Reuben, firstborn son of Jacob and Leah, lay dying in the hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life. Two years had passed since Joseph fell asleep forever. Now Reuben's own sons gathered at his bedside, along with his brothers Judah, Gad, and Asher. The old man raised himself up, kissed each of them, and spoke.

"Raise me up," he said, "that I may tell you what I have hidden in my heart."

And what he had hidden was shame.

"I call the God of heaven as witness against you this day," Reuben began, "that you walk not in the sins of youth and lust, as I did when I defiled the bed of my father Jacob." He confessed it plainly: at thirty years old, he had violated Bilhah, his father's concubine (Genesis 35:22). For this, God struck him with a plague in his loins for seven months. Had Jacob not prayed for his son, the Lord would have destroyed him entirely.

After the sin, Reuben repented for seven years. He drank no wine. He ate no meat, no pleasant food. He mourned ceaselessly, for his transgression was greater than any yet committed in Israel.

Then Reuben revealed what he had learned in his repentance: the seven spirits of deceit that wage war against every human soul. Seven dark powers, each one seated in the body like a parasite. The first is the spirit of lust, rooted in the senses. The second is the spirit of insatiable appetite, lodged in the belly. The third is the spirit of fighting, coiled in the liver and gall. The fourth is the spirit of flattery and manipulation, making a person seem fair while scheming underneath. The fifth is the spirit of pride, breeding arrogance. The sixth is the spirit of lying, poisoning relationships with deceit and jealousy. The seventh is the spirit of injustice, driving theft and greed, working hand-in-hand with all the others.

And over all of them hovers an eighth spirit: the spirit of sleep, which brings the trance of fantasy and error, darkening the mind of every young person until they cannot see the truth of God's law.

"Pay no heed to the face of a woman," Reuben warned. "Do not associate with another man's wife. Do not meddle with affairs of womankind." He explained his own fall: he had seen Bilhah bathing in a covered place, and the image burned in his mind until he could not sleep. While Jacob had gone to visit Isaac, and the family was camped near Ephrath in Bethlehem, Bilhah became drunk and fell asleep uncovered. Reuben entered her chamber. He committed the act without her perceiving it, and departed. But an angel of God immediately revealed the crime to Jacob, who came and mourned over his son and never touched Bilhah again.

The shame was total. "Until my father's death," Reuben said, "I had not boldness to look in his face, or to speak to any of my brethren." Even now, on his deathbed, his conscience still tormented him.

He pointed to Joseph as the counterexample. The Egyptian woman had done everything to seduce him: summoned magicians, offered love potions. But the purpose of Joseph's soul admitted no evil desire. "If lust overcomes not your mind," Reuben declared, "neither can Beliar overcome you."

Reuben then spoke of the Watchers, those angels who existed before the Flood. They gazed upon mortal women continually, lusted after them, and changed themselves into the shape of men. The women, desiring these beings who seemed to reach unto heaven, gave birth to giants (Genesis 6:1-4). This was the ultimate corruption: even celestial beings fell through the power of lust.

"God gave sovereignty to Levi," Reuben told his sons. "Hearken to Levi, because he shall know the law of the Lord and shall give ordinances of judgment and shall sacrifice for all Israel as the anointed High Priest." He commanded them to do truth to their neighbors, to love one another, and to draw near to Levi in humbleness of heart.

Having given these commands, Reuben died. They placed him in a coffin and carried him up from Egypt to be buried in Hebron, in the cave where his father lay.