Reuben
REUBEN
Behold, a son! The eldest son of Jacob and Leah, so-called in reference to the sentiment of his mother, “The Lord hath looked on my affliction,” Gen 29:32 . Reuben, having defiled his father’s concubine Bilhah, lost his birthright and all the privileges of primogeniture, the preeminence in the family being given to Judah, and the double portion to the two sons of Joseph, Gen 35:22 48:5 49:3,4,8,10 1Ch 5:1,2. He shared in his brother’s jealousy of Joseph, and yet interposed to save his life at Dothan with the design of restoring him privately to his father, Gen 37:18-30 . See also his well-meant proposal in Gen 42:27 . His tribe was never numerous or powerful in Israel. Dathan, Abiram, and On were members of it. It was the ninth of the tribes in the order of population when they entered Canaan, Num 1:21 26:7. Their inheritance was the fine pastureland east of the Jordan, between the Arnon on the south and Gilead on the north; it is now called Belka, Num 32:1-42 Jos 22:1-34 . We afterwards find them reproved by Deborah for remissness, Jdg 5:15,16 . Their position on the frontier exposed them to many assaults from the east, 2Ki 10:33 ; and they were among the first captives to Assyria, 1Ch 5:26, B. C. 740.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Reuben
See Tribes.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Reuben
(REUBEN.)
A proper name which designates in the Bible: (1) a patriarch; (II) a tribe of Israel.
I. THE PATRIARCH
Ruben, Jacob’s eldest son (Genesis 46:8; 49:3) by Lia, was born in Mesopotamia, and called Ruben (“see ye, a son”) as an allusion to Lia’s distress because of Jacob’s previous dislike of her: “The Lord saw my affliction: now my husband will love me” (Genesis 29:32). Ruben was deprived of his birthright in punishment of an incest which he committed in Chanaan (Genesis 35:22; 49:4). It was at his suggestion that instead of killing Joseph, his brothers threw the latter into a pit, whence Ruben vainly hoped to rescue him (Genesis 37:18-24; 37:29-30; 42:22). When Jacob refused to allow Benjamin to go to Egypt with his brothers, Ruben offered two of his sons as a pledge that Benjamin would be brought back (Genesis 42:37). To these few biblical data concerning Jacob’s firstborn, numerous and worthless Haggadic details are added in rabbinical and apocryphal literature.
II. THE TRIBE OF ISRAEL
Situated east of Jordan, and sharing with the tribe of Gad, the original territory of the Amorrhite king, Sehon, between the Arnon and the Jeboc and as far east as Jaser, the border of the Ammonites. The respective lot of Ruben and Gad cannot be given with perfect accuracy, although on the basis of Josue 13:15-23, Ruben’s territorial possessions are usually described as on the east of the Dead Sea and Jordan, between Gad on the north and Moab on the south. Among the prominent towns of the Rubenites were Baalmaon, Bethphogor, Cariathaim, Dibon, Hesebon, Jassa, Medaba, and Sabama. During the journey through the wilderness, the tribe of Ruben counted over 40,000 men (Numbers 1:21; 26:7) and marched with Gad and Simeon on the south side of Israel. To the same period are referred the rebellion of the Rubenite chiefs, Dathan and Abiron, against Moses, and its signal punishment (Numbers 16; Deuteronomy 11:6). After contributing to the conquest of Western Palestine and sharing in the various incidents connected with the erection of a great altar, the descendants of Ruben settled in a district favourable to pastoral pursuits (Numbers 32; Josue 22). Together with the Gadites, they held aloof from the war against Sisara (Judges 5), were smitten by Hazael (2 Kings 10:32-3), and carried into captivity by Teglathphalasar (734 B.C.). The Rubenites were pre-eminently a pastoral race, little fitted to resist invasion, and several of their cities fell into the hands of Moab long before the tribes east of Jordan were carried captive by the Assyrians (cf. Isaiah 15; MESA).
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FRANCIS E. GIGOT Transcribed by Herman F. Holbrook Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Revelation 7.5
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIIICopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Reuben
(Heb. Reiiben’, , see a son [see below]; Sept. and New Test. ), the name of one of the Jewish patriarchs and of the tribe descended from him. The following account is chiefly compiled from the Scriptural statements. SEE JACOB
.
1. Reuben was Jacob’s first-born child (Gen 29:32), the son of Leah, apparently an unexpected fruit of the marriage (Gen 29:31; Josephus, Ant. i, 19, 8). B.C. 1919. This is perhaps denoted by the name itself, whether we adopt the obvious signification of its present form reu’bn, i.e. behold ye, a son! (Gesen. Thesaur. p. 1247 b) or the explanation given in the text, which seems to imply that the original form was , rau bMonyi, Jehovah hath seen my affliction, or that of Josephus, who uniformly presents it as Roubel ( , so also in Ant. ii, 3, 1), and explains it (Ant. i, 19, 8) as the pity of God- , as if from (Furst, Heb. Lex. p. 1269). The Peshito (Rabil) and the Arabic version of Joshua agree with this last form. Redslob (Die alttestamentl. Namen, p. 86) maintains that Reubel is the original form of the name, which was corrupted into Reuben, as Bethel into the modern Beitin, and Jezreel into Zerin. He treats it as signifying the flock of Bel, a deity whose worship greatly flourished in the neighboring country of Moab, and who under the name of Nebo had a famous sanctuary in the very territory of Reuben. In this case it would be a parallel to the title, people of Chemosh, which is bestowed on Moab. The alteration of the obnoxious syllable in Reubel would, on this theory, find a parallel in the Meribbaal and Eshbaal of Saul’s family, who became Mephibosheth and Ishbosheth. But all this is evidently fanciful and arbitrary.
The notices of the patriarch Reuben in the book of Genesis and the early Jewish traditional literature are unusually frequent, and on the whole give a favorable view of his disposition. To him, and him alone, the preservation of Joseph’s life appears to have been due. B.C. 1895. His anguish at the disappearance of his brother, and the frustration of his kindly artifice for delivering him (Gen 37:22); his recollection of the minute details of the painful scene many years afterwards (Gen 42:22); his offer to take the sole responsibility of the safety ot the brother who had succeeded to Joseph’s place in the family (Gen 42:37), all testify to a warm and (for those rough times) a kindly nature. We are, however, to remember that he, as the eldest son, was more responsible for. the safety of Joseph than were the others, and it would seem that he eventually acquiesced in the deception practiced upon his father. Subsequently Reuben offered to make the lives ot his own sons responsible for that of Benjamin, when it was necessary to prevail on Jacob to let him go down to Egypt (Gen 42:37-38). The fine conduct ot Judah in afterwards undertaking the same responsibility is in advantageous contrast with this coarse, although well-meant, proposal. For his adulterous and incestuous conduct in the matter of Bilhah, Jacob in his last blessing deprived him of the pre-eminence and double portion which belonged to his birthright, assigning the former to Judah and the latter to Joseph (Gen 44:3-4; comp. Gen 44:8-10; Gen 48:5). Of this repulsive crime we know from the Scriptures only the fact (Gen 35:22). In the post-Biblical traditions it is treated either as not having actually occurred (as in the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan), or else as the result of a sudden temptation acting on a hot and vigorous nature (as in the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs) a parallel, in some of its circumstances, to the intrigue of David with Bathsheba. Some severe temptation there must surely have been to impel Reuben to an act which, regarded in its social rather than in its moral aspect, would be peculiarly abhorrent to a patriarchal society, and which is specially and repeatedly reprobated in the law of Moses. The Rabbinical version of the occurrence (as given in the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan) is very characteristic, and well illustrates the difference between the spirit of early and of late Jewish history. Reuben went and disordered the couch of Bilhah, his father’s concubine, which was placed right opposite the couch of Leah, and it was counted unto him as if he had lain with her. And when Israel heard it, it displeased him, and he said, Lo! an unworthy person shall proceed from me, as Ishmael did from Abraham, and Esau from my father. And the Holy Spirit answered him and said, All are righteous, and there is not one unworthy among them. Reuben’s anxiety to save Joseph is represented as arising from a desire to conciliate Jacob, and his absence while Joseph was sold, from his sitting alone on the mountains in penitent fasting. These traits, slight as they are, are those of an ardent, impetuous, unbalanced, but not ungenerous, nature; not crafty and cruel, as were Simeon and Levi, but rather, to use the metaphor of the dying patriarch, bdiling up (, A.V. unstable, Gen 44:4) like a vessel of water over the rapid wood-fire of the nomad tent, and as quickly subsiding into apathy when the fuel was withdrawn.
2. The Tribe of Reuben. At the time of the migration into Egypt (or rather at the time of Jacob’s decease), Reuben’s sons were four (Gen 46:9; 1Ch 5:3). From them sprang the chief families of the tribe (Num 26:5-11). One of these families that of Pallu became notorious as producing Eliab, whose sons or descendants, Dathan and Abiram, perished with their kinsman On in the divine retribution for their conspiracy against Moses (16:1; 26:8-11). The census at Mount Sinai (1:20, 21; 2:11) shows that at the Exodus the numbers of the tribe were 46,500 men above twenty years of age, and fit for active warlike service. In point of numerical strength, Reuben was then sixth on the list, Gad, with 45,650 men, being next below. On the borders of Canaan, after the plague which punished the idolatry of Baal-peor, the numbers had fallen slightly, and were 43,730; Gad was 40,500; and the position of the two in the list is lower than before, Ephraim and Simeon being the only two smaller tribes (26:7, etc.). During the journey through the wilderness the position ot Reuben was on the south side of the Tabernacle. The camp which went under his name was formed of his own tribe, that of Simeon (Leah’s second son), and that of Gad (son of Zilpah, Leah’s slave). The standard of the camp was a deer with the inscription, Hear, O Israel! the Lord thy God is one Lord! and its place in the march was second (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan [Num 2:10-16]).
The Reubenites, like their relatives and neighbors on the journey, the Gadites, had maintained through the march to Canaan the ancient calling of their forefathers. The patriarchs were feeding their flocks at Shechem when Joseph was sold into Egypt. It was as men whose trade had been about cattle from their youth that they were presented to Pharaoh (Gen 46:32; Gen 46:34), and in the land of Goshen they settled with their flocks and herds and all that they had (Gen 46:32; Gen 47:1). Their cattle accompanied them in their flight from Egypt (Exo 12:38); not a hoof was left behind; and there are frequent allusions to them on the journey (34:3; Num 11:22; Deu 8:13, etc.). But it would appear that the tribes who were destined to settle in the confined territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan had, during the journey through the wilderness, fortunately relinquished that taste for the possession of cattle which they could not have maintained after their settlement at a distance from the wide pastures of the wilderness. Thus the cattle had come into the hands of Reuben, Gad, and the half of Manasseh (Num 32:1), and it followed naturally that when the nation arrived on the open downs east of the Jordan, the three tribes just named should prefer a request to their leader to be allowed to remain in a place so perfectly suited to their requirements. The country east of Jordan does not appear to have been included in the original land promised to Abraham. That which the spies examined was comprised, on the east and west, between the coast of Jordan and the sea. But for the pusillanimity of the greater number of the tribes it would have been entered from’the south (13:30), and in that case the east of Jordan might never have been peopled by Israel at all. Accordingly, when the Reubenites and their fellows approach Moses with their request, his main objection is that by what they propose they will discourage the hearts of the children of Israel from going over Jordan into the land which Jehovah had given them (Gen 32:7). It is only on their undertaking to fulfil their part in the conquest of the western country, the land of Canaan proper, and thus satisfying him that their proposal was grounded in no selfish desire to escape a full share of the difficulties of the conquest, that Moses will consent to their proposal.
The blessing of Reuben by the departing lawgiver is a passage which has severely exercised translators and commentators. Strictly translated as they stand in the received Hebrew text, the words are as follows:
Let Reuben live, and not die,
And let his men be a [small] number.
As to the first line there appears to be no doubt, but the second line has been interpreted in two exactly opposite ways.
1. By the Sept.,
And let his men be many in number.
This has the disadvantage that is never employed elsewhere for a large number, but always for a small one (e.g. 1Ch 16:19; Job 16:22; Isa 10:19; Eze 12:16). 2. That of our own A.V.,
And let not his men be few.
Here the negative of the first line is presumed to convey its force to the second, though not there expressed. This is countenanced by the ancient Syriac version (Peshito) and the translations of Junius and Tremellius, and Schott and Winzer. It also has the important support of Gesenius (Thesaur. p. 968 a, and Pent. Samuel p. 44). It is, however, a very violent rendering. 3. A third and very ingenious interpretation is that adopted by the Veneto- Greek version, and also by Michaelis (Bibelfur Ungelehrten, Text), which assumes that the vowel-points of the word , his men, should be altered to , his dead And let his dead be few as if in allusion to some recent mortality in the tribe, such as that in Simeon after the plague of Baal-peor. These interpretations, unless the last should prove to be the original reading, originate in the fact that the words in their naked sense convey a curse, and not a blessing. Fortunately, though differing widely in detail, they agree in general meaning. The benediction of the great leader goes out over the tribe which was about to separate itself from its brethren, in a fervent aspiration for its welfare through all the risks of that remote and trying situation. Both in this and the earlier blessing of Jacob, Reuben retains his place at the head of the family, and it must not be overlooked that the tribe, together with the two who associated themselves with it, actually received its inheritance before either Judah or Ephraim, to whom the birthright which Reuben had forfeited was transferred (1Ch 5:1).
From this time it seems as if a bar, not only the material one of distance, and of the intervening river and mountain-wall, but also of difference in feeling and habits, gradually grew up more substantially between the Eastern and Western tribes. The first act of the former after the completion of the conquest, and after they had taken part in the solemn ceremonial in the valley between Ebal and Gerizim, shows how wide a gap already existed between their ideas and those of the Western tribes. The pile of stones which thev erected on the western bank of the Jordan to mark their boundary to testify to after-ages that, though separated by the rushing river from their brethren and the country in which Jehovah had fixed the place where he would be worshipped, they had still a right to return to it for his worship was erected in accordance with the unalterable habits of Bedouin tribes both before and since. It; was an act identical with that in which Laban and Jacob engaged at parting, with that which is constantly performed by the Bedouin of the present day. But by the Israelites west of Jordan, who were fast relinquishing their nomad habits and feelings for those of more settled permanent life, this act was completely misunderstood, and was construed into an attempt to set up a rival altar to that of the sacred tent. The incompatibility of the idea to the mind of the Western Israelites is shown by the fact that, notwithstanding the disclaimer of the two and a half tribes, and notwithstanding that disclaimer having proved satisfactory even to Phinehas, the author of Joshua 22 retains the name mizbeach for the pile, a word which involves the idea of sacrifice i.e. of slaughter (see Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 402)-instead of applying to it the term gal, as is done in the case (Gen 31:46) of the precisely similar heap of witness. Another Reubenitish erection, which long kept up the memory of the presence of the tribe on the west of Jordan, was the stone of Bohan ben-Reuben which formed a landmark on the boundary between Judah and Benjamin (Jos 15:6). This was a single stone (Eben), not a pile, and it appears to have stood somewhere on the road from Bethany to Jericho, not far from the ruined khan so well known to travellers.
The doom, Thou shalt not excel, was exactly fulfilled in the destinies of the tribe descended from Reuben, which makes no figure in the Hebrew history, and never produced any eminent person. No judge, no prophet, no hero of the tribe of Reuben is handed down to us, unless it be Adina the Reubenite, a captain of the Reubenites, and thirty with him (1Ch 11:42). In the dire extremity of their brethren in the north under Deborah and Barak, they contented themselves with debating the news among the streams () of the Mishor. The distant distress of his brethren could not move Reuben: he lingered among his sheepfolds, and preferred the shepherd’s pipe and the bleating of the flocks to the clamor of the trumpet and the turmoil of battle. His individuality fades more rapidly than Gad’s. The eleven valiant Gadites who swam the Jordan at its highest, to join the son of Jesse in his trouble (1Ch 12:8-15); Barzillai; Elijah the Gileadite; the siege of Ramoth-gilead, with its picturesque incidents all give a substantial reality to the tribe and country of Gad. But no person, no incident, is recorded to place Reuben before us in any distincter form than as a member of the community (if community it can be called) of the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the halftribe of Manasseh (1Ch 12:37). The very towns of his inheritance Heshbon, Aroer, Kirjathaim, Dibon, Baalmeon, Sibmah, Jazer are familiar to us as Moabitish, and not as Israelitish, towns. The city life so characteristic of Moabitish civilization had no hold on the Reubenites. They are most in their element when engaged in continual broils with the children of the desert, the Bedouin tribes of Hagar, Jetur, Nephish, Nodab; driving off their myriads of cattle, asses, camels; dwelling in their tents, as if to the manner born (5:10), gradually spreading over the vast wilderness which extends from Jordan to the Euphrates (1Ch 12:9), and every day receding further and further from any community of feeling or of interest with the Western tribes. See MOAB. Thus remote from the central seat of the national government and of the national religion it is not to be wondered at that Reuben relinquished the faith of Jehovah. They went after the gods of the people of the land whom God destroyed before them, and we hear little more of them till the time of Hazael, king of Syria, who ravaged and for a time held possession of their country (2Ki 10:33). The last historical notice which we possess of them, while it records this fact, records also as its natural consequence that the Reubenites and Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh were carried off by Pul and Tiglath-pileser, and placed in the districts on and about the river Khabfir, in the upper part of Mesopotamia in Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and the river Gozan (1Ch 5:26).
The following is a list of all the Biblical localities in the tribe of Reuben, with their probable identifications. For the boundaries, SEE TRIBE.
Abarim.Mountains.El-Belka.
Almon-diblathaim.Town.[N. of Dhiban]?
Arnon.River.Mojeb.
Aroer.Town.Arair.
Ashdoth-pisgah.Brooks.SEE PISGAH.
Ataroth.Town.Atarus.
Baal-meon.do.Main.
Bajith.do.SEE BAAL-MEON.
Bamoth (-baal).Hill ( Misgab)Jebel Humeh?
Beer (-elim).Well.[On Seil Hadan]?
Beon.Town.SEE BAAL-MEON.
Beth-baal-meon.do.SEE BAAL-MEON.
Beth-diblathaim.do.SEE ALMON- NIBNLATHAIM.
Beth-jeshimoth.do.Beit-Jismuth?
Beth-meon.do.SEE BAAL-MEON.
Beth-peor.Temple.[N. W. of Hesban]?
Bezer.Town.[Burazin]?
Dibon [or Dimon].do.Dhiban.
Ealaleh.do.El-Al.
Heshbon.do.Hesban.
Jahaz.do.[Khan es-Shib]?
Kedemoth.do.[Ed-Duleilat]?
Kiijathaim.do.Kureyat?
Lasha.doSEE CALLIRRHO.
Mattanah.do.[In plain Ard Ramadan]?
Medeba.do.Medaba.
Mephaath.do.[ Em el- Weled]?
Miunith.do.Minyah.
Migab.do.SEE BAMOTH.
Nahaliel.do.[N. of Wady Maleh]?
Nebo.Mount.Jebel Neba.
Nophah.Town.[El-Habeeis]?
Pisgah.Mount.SEE NEBO.
Shebern, Shebman, or Sibmah.Town.Es-Sameh]?
Zareth-shahar.do.Zara?
Zophim.Field.[Plain of Medeba]?
The country allotted to the Reubenites extended on the south to the river Arnon, which divided it from the Moabites (Jos 13:8; Jos 13:16); on the east it touched the desert of Arabia; on the west were the Dead Sea and the Jordan. The northern border was probably marked by a line running eastward from the Jordan, through Wady Hesban (Jos 13:17-21; Num 32:37-38). This country had originally been conquered and occupied by the Moabites; but they were driven out a short time before the Exodus by Sihon, king of the Amorites, who I was in his turn expelled by the Israelites (Deuteronomy 2; Num 21:22-31). Immediately after the captivity e the Moabites again returned to their old country and occupied their old cities. This is the reason why, in the later prophets, many of the cities of Reuben are emtbraced in the curses pronounced upon Moab (Jeremiah 48). The territory was divided into sections the western declivities towards the Dead Sea and the Jordan valley, which were steep, rugged, and bare, with the little section of the lower plain of Jordan (called in Scripture the plains of Moab [Num 22:1]) at their base; and the high table-land stretching from the summit of the ridge away towards Arabia. The latter, from its even surface, as contrasted with the rocky soil of Western Palestine, received from the accurate sacred writers the appropriate name Mishor (q.v.). Under its modern name of the Belka it is still esteemed beyond all others by the Arab sheepmasters. It is well watered, covered with smooth, short turf, and losing itself gradually in those illimitable wastes which have always been, and always will be, the favorite resort of pastoral nomad tribes. The whole region is now deserted; there is not a single settled inhabitant within its borders. Its great cities, mostly bearing their ancient names, are heaps of ruins. The wild wandering tribes of the desert visit it periodically to feed their flocks and herds on its rich pastures, and to drink the waters of its fountains and cisterns. See Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, p. 365 sq.; Irby and Mangles, Travels, p. 460 sq.; Porter, Hand-book for Syria, p. 298 sq.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Reuben
behold a son!, the eldest son of Jacob and Leah (Gen. 29:32). His sinful conduct, referred to in Gen. 35:22, brought down upon him his dying father’s malediction (48:4). He showed kindness to Joseph, and was the means of saving his life when his other brothers would have put him to death (37:21,22). It was he also who pledged his life and the life of his sons when Jacob was unwilling to let Benjamin go down into Egypt. After Jacob and his family went down into Egypt (46:8) no further mention is made of Reuben beyond what is recorded in ch. 49:3,4.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Reuben
Jacob’s firstborn, Leah’s son, born long after the marriage. The name expresses the parents’ joy at the accomplishment of long deferred hope: “Behold ye a son” (Gen 29:32). He gathered mandrakes for his mother, in boyhood (Gen 30:14). (See MANDRAKES.) In a sudden gust of temptation he was guilty of foul incest with Bilhah, his father’s secondary wife. Jacob on his deathbed (Gen 49:3-4) said: “boiling over (so pachaz means) like water (on a rapid fire), thou shalt not excel” (Gen 49:4). The effervescence of water symbolizes excited lust and insolent pride. By birthright Reuben was “the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power” (Gen 49:3), i.e. entitled to the chieftianship of the tribes and to a double portion; but because of incest (Gen 35:22; Lev 18:8) “thou shalt not excel” or “have this excellency” (compare the margin of Lev 4:7). (No great act, no great prophet, judge, or hero leader, springing from Reuben, appears on record (1Ch 5:1-2.)
The chieftainship was transferred to Judah, the double portion to Joseph; the firstborn of the beloved Rachel superseding the firstborn of slighted Leah, not however to gratify the father’s preference (Deu 21:15-17), but to fulfill God’s holy purpose. Impulses to good, as well as evil, were strong in Reuben. Impetuous, without due balance of mind, he was at the same time generous in disposition. He saved Joseph’s life from the crafty and cruel brothers, Levi, Simeon, Judah, and the rest, by insisting that his blood should not be shed, but he be cast into a pit, Reuben secretly intending to deliver him out of their hands. These took advantage of his temporary absence to sell Joseph (Gen 37:20 ff). He probably had gone to seek means to rescue Joseph. The writer’s omitting to explain Reuben’s absence is just what a forger would not have omitted, and proves the simplicity and truthfulness of the narrative.
Reuben was deeply moved to find Joseph gone; he rent his clothes, crying, “the child is not, and I, where shall I go?” Years after he reminded them of his remonstrance (Gen 42:22): “spoke I not unto you saying, Do not sin against the child, and ye would not hear? Therefore behold also his blood is required.” Again, his offer to Jacob (Gen 42:37) to stake his own two sons’ lives for the safety of Benjamin, Joseph’s surviving brother, is another trait of kindliness. But consistent resoluteness was wanting; putting Joseph in the pit was a compromise with the brothers’ wickedness; decided, firm, unyielding resistance would have awed them and saved Joseph. Reuben had four sons at the migration into Egypt (Gen 46:9; 1Ch 5:3; Num 26:5-11). The conspirators Dathan, Abiram, and On sprang through Eliab and Pallu from Reuben (Num 16:1). At the Sinai census (Num 1:20-21; Num 2:11) Reuben numbered 46,500 men above 20 years of age, fit for service, and was sixth on the list: at the borders of Canaan (Num 26:7) – 43,730.
On march Reuben was S. of the tabernacle; Gad and Simeon were next Reuben on the same side (Num 2:10-16). Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh still retained their forefathers’ calling as tending flocks and herds (Num 32:1). So, at their request, they were allowed to occupy Og’s and Sihor’s territories E. of Jordan, “the mishor” or even downs, the modern Belka; well watered, with smooth short turf, stretching away into the vast nomadic tracts eastward. Reuben, faithfully keeping their promise to Moses (Num 32:16-33), left the wives, little ones, and flocks behind in this region, and marched W. of Jordan to help in the conquest of Canaan; subsequently they erected an altar shaped like the tabernacle altar, W. of Jordan, not for sacrifice but to attest their share in the national worship with their brethren on that side (Joshua 22). By a solemn protestation of their not intending political or religious schism in the name of ‘Eel,” the Strong One”, Elohim “the Supreme Being” to be feared, and Jehovah “the covenant God”, they disabused Israel’s mind of suspicion.
Typical of there being only one sacrificial altar, Christ, above; our earthly communion with His sacrifice being commemorative, spiritual, and real, not carnal and literal (Heb 13:10; Rev 8:3). Moses’ blessing on Reuben (Deu 33:6-7), “let Reuben live and not die, and let (not) his men be few,” implies a warning and a deprecation of evils deserved. Reuben held the S. of the land E. of Jordan. Occupation with their flocks made them dilatory and unwilling to join in the struggle for national independence against Jabin (Jdg 5:15-16). Keil translated, “at the watercourses of Reuben were great resolutions (projects) of heart.”
Reuben held meetings by their rural watercourses (pelagot), passed spirited resolutions, but after all preferred remaining quietly among the sheepfolds (hurdles) and hearing the bleating of the flocks (or else the piping of shepherds) rather than the blast of war trumpets. The same impulsive instability appears in them as in their forefather Reuben. (See RIVER.) Seeking pastures for their flocks they dissipated their strength in guerrilla marauding expeditions toward Euphrates against the Bedouin tribes Hagar, Jetur, Nephish (1Ch 5:9-10; 1Ch 5:18, etc.). The Dibon stone shows that Moab wrested from Reuben many cities assigned by Joshua to them. (See DIBON.) Finally going a whoring after the gods of the people of the land whom God destroyed before them, Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh were first cut short by Hazael (2Ki 10:32-33), then carried off by Pul and Tiglath Pileser, and placed about the river Khabour “in Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan” (1Ch 5:26).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
REUBEN
As the eldest of Jacobs twelve sons, Reuben had the right to the blessing of the firstborn (Gen 35:23; Gen 46:8). At times he showed qualities of character and leadership (Gen 37:21-30; Gen 42:22; Gen 42:37), but he lost the firstborns rights because of his immorality with one of his fathers concubines. As a result the civil leadership of Israel went to the tribe of Judah, the religious leadership to Levi, and the double portion of the inheritance to Joseph. This meant that Joseph received the right to have two tribes (which were descended from his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh) (Gen 35:22; Gen 49:3-4; 1Ch 5:1-2).
In the time of Moses, certain Reubenites were jealous that a man from the tribe of Levi (Moses), rather than one from the tribe of Reuben, was overall leader in Israel (Num 16:1-3; Num 16:12-14). God punished their rebellion in a dramatic judgment (Num 16:25-33).
When the Israelites conquered and divided Canaan in the time of Joshua, the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh settled east of the Jordan River in territory taken from the Amorites (Num 21:11-35; Jos 13:8-12). This entire eastern territory was often called Gilead, though strictly speaking Gilead was only one part of it (Jdg 10:8; Jdg 20:1). (For map and other details see GILEAD.) Reuben was the most southern of the eastern tribes, occupying land that originally belonged to Moab (that is, before Moab lost it to the Amorites) (Num 21:26; Jos 13:15-23). (For the physical features of the region see MOAB.)
The reason the two and a half tribes asked for this area was that it had good pasture lands and they had large flocks and herds (Num 32:1-5; Num 32:33). But their situation east of Jordan separated them from the other tribes, and at times led to tension and misunderstanding (Joshua 22; Jdg 5:16-17).
Further difficulties arose for the eastern tribes because their position left them more open to attack than the western tribes (1Ki 10:32-33). At the time of Israels collapse several hundred years later, the eastern tribes were among the first to be taken into captivity (2Ki 15:29).
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Reuben
REUBEN.The firstborn of Jacob by Leah, Gen 29:32 (J [Note: Jahwist.] ) Gen 35:23 (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ) Gen 46:8 (R [Note: Redactor.] ). The popular etymology connects the name with Leahs distress, because of Jacobs previous dislike of her. She called his name Reuben: for she said, because Jahweh hath looked upon my affliction (rh beonyi). This, however, is clearly a paronomasia, though evidently intended seriously; otherwise the passage has no meaning. The Hebrew word = Behold ye a son. In Josephus the form is Rubel, and in Syriac it is Rbl. Lengthy discussions have been given of the name, and numerous theories advanced by way of solution of the problems it raises, but no conclusion that can he accepted has been reached. Cheyne regards Reubel as the correct form, and makes both it and Reuel corruptions of Jerahmeel, but this conclusion is based upon his own peculiar theories of the history of Israel and of the Hebrew text.
The remarkable thing about Reuben is that he was of so little importance in the history of Israel, and yet in all the traditions he is represented as the firstborn. He, however, lost his birthright, the reason for which is apparently given by J [Note: Jahwist.] (Gen 35:22), viz., because he had lain with his fathers concubine, Bilhah. Unfortunately, the remainder of the story, which probably told what Israel did when he heard of it, has been dropped. The Blessing of Jacob (Gen 49:3-4) attributes his decadence to the curse pronounced upon him for the act:
Reuben, thou wast my firstborn,
My strength, and the first of my virility;
Over-impetuous, exceedingly passionate,
Seething like water, thou shalt not excel;
For thou didst ascend thy fathers bed,
Then cursed I my couch thou didst ascend.
[Reading the first part of the last line with Gunkel (p. 434) and the second part with LXX. [Note: Septuagint.] ]
In the Blessing of Moses (Deu 33:6) the curse has sealed his doom, and a pitiful remnant depleted in strength is all that remains:
Let Reuben live, and let him not die,
Yet, let his men be very few.
The meaning of this alleged incest, stated in the language of tribal history, seems to be that the Reubenites committed some outrage upon the Bilhah clans, which was resented and punished by Israel, Dan, and Naphtali and perhaps other tribes. As Dan and Naphtali were settled together in the north, it is not improbable (and there are some indications of this) that at an earlier time they may have been neighbours in the south, and there have come into conflict with Reuben.
It is worth noticing in this connexion that two of the descendants of Reuben given in the genealogy of Reuben (Gen 46:9 etc.), viz. Hezron and Carmi, reappear as Judahites; Hezron as the grandson of Judah (Gen 46:12 etc.) and Carmi in Jos 7:1; Jos 7:18. Moreover, Shimei is a Reubenite 1Ch 5:4, a Simeonite 1Ch 4:27, and a Levite Exo 6:17. In Jos 15:6 P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] , in describing the lot of Judah, makes the north border go up by the stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben. Either, then, as it would seem, Reuben must have first settled in the West, or else Reubenite clans migrated thither from the East. These facts are not conclusive, but they support the theory that Reuben was first settled in the West. Another explanation is given, e.g. by Stade (GVI [Note: VI Geschichte des Volkes Israel.] , p. 151), to the effect that the Reuben-Bilhah story may refer to the custom in vogue among the heathen Arabs of inheriting the fathers concubines with his other possessions, and that the tribe of Reuben may have held to it, being less advanced culturally than the others. In this way, therefore, it is implied, they may have brought upon themselves the displeasure of the other tribes who stood upon a higher moral plane. This is not in harmony with the tradition which makes Reubens offence one against Israel. Besides, it is an illustration of OT writing in which the virtues of a later age are ascribed to the earlier. Bathsheba did not scruple to ask Abishag for Adonijah, and Solomon did not object on moral grounds (1Ki 2:1-46).
P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] in his Sinai census (Num 1:21; Num 2:11) enumerates the tribe at 46,500 fighting men. At Moab it had decreased to 43,730 (26:7).
Reuhen is linked with Gad (Num 32:1-42) in connexion with the conquest. The inviting pasturage of the East Jordan is said to have determined these pastoral tribes to settle on the east. Moses, however, requires of them that they shall first cross over and aid the other tribes in getting possession of their respective lots. When this was effected, we are told in Jos 22:7 ff. that Joshua sent them back with great riches of spoils to their tents (see Gad). Nothing is said, however, of the previous settlement of Judah; nor, indeed, are we told of that anywhere.
The territory of the tribe is said in Num 32:37-38 (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ) to have included six cities, which appear to have formed a sort of enclave within Gadite territory. The children of Reuben built Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kiriathaim; and Nebo, and Baal-meon (their names being changed), and Sibmah: and gave other names unto the cities which they builded. The names given here must be the original names, as it is improbable that the author would allow the worshippers of Jahweh to couple with the names of their cities the gods Nebo and Baal. But we nowhere read of the new names. Their list of cities is increased in Jos 13:15 ff. without regard to the above list, Kiriathaim and Sibmah being the only ones in it that are mentioned. Three cities elsewhere assigned to Gad and four assigned elsewhere to Moab are here given to Reuben.
Reuben is rebuked hi the Song of Deborah, because it did not participate in the war against Sisera, in words that reflect the pastoral occupation of its people. It is there followed by Gilead (Gad). In the Mesha inscription (9th cent.), though the men of Gad are referred to as having dwelt in Ataroth from of old, the name of Reuben is omitted, though some of the cities ascribed to the tribe in the genealogies are said to have been taken or rebuilt. As we have seen in the above reference to the Blessing of Moses (probably about the first half of the 8th cent.), the tribe was apparently reduced at that time to an inconsiderable remnantmen of number, i.e. so few that they might easily be counted. It is, however, still mentioned in 2Ki 10:32 as though it maintained its separate organization when Hazael of Damascus overran and smote the eastern Israelites. Its name appears more than one hundred years later, when Tiglath-pileser iii. deported the tribes to Assyria in 734 (1Ch 5:26). In all probability, however, it had long before ceased to exist as an independent unit (see Gad). See also Tribes.
James A. Craig.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Reuben
Eldest son of Jacob by Leah. We have his history from (Gen 29:32) through the relation of the patriarchs. His name is derived from Rahah, to see-and Ben, son; so that the compound may be, the son of vision.
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Reuben
rooben, ruben (, re’ubhen; , Rhouben): The eldest son of Jacob, born to him by Leah in Paddan-aram (Gen 29:32).
1. Jacob’s Oldest Son:
This verse seems to suggest two derivations of the name. As it stands in Massoretic Text it means behold a son; but the reason given for so calling him is The Lord hath looked upon my affliction, which in Hebrew is ra’ah beony, literally, He hath seen my affliction. Of his boyhood we have only the story of the mandrakes (Gen 30:14). As the firstborn he should really have been leader among his father’s sons. His birthright was forfeited by a deed of peculiar infamy (Gen 35:22), and as far as we know his tribe never took the lead in Israel. It is named first, indeed, in Num 1:5, Num 1:20, but thereafter it falls to the fourth place, Judah taking the first (Num 2:10, etc.). To Reuben’s intervention Joseph owed his escape from the fate proposed by his other brethren (Gen 37:29). Some have thought Reuben designed to set him free, from a desire to rehabilitate himself with his father. But there is no need to deny to Reuben certain noble and chivalrous qualities. Jacob seems to have appreciated these, and, perhaps, therefore all the more deeply lamented the lapse that spoiled his life (Gen 49:3 f). It was Reuben who felt that their perils and anxieties in Egypt were a fit recompense for the unbrotherly conduct (Gen 42:22). To assure his father of Benjamin’s safe return from Egypt, whither Joseph required him to be taken, Reuben was ready to pledge his own two sons (Gen 42:37). Four sons born to him in Canaan went down with Reuben at the descent of Israel into Egypt (Gen 46:8 f).
The incidents recorded are regarded by a certain school of Old Testament scholars as the vague and fragmentary traditions of the tribe, wrought into the form of a biography of the supposed ancestor of the tribe. This interpretation raises more difficulties than it solves, and depends for coherence upon too many assumptions and conjectures. The narrative as it stands is quite intelligible and self-consistent. There is no good reason to doubt that, as far as it goes, it is an authentic record of the life of Jacob’s son.
2. Tribal History:
At the first census in the wilderness Reuben numbered 46,500 men of war (Num 1:21); at the second they had fallen to 43, 730; see NUMBERS. The standard of the camp of Reuben was on the south side of the tabernacle; and with him were Simeon and Gad; the total number of fighting men in this division being 151, 450. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan says that the standard was a deer, with the legend Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord. On the march this division took the second place (Num 2:10 ff). The prince of the tribe was Elizur ben Shedeur, whose oblation is described in Num 7:30 ff. The Reubenite among the spies was Shammua ben Zaccur (Num 13:4). It is possible that the conspiracy against Moses, organized by the Reubenites Dathan and Abiram, with the assistance of Korah the Levite (Nu 16), was an attempt on the part of the tribe to assert its rights as representing the firstborn. It is significant that the children of Korah did not perish (Num 26:11). May not the influence of this incident on Moses’ mind be traced in his blessing, wishing for the continuance of the tribe, indeed, but not in great strength (Deu 33:6)? This was a true forecast of the tribal history.
When the high plateau East of the Dead Sea and the Jordan fell into the hands of the Israelite invaders, these spacious pastoral uplands irresistibly attracted the great flock-masters of Reuben and Gad, two tribes destined to be neighbors during succeeding centuries. At their earnest request Moses allowed them their tribal possessions here subject to one condition, which they loyally accepted. They should not sit here, and so discourage their brethren who went to war beyond the Jordan. They should provide for the security of their cattle, fortify cities to protect their little ones and their wives from the inhabitants of the land, and their men of war should go before the host in the campaign of conquest until the children of Israel should have inherited every man his inheritance (Nu 32:1-27). Of the actual part they took in that warfare there is no record, but perhaps the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben (Jos 15:6; Jos 18:17) marked some memorable deed of valor by a member of the tribe. At the end of the campaign the men of Reuben, having earned the gratitude of the western tribes, enriched by their share of the spoils of the enemy, returned with honor to their new home. Along with their brethren of Gad they felt the dangers attaching to their position of isolation, cut off from the rest of their people by the great cleft of the Jordan valley. They reared therefore the massive altar of Ed in the valley, so that in the very throat of that instrument of severance there might be a perpetual witness to themselves and to their children of the essential unity of Israel. The western tribes misunderstood the action and, dreading religious schism, gathered in force to stamp it out. Explanations followed which were entirely satisfactory, and a threatening danger was averted (Josh 22). But the instincts of the eastern tribes were right, as subsequent history was to prove. The Jordan valley was but one of many causes of sundering. The whole circumstances and conditions of life on the East differed widely from those on the West of the river, pastoral pursuits and life in the open being contrasted with agricultural and city life. _
The land given by Moses to the tribe of Reuben reached from the Arnon, Wady el-Mojib, in the South, to the border of Gad in the North. In Num 32:34 cities of Gad are named which lay far South, Aroer being on the very lip of the Arnon; but these are probably to be taken as an enclave in the territory of Reuben. From Jos 13:15 ff it is clear that the northern border ran from some point North of the Dead Sea in a direction East-Northeast, passing to the North of Heshbon. The Dead Sea formed the western boundary, and it marched with the desert on the East. No doubt many districts changed hands in the course of the history. At the invasion of Tiglath-pileser, e.g., we read that Aroer was in the hands of the Reubenites, and eastward … even unto the entrance of the wilderness from the river Euphrates (1Ch 5:8 f). Bezer the city of refuge lay in Reuben’s territory (Jos 20:8, etc.). A general description of the country will be found under MOAB; while the cities of Reuben are dealt with in separate articles.
Reuben and Gad, occupying contiguous districts, and even, as we have seen, to some extent overlapping, are closely associated in the history. Neither took part in the glorious struggle against Sisera (Jdg 5:15 ff). Already apparently the sundering influences were taking effect. They are not excepted, however, from all the tribes of Israel who sent contingents for the war against Benjamin (Jdg 20:10; Jdg 21:5), and the reference in Jdg 5:15 seems to show that Reuben might have done great things had he been disposed. The tribe therefore was still powerful, but perhaps absorbed by anxieties as to its relations with neighboring peoples. In guarding their numerous flocks against attack from the South, and sudden incursions from the desert, a warlike spirit and martial prowess were developed. They were valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skillful in war (1Ch 5:18). They overwhelmed the Hagrites with Jetur and Naphish and Nodab, and greatly enriched themselves with the spoil. In recording the raid the Chronicler pays a compliment to their religious loyalty: They cried to God in the battle, and he was entreated of them, because they put their trust in him (1Ch 5:19 ff). Along with Gad and Manasseh they sent a contingent of 120,000 men with all manner of instruments of war for the battle,… men of war, that could order the battle array, men who came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king (1Ch 12:37 f). Among David’s mighty men was Adina, a chief of the Reubenites, and thirty with him (1Ch 11:42). In the 40th year of David’s reign overseers were set over the Reubenites for every matter pertaining to God, and for the affairs of the king (1Ch 26:32). Perhaps in spite of the help given to David the Reubenites had never quite got over their old loyalty to the house of Saul. At any rate, when disruption came they joined the Northern Kingdom (1Ki 11:31).
The subsequent history of the tribe is left in much obscurity. Exposed as they were to hostile influences of Moab and the East, and cut off from fellowship with their brethren in worship, in their isolation they probably found the descent into idolatry all too easy, and the once powerful tribe sank into comparative insignificance. Of the immediate causes of this decline we have no knowledge. Moab established its authority over the land that had belonged to Reuben; and Mesha, in his inscription (M S), while he speaks of Gad, does not think Reuben worthy of mention. They had probably become largely absorbed in the northern tribe. They are named as suffering in the invasion of Hazael during the reign of Jehu (2Ki 10:32 f). That they trespassed against the God of their fathers, and played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land is given as the reason for the fate that befell them at the hands of Pul, king of Assyria, who carried them away, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river of Gozan (1Ch 5:25 f).
The resemblance of Reuben’s case to that of Simeon is striking, for Simeon also appears to have been practically absorbed in the tribe of Judah. The prestige that should have been Reuben’s in virtue of his birthright is said to have passed to Joseph (1Ch 5:1). And the place of Reuben and Simeon in Israel is taken by the sons of Joseph, a fact referred to in the blessing of Jacob (Gen 48:5).
Ezekiel finds a place for Reuben in his picture of restored Israel (Eze 48:6). He appears also – in this case preceded by Judah only – in Rev 7:5.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Reuben
Reuben (Behold a son), eldest son of Jacob by Leah (Gen 29:32; Gen 35:23; Gen 46:8). His improper intercourse with Bilhah, his father’s concubine wife, was an enormity too great for Jacob ever to forget, and he spoke of it with abhorrence even on his dying bed (Gen 32:22; Gen 49:4). For his conduct in this matter, Jacob, in his last blessing, deprived him of the pre-eminence and double portion which belonged to his birth-right, assigning the former to Judah, and the latter to Joseph (Gen 49:3-4; comp. Gen 49:8-10; Gen 48:5). The doom, ‘Thou shalt not excel,’ was exactly fulfilled in the destinies of the tribe descended from Reuben, which makes no figure in the Hebrew history, and never produced any eminent person. At the time of the Exodus, this tribe numbered 46,500 adult males, which ranked it as the seventh in population; but at the later census before entering Canaan, its numbers had decreased to 43,730, which rendered it the ninth, in population (Num 1:21; Num 26:5). The Reubenites received for their inheritance the fine pasture-land (the present Belka) on the east of the Jordan, which to a cattle-breeding people, as they were, must have been very desirable (Num 32:1 sq.; 34:14; Jos 1:14; Jos 15:17). This lay south of the territories of Gad (Deu 3:12; Deu 3:16), and north of the River Arnon. Although thus settled earlier than the other tribes, excepting Gad and half Manasseh, who shared with them the territory beyond the Jordan, the Reubenites willingly assisted their brethren in the wars of Canaan (Num 32:27; Num 32:29; Jos 4:12); after which they returned to their own lands (Jos 22:15); and we hear little more of them till the time of Hazael, king of Syria, who ravaged and for a time held possession of their country (2Ki 10:33). The Reubenites, and the other tribes beyond the river, were naturally the first to give way before the invaders from the East, and were the first of all the Israelites sent into exile by Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, B.C. 773 (1Ch 5:26).
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Reuben
[Reu’ben]
The firstborn of Jacob and of Leah, and head of one of the twelve tribes. The territory they possessed also bears his name. He saved the life of Joseph when his brothers thought to kill him, and when they went to buy corn in Egypt, he offered to be responsible for Benjamin’s safety. Jacob, when blessing his sons, said, “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it.” Gen 49:3-4. This speaks of failure in the firstborn, and implies loss of his birthright. (Joseph, type of Christ separated from His brethren, had the birthright.) Moses, when he blessed the tribes (showing more their relationship with God according to His government) said, “Let Reuben live, and not die: and let not his men be few.” Deu 33:6. Reuben entered Egypt with his four sons, Hanoch, Phallu, Hezron and Carmi. Gen 46:9.
At the Exodus the tribe numbered 46,500 men fit to go to war; and at the close of the wanderings they had decreased to 43,730. At their request, Reuben had their possession on the east of the Jordan, because it was ‘a place for cattle.’ It extended northward from the river Arnon about 25 miles, where it joined the possession of Gad.
The Reubenites do not appear to have taken any prominent part in the struggles under the Judges; they had ‘great thoughts of heart,’ but remained with their flocks. Jdg 5:15-16. They made inroads upon the Bedouin tribes: being on the border of the wilderness doubtless this was unavoidable if they were to live in peace and safety. 1Ch 5:9-10; 1Ch 5:18; etc. The Reubenites, with the others on the east of the Jordan, went after the gods of the heathen, and Jehovah cut them short by Hazael, of Syria. 2Ki 10:32-33. Afterwards by Pul and Tiglath-pileser they were carried away captive unto Halah, Habor, Hara, and to the river Gozan. 1Ch 5:26.
The east of the Jordan was a place of danger. Remaining there was a type of a Christian stopping short of the place of nearness God has given him – not realising his death and resurrection with Christ, and his true place in the heavenlies.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Reuben
H7205
Son of Jacob
Gen 29:32; 1Ch 2:1
Brings mandrakes to his mother
Gen 30:14
Commits incest with one of his father’s concubines, and, in consequence, forfeits the birthright
Gen 35:22; Gen 49:4; 1Ch 5:1
Adroitly seeks to save Joseph from the conspiracy of his brethren
Gen 37:21-30; Gen 42:22
Offers to become surety for Benjamin
Gen 42:37
Jacob’s prophetic benediction upon
Gen 49:3-4
His children
Gen 46:9; Exo 6:14; 1Ch 5:3-6; Num 16:1
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Reuben
Reuben (reu’ben), behold a son: The eldest son of Jacob and Leah. Gen 29:32; Deu 33:6. He was deprived of the privileges of his birthright, in consequence of his improper intercourse with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. Gen 35:22; Gen 49:3-4. The portion of the Promised Land assigned to the tribe of Reuben lay on the east of the Jordan, in the district now called the Belka, and is still famous for its fine pasture lands, as in ancient times. Num 32:1-38; Num 34:14; Jos 1:12-18; Deu 3:12-16.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Reuben
Reu’ben. (behold a son). Jacob’s firstborn child, Gen 29:32, the son of Leah. (B.C. 1753). The notices of the patriarch Reuben give, on the whole, a favorable view of his disposition. To him and him alone, the preservation of Joseph’s life appears to have been due, and afterward, he becomes responsible for his safety. Gen 37:18-30; Gen 42:37. Of the repulsive crime which mars his history, and which turned the blessing of his dying father into a curse — his adulterous connection with Bilhah — we know from the Scriptures only the fact. Gen 35:22.
He was of an ardent, impetuous, unbalanced, but not ungenerous nature; not crafty and cruel, as were Simeon and Levi, but rather, to use the metaphor of the dying patriarch, boiling up like a vessel of water over a rapid wood fire, and as quickly subsiding when the fuel was withdrawn. At the time of the migration into Egypt, Reuben’s sons were four. Gen 46:9; 1Ch 5:3. The census at Mount Sinai, Num 1:20-21; Num 2:11, shows that, at the Exodus, the men of the tribe above twenty years of age and fit for active warlike service, numbered 46,600. The Reubenites maintained the ancient calling of their forefathers. Their cattle accompanied them in their flight from Egypt. Exo 12:38.
Territory of the tribe. — The portion of the Promised Land selected by Reuben had the special name of “the Mishor,” with reference possibly to its evenness. Under its modern name of the Belka, it is still esteemed beyond all others by the Arab sheep-masters. It was a fine pasture-land east of the Jordan, lying between the river Arnon on the south and Gilead on the north.
Though the Israelites all aided the Reubenites in conquering the land, and they, in return, helped their brothers to secure their own possessions, still there was always afterward, a bar, a difference in feeling and habits, between the eastern and western tribes. The pile of stones, which they erected on the west bank of the Jordan to mark their boundary, was erected in accordance with the unalterable habits of Bedouin tribes both before and since. This act was completely misunderstood and was construed into an attempt to set up a rival altar to that of the sacred tent.
No Judge, no prophet, no hero of the tribe of Reuben is handed down to us. The Reubenites disliked war, clinging to their fields and pastures, even when their brethren were in great distress. Being remote from the seat of the national government and of the national religion, it is not to be wondered at that the Reubenites relinquished the faith of Jehovah. The last historical notice which we possess of them, while it records this fact, records also, as its natural consequence, that they and the Gadites and the half-tribe Manasseh were carried off by Pul and Tiglath-pileser. 1Ch 5:26.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
REUBEN
son of Jacob and Leah
Gen 29:32; Gen 30:14; Gen 35:22; Gen 37:21; Gen 42:22; Gen 42:37; Gen 49:3
Fuente: Thompson Chain-Reference Bible
Reuben
TRIBE OF. This tribe, having much cattle, solicited and obtained from Moses possessions east of the Jordan; by which river it was separated from the main body of Israel: it was, in consequence, exposed to various inroads and oppressions from which the western tribes were free; and it was among the first carried into captivity by Tiglath-pileser, 1Ch 5:26.