The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:
The chapter stands at the moment when Jacob commanded his household to put away their foreign gods, to cleanse themselves, and to go up to Bethel to worship God. The verse names six of Jacob's twelve sons as the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun. Those sons of Leah listed here became ancestors of tribes of Israel, for the twelve tribes sprang from Jacob's twelve sons. Each tribe descended from his sons had a leader or elder who took part in deciding matters of common interest.
By this point in the family history the oldest sons had reached manhood with unhappy traits of character, and there was continual strife among the eleven brothers apart from Joseph, who were neither just nor benevolent toward each other. Joseph was specially loved by Jacob because he was the son of his beloved wife Rachel and a child of his old age and of remarkable beauty. The envy and jealousy cherished by the several mothers made the family relationship very unhappy and were instilled by word and example into the minds and hearts of the children, who grew up revengeful, jealous, and uncontrollable, unable to endure provocation and cherishing hatred and revenge. These family evils are the result of polygamy, which dries up human affection and loosens ties that should be held sacred, since each mother is envious and jealous lest her own children not receive due attention from the father and feels bitterness and discontent when another is preferred, and children raised together amid such influences indulge resentment over every supposed slight and revenge for any imaginary wrong.
The chapter stands at the moment when Jacob commanded his household to put away their foreign gods, to cleanse themselves, and to go up to Bethel to worship God. The verse names six of Jacob's twelve sons as the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun. Those sons of Leah listed here became ancestors of tribes of Israel, for the twelve tribes sprang from Jacob's twelve sons. Each tribe descended from his sons had a leader or elder who took part in deciding matters of common interest.
By this point in the family history the oldest sons had reached manhood with unhappy traits of character, and there was continual strife among the eleven brothers apart from Joseph, who were neither just nor benevolent toward each other. Joseph was specially loved by Jacob because he was the son of his beloved wife Rachel and a child of his old age and of remarkable beauty. The envy and jealousy cherished by the several mothers made the family relationship very unhappy and were instilled by word and example into the minds and hearts of the children, who grew up revengeful, jealous, and uncontrollable, unable to endure provocation and cherishing hatred and revenge. These family evils are the result of polygamy, which dries up human affection and loosens ties that should be held sacred, since each mother is envious and jealous lest her own children not receive due attention from the father and feels bitterness and discontent when another is preferred, and children raised together amid such influences indulge resentment over every supposed slight and revenge for any imaginary wrong.