In the Apocrychal Testament of Reuben (one of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, ostensibly the twelve sons of Jacob), for example, it is explained that:<<<<<
CM, The Testament of Reuben comprises two chapters: Here is chapter one.
The copy of the Testament
of Reuben,even the commands
which he gave his sons
before he died in the hundred
and twenty-fifth year of his life.
2 Two years after the death of Joseph his brother,
when Reuben fell ill, his sons' and his sons,
were gathered together to visit him.
3 And he said to them: My children,
I am dying, and go the way of my fathers.
4 And seeing there Judah, and Gad, and Asher,
his brethren, he said to them: Raise me up,
that I may tell to my brethren and to my
children what things I have hidden in my heart,
for behold now at length I am passing away.
5 And he arose and kissed them, and said unto them:
Hear, my brethren, and do ye, my children,
give ear to Reuben your father, in the commands I give unto you.
6 And behold I call to witness against you
this day the God of heaven,
that you walk not in the sins of
youth and fornication, wherein I was poured out,
and defiled the bed of my father Jacob.
7 And I tell you that he smote
me with a sore plauge in my loins
for seven months: and had not my
father Jacob prayed for me to thye Lord,
the Loprd would have destroyed me..
8 For I was thirty years old
when I wrought the evil thing before the Lord,
and for seven months I was sick unto death.
9 And after this I repented
with set purpose of my soul
for seven years before the Lord.
10 And wine and strong drink I drank not,
and flesh entered not into my mouth,
and I ate no pleasant food:
but I mourned over my sin, for it was great,
such as has not been in Israel.
11 And now hear me, my children,
what things I saw concerning the
seven spirits of deceit when I repented.
12 Seven spirits therefore are appointed
against man,
and they are the leaders in the works of youth.
13 And seven other spirits are given to him
at his creation, that through them
should be done every work of man.
14 The first is the spirit of life,
with which the constitution of man is created.
15 The second is the sense of sight,
with which ariseth desire.
16 The third is the sense of hearing,
to which cometh teaching.
17 The fourth is the sense of smell,
with which tastes are given.
to draw to draw air and breath.
18 The fifth is the power of speech,
with which cometh knowledge.
The sixth is the sense of taste,
with which cometh the eating
of meats and drinks:
and by it strength is produced,
for in food is the foundation of strength.
20 The seventh is the power of
procreation and sexual intercourse,
with which through love of pleasure
sins enter in.
21 Wherefore it is the last
in order of creation,
and the first in theat of youth,
because it is filled with ignorance,
and leadeth the youth as a blind man to a pit,
and as a beast to a precipice.
22 Besides all these there
is an eight spirit of sleep,
with which is brought about the trance
of nature and the image of death.
23 With these spirits are mingled
the spirit of error.
24 First, the spirit of fornication
is seated in the nature and in the senses;
25 The second, the spirit of insatiableness,
in the belly;
26 The third, thje spirit of fighting,
in the liver and gall.
27 The fourth is the spirit
of obsequiousness and chicanery,
that through officious attention
one may be fair in seeming:
28 The fifth is the spirit of pride,
that one may be boastfuland arrogant.
29 The sixth is the spirit of lying,
in perdition and jealousy to practice deceits,
and concealments from kindreds and friends.
30 The seventh is the spirit of injustice,
with which are thefts and acts of rapacity,
that a man may fulfil the desire of his heart;
for injustice worketh trogetjher with the other spirits by the taking of gifts.
31 And with all these the spirit of sleep
is joined which is that of error and fantasy.
32 And so perisheth every young man,
darkening his mind from the truth,
and not understanding the law of God,
nor obeying the admonitionsof his fathers,
as befell me also in my youth.
33 And now, my children, love the truth,
and it will preserve you:
hear ye the words of Reuben your father.
34 Pay no heed to the face of a woman,
35 nor associate with another man's wife,
36 Nor meddle with affairs of womankind.
37 For had not I seen Bilhah
bathing in a covered place,
I had not fallen into this great iniquity.
38 For my mind taking in the thought
of her nakedness, suffered me not to sleep
until I had wrought the abominable thing.
39 For while Jacob our father
had gone to Issac his father,
when we wqere in Eder,
near to Ephrath in Bethlehem,
Bilhah became drunkand was asleep
uncovered in her chamber.
40 Having therefore gone in
and beheld her nakedness,
I wrought the impiety without her perceiving it,
and leaving her sleeping I departed.
41 And Fourthwith an angel of God
revealed to my father concerning my impiety,
and he came and mourned over me,
and touched her no moire.
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