Inside View

When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.  Genesis 37:21 NIV

Tried to rescue – Jonathan Sacks makes an interesting comment about the literal Hebrew in this verse:

It is at this point that the Torah does something it does nowhere else: It makes a statement that, construed literally, is obviously false—indeed, the text goes on immediately to show that it was not quite so.  The verse states: ‘Reuben heard and saved him [Joseph] from their hands’ (37:21).  He did not.  The discrepancy is so obvious that most translations simply do not render the phrase literally.  What Reuben actually did was to attempt to save him.  The phrase ‘Reuben heard and saved him’ tells us what might have been, not what actually is.[1]

A quick check of various English translations shows that about fifty percent do what the NIV does, that is, add a word to alter the meaning and avoid the obviously false statement.  Exceptions are ESV, NKJV, NASB and ASV; all render the verse as the Hebrew is written without trying to fix the contradiction.

What Sacks points out is that the false statement in this verse reflects Reuben’s inner character, a man of intention without action.  The Torah uses this unusual technique to let the reader peer into Reuben’s heart.  The text does correct the facts of the matter, but not without first giving us Reuben’s psychological state.  And this sets the stage for all that follows, that is, the back-and-forth interplay concerning the supposed death of Joseph on the rest of the family and Rueben’s inability to act decisively in other matters.

We see this deliberate exposure of a personal inner world again in the story of Reuben’s attempted coup.  The verse reads, “While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it . . . (Genesis 35:22).  Sacks points out that “the Torah uses an unusual stylistic device.  After the words, ‘And Israel heard of it,’ the Masoretic text indicates a paragraph break in the middle of a sentence.  The effect is to signal a silence, a complete breakdown in communication.  Hence, the pathos of the rabbinic interpretation of the passage . . .”[2]  The break allows the reader to feel what is happening in Jacob (Israel).  Family communication has come to an end.  What the sons did to Joseph has spiraled into internal power struggles.  The little lie has grown into a block-buster monster.

We saw this same technique, actually spelled out in the text, in Joshua 8:24 (TW December 29, 2025).  As we noted in that investigation, this instruction tells the reader that there are two thoughts happening in this sentence; thoughts that would normally require a new paragraph, but in this case, they are somehow connected in a single verse.  The same technique is used in Numbers 26:1.  Now we find it connected to a man’s lack of resolve.  Perhaps the Torah is doing more than allowing us to see into Reuben’s heart.  Perhaps that deliberate pause, that obvious false claim, is really there for us to ask, “Am I resolved?”

Topical Index: Reuben, rescue, Bilhah, paragraph break, Genesis 35:22, Joshua 8:24, Number 26:1, Genesis 37:21