here alluded to (“He avenged his mother’s shame”) is elsewhere articulated more fully as follows: While Rachel was alive, Leah, Reuben’s mother, was aggrieved because Jacob kept Rachel’s bed next to his. However, when Rachel died, Jacob moved the bed of Bilhah (Rachel’s maidservant) next to his. Reuben, seeking to avenge his mother’s “shame,” removed or overturned Bilhah’s bed and replaced it with Leah’s. ...
Steven D. Fraade, “Rabbinic Midrash and Ancient Jewish Biblical Interpretation,” in Rabbinic Midrash and Ancient Jewish Biblical Interpretation, ed. Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert and Martin S. Jaffee (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 115–116.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Genesis 35:22 and Shabbat 55b

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library