In an obvious connection with the blessing delivered by Yaakov to Reuven in בראשית - Moshe offers here in וזאת הברכהhis blessing and writes יחי ראובן ואל ימות - The Sages (San 92) comment - that this saying apparently features a redundant expression - and it refers to the fact that (the tribe of) Reuven will live in this world and will not die in the hereafter.  Apparently the incident with Bilha would not be remembered against the tribe and its patriarch - both down below in this world and in the parallel celestial world above. 

It is important to consider the spiritual blemish that Reuven caused and in what manner it had been rectified in that Moshe could guarantee him (them) life here below and above. We will attempt to explain that the blemish associated with the bed of Yaakov - had reached the spiritual place of the Shehina, the celestial land of Israel and the מרכבה - the chariot of the Divine throne and it's carriers.

We hope to show how this blemish was ultimately repaired - which included Yaakov's appointment of his grandsons אפרים ומנשה - to complete the 12 tribes necessary to inherit the land of Israel below and to secure the celestial land above. 

To Multiply Means to Have 12 Sons who Inherit the Land

At the heels of Yaakov's appointment of  אפרים ומנשה - as part of the tribes - he recounts to Yoseph the manner he was blessed by Hashem upon his return to בית א״ל from Lavan in Padan. He was promised that he will be fruitful and multiply giving rise to an assembly of nations. This was told to him at a time when all of his sons had been born and Rahel was pregnant with Binyamin. What exactly was this divine message?

It appears to me - that as the celestial land of Israel which represents the spiritual abode of the שכינה has 12 inheritors (carriers) so is Yaakov to have 12 sons who will inherit  the physical land of Israel. The blessing mentioned here to multiply is solely to parallel the spiritual land above to attain the same 12 carriers. In order to bolster our assertion we need only to go back in Sefer Beresheet and see how the blessings given to the Avot to multiple are emphatically associated with the inheritance of the land.

In 17:6-8 Hashem informs Abraham - "I will increase your numbers ... kings will be your descendants ... To you and your offspring I will give the land ... The whole land of Canaan shall be your eternal heritage." A similar dual purpose blessing is repeated to Yishak on his way down to Gerar in 26:3 - "  ... to you and your offspring I will give all of these lands ... I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky."

This dual set - linking the blessing to multiply with the inheritance of the land is repeated by Yishak to Yaakov as he set out to Padan Aram - 28:3-4 "God almighty will then bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers - You will become an assembly of nations - He will grant you Abraham's blessing to you and your descendants so that you will take over the land." God then gives this blessing directly to Yaakov in a two stage process - first on his way to Padan he stops in Bet El - 28:13-14 - "I will give to you and your descendants the land upon which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth."

This is repeated decades later upon his return to Bet El after his name is changed to ישראל - In 35:11-12 "I am God Almighty - Be fruitful and increase - A nation and community of nations will come into existence from you. Kings will be born from your loins. I will grant you the land ... I will also give the land to your descendants". In order for Israel to be granted the status representing the physical carriers of the שכינה whose abode is in the land above - Yaakov must complete the blessing to increase and have one more son to complete the 12 sons who can inherit. He only had 11 at that point including Binyamin.

It was understood that Levi was on an alternative spiritual plane - not to be included as an external carrier of the שכינה - hence having no inheritance in the land. This accords with the Talmudic teaching of R. Aha B. Yaakov (Horayot 6) that Levi is not included in the blessing associated with the land 48:4 ונתתיך לקהל עמים - as only those who can inherit the land are considered an assembly or קהל - congregation. 

The Act of Reuven 

Yaakov rightly assumed that this 12th son to complete the מרכבה for the שכינה would come from Rahel. He continued to share these ideas with Yoseph - he told him that plans were abruptly changed as מיתה עלי רחל - He would travel from her place of burial and set up his tent beyond a place called מגדל עדר - Herd Tower.

Here in a place associated with the arrival of משיח - (Targum Yonatan - See Sefer Mikhah 4) the handmaiden בלהה would conceive the final inheritor of the land who as we will see below will form the 12th carrier of the Shekhina -  This will fulfill the promises to the forefathers to increase and establish Kings above and below. Apparently this accords with the Talmud (Horayot 5) that after he had בנימין he knew one more tribe will be born.

According to Rashi on the Talmud (Shabbat 55) Yaakov would set up a bed and sleep with the wife where he saw the resting of the Divine Presence. According to one view - Reuven transferred not only the bed of his father but that of the שכינה - as the verse related to the act of Reuven reads אז חללת יצועי עלה - Do not read my bed rather beds in plural.

Evidently spiritually this caused a חלל or a breach between Yaakov and the Divine Presence - which prevented the 12th and final son who would inherit the physical and spiritual land of Israel. It would now be up to Reuven and Yoseph to join to close this חלל spiritual space. 

Fixing the Disruption

As one who caused this spiritual disruption Reuven will come to realize that his physical and spiritual existence will be dependent upon Yoseph. He will have to actively prepare Yoseph to ascend somewhat to the level of an Av - thereby having two children who will complete the tribes to form the Divine chariot who inherit the land.

Accordingly the Midrash (Tanhuma) and Talmud (Makkot 20) verify the simple understanding of the verses that Reuven gave council (37:22) to throw Yoseph into the pit in order to rescue him. In the meantime his brother's had pulled him out and sold him. The Midrash (BR 84:19) teaches that he had not been present at the sale as he had been busy with his sackcloth and fasting for having mixed his father's beds.

When Reuven returned to the pit having found Yoseph missing he ripped his clothes. It appears to me that this reflected his own self mourning as he took this as a sign that he will suffer death in this life and that above. This he understood resulted from his blemish in halting the blessing of Yaakov to increase to 12 sons who can inherit the land. With Yoseph now sold - his last vestige of hope was gone. He therefore said that since the boy is goneואני אנה אני בא - an expression of grief that his sin of preventing the 12th inheritor of the land will not even be realized thru Yoseph - In Egypt - Yoseph ascends to a temporary level of an אב by keeping his own bed pure.

This allows his sons to ascend to the level of the other tribes - with regard to land inheritance - and as we will see below in regards to being the banner carriers in the wilderness. Yaakov at that time testifies (48:1-7) to Yoseph that the blessing that began with Abraham that we be fruitful and multiply could not be completed by me - as your mother had died (And Reuven prevented its completion via Bilha) hence - It will be completed via your sons - אפרים ומנשה כראובן ושמעון יהיו לי - They will serve to complete the 12 inheritors of the land below and above - and they will complete the 12 necessary carriers of the Divine Presence - who are the holders of the דגלים in the desert. 

The Secret of the Bed of Yaakov

R. S. Sabato notes that the bed plays an important role - indicating a transformation in that it would now be rectified from its blemish at the hands of Reuven. Yaakov implores his son Yoseph to bury him by Leah and his fathers and not by the latter's mother Rahel.

Yoseph swears to him - and Yaakov bows at the head of the bed. Subsequently Yaakov musters the strength to sit up on the bed to give אפרים ומנשה - rights of land inheritance equal to his other children. This is detailed in דברי הימים א - ה:א - finally Yaakov having fulfilled the blessing to increase and multiply thru the sons of Yoseph - can now even gather his feet (49:33) back onto the bed. 

The Banner in the Desert are the Carriers of the Divine Throne

The Talmud (Horayot 6) makes a point that the families of Yoseph -the children of אפרים ומנשה - are to be included as individual tribes both in regard to inheritance of the land as well as with their encampment in the desert - כנחלתן כך חנייתן - There were four directions - in which each had three tribes who would take up their positions around the Mishkan.

These 12 tribes are the physical manifestation of the carriers of the divine throne above. They are to parallel with the מרכבהabove in the celestial land. In discussing the upper מרכבה the verse in Shir Hashirim 3:10 writes  ומרכבו ארגמן - Zohar teaches that this is a reference to the celestial carriers אוריאל - נוריאל considered as one - along with רפאל גבריאל מיכאל - rounding out in acrostic form - the other three angelic leaders of each spiritual direction (totaling 12).

Down below after the Tikun which included the elevation of אפרים ומנשה - as part of the 12 inheritors of the spiritual land associated with theשכינה - we find Israel paralleling the chariot above. As the verse 6:12 in Shir Hashirim teaches מרכבות עמי נדיב - 

Conclusion - Summary 

Reuven blemished the bed of the שכינה - this is spiritually associated with a blemish in the divine chariot - the celestial land of Israel. The 12th carrier would not be born and the Divine blessing of the patriarchs to be fruitful and multiply would be halted. Yoseph ascends to some extent to the level of a patriarch thereby securing that his children be part of the מרכבה - inheritors of the land.

Reuven is praised in that he attempted to keep Yoseph alive - Anything less would signify his death in this world and that above. Moshe advises us that the children of Israel 12 in number will inherit the land - as they had completed formulating themselves carrying the banners for the שכינה or the כבוד of Hashem.

This in the secret of the Talmudic statement כדי לחלק כבוד לדגלים - In order to divvy the attribute of כבוד amongst the 12 carriers of the banners. Hence Moshe advised Reuven that the situation was rectified יחי ראובן ואל ימות - He will live above and below and ויהי מתיו מספר - retaining his portion as one of the twelve Holy carriers of the Divine Throne. It is written about the righteous לעולם יירשו ארץ - They are to be inheritors of both the land above and below. 

Victor Bibi