Kejadian 35:22

35:22 While Israel was living in that land, Reuben had sexual relations with ¹  Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Jacob had twelve sons:

Imamat 20:11

20:11 If a man has sexual intercourse with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. ²  Both of them must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. ³ 

Ulangan 22:30

22:30 (23:1) ⁴  A man may not marry ⁵  his father’s former ⁶  wife and in this way dishonor his father. ⁷ 

[35:22]  ¹ tn Heb “and Reuben went and lay with.” The expression “lay with” is a euphemism for having sexual intercourse.

[35:22]  sn Reuben’s act of having sexual relations with Bilhah probably had other purposes than merely satisfying his sexual desire. By having sex with Bilhah, Reuben (Leah’s oldest son) would have prevented Bilhah from succeeding Rachel as the favorite wife, and by sleeping with his father’s concubine he would also be attempting to take over leadership of the clan – something Absalom foolishly attempted later on in Israel’s history (2 Sam 16:21-22).

[20:11]  ² sn See the note on Lev 18:7 above.

[20:11]  ³ tn See the note on v. 9 above.

[22:30]  ⁴ sn Beginning with 22:30, the verse numbers through 23:25 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 22:30 ET = 23:1 HT, 23:1 ET = 23:2 HT, 23:2 ET = 23:3 HT, etc., through 23:25 ET = 23:26 HT. With 24:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[22:30]  ⁵ tn Heb “take.” In context this refers to marriage, as in the older English expression “take a wife.”

[22:30]  ⁶ sn This presupposes either the death of the father or their divorce since it would be impossible for one to marry his stepmother while his father was still married to her.

[22:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “uncover his father’s skirt” (so ASV, NASB). This appears to be a circumlocution for describing the dishonor that would come to a father by having his own son share his wife’s sexuality (cf. NAB, NIV “dishonor his father’s bed”).