Genesis 35:21-22: “Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it.”
It was the morning sickness that gave her away. Dinah first assumed she had eaten something that didn’t agree with her stomach. But after two weeks of ongoing nausea her mother asked her: “Did you have your period?” Dinah blushed and hesitated. After a while she replied: “I was late this month but I ended up having a small bleeding.” Her mother gave her a thoughtful look and followed up with another question: “How long was the bleeding?” – “Only a day or so”, Dinah replied and her mother blanched. She pulled her daughter close, exclaiming: “My sweet child – you are pregnant!”
From his looks it seemed that Jacob carried Rachel’s tombstone on his back. Grief-stricken as he was, he did not take too well to the news about Dinah’s pregnancy. Leah had to endure a lecture. Angrily Jacob paced his tent saying: “It’s because of your carelessness that your daughter got raped. Dinah should have stayed home with her family. Now you see the result of her visiting the town festival. People died! My Rachel died! And now worst of all she is with child by her rapist. I’d say it would be best for everybody if that child was stillborn.” Incredulous, Leah countered: “This is our grandchild you are talking about!”
Jacob felt weary and tired. He sorely missed Rachel. Unfortunately for Leah, in more than 20 years of marriage he had never really bonded with her. It pained her to see how his heart was solely devoted to Rachel. Even after her passing, Rachel seemed to remain his one and only love which caused friction in the family – but Jacob was too blind to notice.
Reuben heard about his father’s reaction to his sister’s unborn child and he vented to his brothers about it: “I can’t believe how dad treats our mother. He basically wished that the unborn child wouldn’t make it – he told this to her face!” There was a heavy silence as the brothers contemplated this new situation. Levi commented: “It’s not right how our father feels about the child, but let’s be honest: Nobody wants to be reminded of this rapist.” Judah said: “It’s certainly not the baby’s fault that it was fathered by Shechem and it’s no reason to be rude to our mother.” Simeon agreed: “Our father should honor our mother. She has borne him six sons! And now we are stuck in this godforsaken place with inferior grazing land – just so our father can visit the gravesite of his beloved Rachel. How much longer are we going to live in Rachel’s shadow?” Reuben complained: “And why isn’t our mother in charge of orphaned Joseph and Benjamin?” He grimaced in disapproval and added: “Instead, Rachel’s servant girl takes care of them.”
Dan and Naphtali frowned. They did not appreciate the disparaging remarks targeting their mother Bilhah.
It was one o’ clock at night when Bilhah’s tent door opened and closed and Reuben emerged out of nowhere. Horrified, Bilhah raised no objections since the baby was asleep in her tent. She did not want to wake Benjamin and create a scene. So Reuben had his way with her. After he was done he got up and left the tent without saying a word. Bilhah felt degraded and dirty. She had a bucket of water and washed herself as best as she could, but no amount of water could cleanse her from the trauma that had just happened.
In the morning Bilhah cried on Leah’s shoulder and told her everything that had happened. Leah was appalled. “I have not raised my sons to be murderers and rapists,” she said. What is wrong with Reuben?”
On her way to see Jacob, Leah calmed herself down. “There is no use in ranting and raving”, she said to herself. She was ushered into Jacob’s tent. Many sleepless nights had left a toll on him. Leah suddenly realized how fragile he looked. “Jacob”, she began tentatively, “I have some bad news for you.” – “More bad news?” was his reply, “What is it this time?” Leah’s mouth went dry and she swallowed before she replied: “I’m sorry to inform you that Reuben slept with Bilhah last night.” Jacob rose from his seat flabbergasted and said: “He did what?” Leah looked him in the eye and said. “I’m not sure what drove him to do that. But I do know that everybody is restless around here. Jacob, I understand you are mourning the loss of Rachel. We all do. I miss my sister. But we need to move on. We cannot be stuck in grief for the rest of our lives.” Jacob countered: “Why does this have anything to do with Reuben’s behavior?” Leah took a deep breath and said: “You need to talk with him and find out.” And with that, she left. The following day Jacob called his tribe together and explained: “I have heard that my father is still alive and moved near Hebron. By now he must be 120 years old. Let us pack our things and be on our way. We are going to meet my father Isaac.”
Jacob would never follow up with his son Reuben or acknowledge that he knew what he had done – until on his deathbed many decades later.