Reuben and Judah: Two States of Awareness Attempting Assumption

The stories of Reuben going up to his father’s bed (Genesis 35:22) and Judah unknowingly conceiving with Tamar (imagination) (Genesis 38) are more than moral failures—they are profound symbolic moments in the Bible. When interpreted through the framework of spiritual awakening, both episodes represent misalignments or breakthroughs in the process revealed in Genesis 2:24:

“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

This command is not about social marriage—it is psychological. It is the first whisper of the transition from the old man (outer, inherited self) to the new man (inner, awakened self). It is the path of union that leads to transformation.

Reuben: The Firstborn Who Clung to the Past

Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, is the obvious heir in outward terms. But the firstborn in scripture often symbolises the old state—the natural man bound by inherited patterns.

When Reuben “went up to his father's bed,” he did not commit an arbitrary sexual sin; rather, he attempted to assume identity through old habits and inherited ways of thinking. By laying with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, Reuben symbolically tried to claim significance by repeating the past instead of moving forward.

"And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it." (Genesis 35:22)

Reuben’s act shows a refusal to “leave father and mother.” He clings to the outer self and inherited patterns. Spiritual transformation requires detachment from this old self. Although he is the firstborn, Reuben is disqualified.

Jacob later says of him:

“Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel.” (Genesis 49:4)

Water is life, but unstable water has no direction; it flows without conviction. Reuben cannot lead because he never truly leaves the old way of being. He attempts assumption without transformation and so remains trapped in the old.

This is the first clear foreshadowing of the old man’s grip trying to maintain control, and the futility of spiritual inheritance without inner change.

Judah and Tamar: The Soul Responds to the New Assumption

Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, represents a different state of awareness—a first attempt at assuming a brand new identity. His story is intertwined with Tamar, who symbolises imagination and breakthrough.

Judah withholds his youngest son Shelah from Tamar, fearing repeating old patterns. This denial symbolises a blockage in the inner journey. Tamar responds directly to Judah’s new assumption. She is not passive but acts boldly, veiling herself and positioning herself at the crossroads—a symbolic gesture of imagination veiled but persistent.

“I sought him whom my soul loveth... I will rise now, and go about the city, in the streets, and in the broad ways, I will seek him...” (Song of Solomon 3:1–2)

Tamar’s actions are a response demanding Judah’s full assumption of his new identity. Judah, not recognising her, surrenders his signet (identity), cord (connection), and staff (authority)—symbols of his I AM—to Tamar. He unknowingly gives her his being.

From this union—veiled and unconventional—comes Perez, whose name means breach or breakthrough. Perez symbolises the new man born from the soul’s insistence and Judah’s emerging awareness.

Tamar fulfils what Reuben failed: she leaves the old system and cleaves to what she desires. She brings union not by passivity, but through imaginative response. Together, Judah and Tamar bring the inner and outer together.

The Old Man and the New: Two Attempts at Assumption

Reuben and Judah represent two states of awareness attempting assumption:

• Reuben assumes identity out of old habits and inherited ways, which leads nowhere.

• Judah initiates a new assumption, which calls out Tamar—the imagination—as a response, triggering breakthrough.

This illustrates a fundamental truth: the old man cannot enter the new order by repeating old patterns. The new man emerges when the soul (imagination) responds to and unites with the self through surrender and creative action.

This brings us back to Genesis 2:24. “A man shall leave…” means the outer self must abandon its inherited identity. It must neither cling to the old (like Reuben) nor withhold growth (like Judah initially). Instead, it must yield to the soul’s veiled but persistent call—the imagination that demands fulfilment.

Conclusion: Tamar as a Response to Judah’s New Assumption

Tamar is not just a figure in the story; she is the soul responding to Judah’s first attempt at a new identity. Their union births Perez, the symbol of spiritual breakthrough.

The stories of Reuben and Judah are symbolic parables of spiritual becoming: the failure of the old man to inherit transformation, and the birth of the new man through the interplay between the emerging self and the soul’s insistence.

Transformation is not through inheritance or force but through imaginative surrender and response.

“I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go.”
— Song of Solomon 3:4