Genesis 49:4

Unstable as water: this may concern either,

1. Something past, or Reuben's fault; and so he is said to have been unstable, or light, and vain, as the word is used, Judges 9:4 Zephaniah 3:4; like water, moved with every little wind of temptation, and unbounded in thy lust; as water of itself hath no bounds, but will scatter itself every way, if it be not kept within banks, or in a vessel: or, hasty, violent, impetuous in thy lust, like water, which either overflows or breaks its banks. Or,

2. Something to come, or Reuben's punishment; and so the meaning is, Thou, i.e. thy posterity, shall be unstable, or unsettled, flitting and vanishing, coming to nothing, or poured forth like water, useless, contemptible, and weak. Such indeed was the state of that tribe, of which we read nothing eminent in Scripture. See Judges 5:15,16. This I prefer before the former,

1. Because it is not probable that his fault should be described here in such general and ambiguous and dark terms, which is described so plainly and particularly in the following words.

2. Because this makes the coherence most plain. Here is a description, (1.) Of Reuben's excellent state to which he was born, Genesis 49:3. (2.) Of his fall from that state, in these words, and the immediately following, thou shalt not excel. (3.) Of the reason of this fall, his great sin.

3. Because the similitude of water applied to men in this manner, notes rather their impotency and calamity than their sin, as Joshua 7:5 Psalms 22:14. Thou shalt not excel, or, be the most eminent amongst thy brethren; thou hast lost thy pre-eminency due to thee by birthright, both for thyself and for thy posterity, and it shall be given to others; the priesthood to Levi, the dominion to Judah, and the double portion to Joseph. Then defiledst thou it, by committing incest with Bilhah. He repeats the same thing, and that in an emphatical manner, turning his speech and face from Reuben to his brethren, in a posture of indignation and detestation; which you must not impute to Jacob's passion, he being now a dying man, and this being forty years after the crime committed, but to the Spirit of God guiding his tongue to utter this, not only nor chiefly for the punishment of Reuben, who, as many think, had repented of his sin; but for terror, instruction, and caution to all others, and to assure them that sin, though it may be long dissembled and borne with, yet it will one time or other be sorely punished. But these and the next foregoing words may be thus rendered, Then defiledst thou my bed: he went up to it, or rather, he is gone up, i.e. he is vanished, or perished, or lost; for so this word is oft used, as Job 5:26 Isaiah 5:24 Jeremiah 48:15. And so here is an elegant figure, called antanaclasis, whereby the same word is repeated in the same verse in a different sense, as Psalms 18:26 Matthew 8:22. So here, He went up wickedly to his father's bed to commit a great sin; therefore now he is gone up penally, to receive condign punishment; his excellency is gone up like smoke, which ascendeth and is dispersed in the air. And this may seem to be the truest translation and interpretation, because it keeps close to the Hebrew words and their order; whereas, in our translation, there is both a transplacing of the Hebrew words, and a supplement added unnecessarily.