Parshat Vayeshev6 min read

Reuben Returned to the Empty Pit and His Line Reached Hosea

Reuben climbed back to the pit in sackcloth, found it empty, and named the seven spirits that hunt a man before his line reached Hosea.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Pit Was Empty When He Came Back
  2. What He Confessed He Had Wanted to Do
  3. The Seven Spirits That Hunt Every Man
  4. The Reward Folded Into His Return

The Pit Was Empty When He Came Back

Reuben had not been with his brothers at the edge. He was busy elsewhere, fixed on his own affliction, wrapped in sackcloth and bent over a fast, hour after hour, with his face to the ground over a thing he had done years before. The household weighed on him too, the burden of the firstborn that never set him free. By the time he shook off the sackcloth and lifted his head and walked back across the field to the pit where the brothers had thrown Joseph, the rope of the day had already run out.

He looked down into the cistern. He waited for the small white shape of a boy to move against the stone. Nothing moved. The pit was dry and the pit was empty.

Reuben tore his clothes. The firstborn of Jacob stood over a hole in the ground with his shirt ripped open and said the words that would follow him for the rest of his life. "The child is not," he said, "and I, where shall I go?" He had meant to come back. He had meant to lift the boy out and carry him home to their father. He had bought time, talked the brothers down from killing, sent them off to eat, and the time he bought had been spent against him.

What He Confessed He Had Wanted to Do

Years would pass before he said the rest of it out loud, and when he said it he did not spare himself. He gathered his sons close and told them the truth that had sat under everything. "Ofttimes I longed to kill him," he confessed, "for I hated him from the bottom of my heart, and I desired to destroy him from off the land of the living."

That was the secret the empty pit had been built to hide. The rescue had not been clean. The same hand that pulled Joseph back from the knife had wanted, in the dark of its own chamber, to be rid of him forever. Reuben had carried both. He had hated the boy and he had saved the boy, and he could not tell his sons one without the other.

So he named the thing that had done the wanting. "The God of our fathers saved him out of our hands," he said, "and He did not permit us to commit an abominable outrage in Israel." The plan to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites had been a smaller crime offered up in place of a larger one, and Reuben understood that the smaller crime had been a mercy he had not earned. Something had reached in and stopped his hand before it closed.

The Seven Spirits That Hunt Every Man

He had felt the pull of it from the inside, and he could draw the map. He told his sons there were seven spirits of error sent against a man, ambush set in the soul, and he counted them one by one so his children would know the shapes of their attackers. The spirit of fornication, which seats itself in the senses. The spirit of insatiable hunger in the belly. The spirit of strife. The spirit of love of admiration. The spirit of arrogance. The spirit of falsehood. The spirit of injustice, by which a man takes what is not his.

One above the others he set apart and pressed on them hardest. "Pay no heed to the glances of a woman," he warned, "and remain not alone with a married woman, and do not occupy yourselves with the affairs of women." He knew that road. He had walked it once at Eder, near Ephrath, where Bilhah lay uncovered and heavy with wine, and a single unguarded look had become an abominable deed, and an angel of God had carried the act to Jacob's ears before the night was out. "Had I not seen Bilhah bathe in a secluded spot," he said, "I had not fallen into the great sin I committed."

His own body had answered for it. A sickness fastened on his liver and held him for eleven months, one month for every month his hatred had burned. "As my liver had felt no mercy for Joseph," he told them, "unmerciful suffering was caused unto me by my liver." It was his father's prayer that finally loosened the grip and turned the wrath aside. Reuben learned on a sickbed that hatred fills the heart with poison, that righteousness drives it out, and that humility kills it where it sits.

The Reward Folded Into His Return

Long after, the rabbis went back to that moment at the pit and asked why Reuben had been absent in the first place. One said he was occupied with his sackcloth and his fasting and was not free until the penance let him go. Another said the burden of the household had been cast on him and held him until it loosed its hold. Either way, what called him back to the empty cistern was repentance. He had turned from his own sin first, before he turned to look for his brother, and the turning had a shape heaven was watching.

The Holy One spoke over him a sentence he could not have heard at the time. "You sought to restore a beloved son to his father," came the word. "By your life, your descendant shall restore Israel to their Father in heaven." The reward was folded into the wound. Out of the firstborn who came back too late to a hole in the ground would come a man whose whole work was bringing the lost ones home.

That descendant was Hosea, son of Beeri, and the line ran through a man called Beerah, a well of Torah, who would die in exile so that the ten scattered tribes might return by his merit. And because Reuben had been first to open his mouth with repentance, first to tear his clothes and fast over what he had done, his son the prophet would be given the same first word to carry to a whole people. "Return, O Israel," Hosea would cry across the generations, the cry that began with a firstborn standing over an empty pit, saying that the child was not, and asking where he could possibly go.

ReubenJosephRepentanceHoseaSeven SpiritsTwelve Tribes
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From the tradition

Sources

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Legends of the Jews 2:11Legends of the Jews

Reuben, burdened by the weight of his past transgression, felt compelled to warn those around him. He spoke of seven tempter spirits, insidious forces that can lead us astray. These weren't just abstract concepts; they were tangible threats: the spirit of fornication, gluttony, strife, love of admiration, arrogance, falsehood, and injustice. Pretty potent stuff. But he singled out one vice above all others: unchastity. He cautioned, "Pay no heed to the glances of a woman, and remain not alone with a married woman, and do not occupy yourselves with the affairs of women." It sounds like a fairly direct warning, doesn't it?

Reuben then shared a deeply personal and painful story, a confession that underscored the gravity of his words. He recounted the incident with Bilhah, Jacob's concubine, a moment that haunted him for the rest of his days. "Had I not seen Bilhah bathe in a secluded spot," he confessed, "I had not fallen into the great sin I committed." He described how a single, unguarded thought led to an "abominable deed."

He explained that while the family was in Eder, near Ephrath (Bethlehem), Bilhah, intoxicated with wine, lay asleep, uncovered, in her chamber. He entered and, overcome, committed the sin. The text emphasizes the immediacy of divine knowledge, noting that "an angel of God revealed my impious act to my father Jacob at once."

The shame and regret Reuben must have felt. Jacob, devastated, mourned over him and never again approached Bilhah. Reuben himself carried the burden of his sin for the rest of his life, never fully able to face his father or speak of his disgrace to his brothers. He says even now, his conscience tortures him.

Yet, there's a glimmer of hope amidst the darkness. Jacob, despite his grief, offered words of comfort and prayed for his son, asking God to turn away His wrath. "Nevertheless my father spake words of comfort to me, and prayed to God in my behalf, that the wrath of the Lord might depart from me, as He showed me."

What are we to take away from this story? It's a powerful reminder of the ever-present potential for temptation, the importance of guarding our thoughts, and the enduring consequences of our actions. But it's also a story of repentance, forgiveness, and the possibility of finding solace even in the face of profound regret. Perhaps it's a evidence of the idea that even the deepest wounds can begin to heal with honest remorse and the love of family. Maybe that's what Reuben wanted us to know.

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Legends of the Jews 2:72Legends of the Jews

Reuben admits, "Now I confess my sin, that ofttimes I longed to kill him, for I hated him from the bottom of my heart… and I desired to destroy him from off the land of the living.” Can you feel the intensity of that animosity? It's a raw, human emotion, amplified by sibling rivalry and perceived injustice.

Here’s the twist: Reuben, despite his hatred, couldn't bring himself to commit murder. He arranges the plan to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites instead. "Thus the God of our fathers saved him out of our hands," Reuben confesses, "and He did not permit us to commit an abominable outrage in Israel." It’s a strange kind of redemption, isn’t it? Saving Joseph, but still driven by hatred.

Reuben then turns to his children, offering them a stark warning. "Hear now, my children, the words of truth, that ye may practice justice and the whole law of the Most High, and permit yourselves not to be tempted by the spirit of hatred." He describes hatred as a corrosive force, a constant companion of deception that twists reality, magnifies petty grievances, and ultimately, "fills the heart with devilish poison." Pretty strong stuff. He lays bare his own experience, hoping to inoculate his descendants against the same destructive path. He emphasizes that "Righteousness banishes hatred, and humility kills it." It's a powerful message: actively choose righteousness, cultivate humility, and you starve hatred of its fuel. Easier said than done, of course, but the path is clear.

Here's where the story takes an even more interesting turn. Reuben's repentance wasn't just a verbal declaration. He suffered. According to Ginzberg's retelling, he was afflicted with a liver ailment. "My penance came in consequence of a sickness of the liver that God inflicted upon me." He understood it as a direct consequence of his sin: "As my liver had felt no mercy for Joseph, unmerciful suffering was caused unto me by my liver." The idea of measure for measure, middah k’neged middah, is a powerful one in Jewish thought. What you put out into the world will eventually come back to you.

His suffering lasted eleven months, mirroring the length of his enmity toward Joseph. It was the prayers of his father, Jacob, that healed him. Reuben understood that "true atonement, pleasing to God, enlightens the eyes, illumines the soul with knowledge, and creates a counsel of salvation." True repentance isn't just saying sorry; it’s a transformative process that brings clarity, wisdom, and ultimately, redemption.

Reuben's story is a reminder that even in the face of intense emotions like hatred, there is always a path toward healing and reconciliation. It requires honest self-reflection, a commitment to righteousness, and perhaps most importantly, a willingness to seek forgiveness, both from others and from ourselves. And who knows? Maybe, just maybe, it starts with letting go of that grudge you've been holding onto. What do you think?

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Pesikta DeRav Kahana 24:9Pesikta de-Rav Kahana

"From the fruit of a man's mouth he is satisfied with good" (Proverbs 12:14). It is written, "And Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit" (Genesis 37:29). Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, and the Rabbis interpreted this. Rabbi Eliezer says: he was occupied with his sackcloth and his fasting over that deed that had befallen him, and he was not free; and once he was free from his sackcloth and fasting, he came and looked into the pit, "and behold, Joseph was not in the pit" (Genesis 37:29). Rabbi Yehoshua says: the burden of the household had been cast upon him and he was not free; and once he was free of the household burden, he came and looked into the pit, "and behold, Joseph was not in the pit" (Genesis 37:29).

And the Rabbis said: the Holy One said to him, "You sought to restore a beloved son to his father. By your life, your descendant shall restore Israel to their Father in heaven." And who is this? This is Hosea, as it is written, "The word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri" (Hosea 1:1), and it is written, "Beerah his son" (1 Chronicles 5:6). And why was he called Beerah? Because he was a well [be'er] of Torah. And why did Beerah die in exile? So that the ten tribes would return by his merit. And why did Moses die in the wilderness? So that the generation of the wilderness would return by his merit.

Rabbi Berekhiah said: the Holy One said to him, "You were the first to open with repentance. By your life, your descendant shall come and open first with repentance," namely, "Return, O Israel" (Hosea 14:2).

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