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Bible Dictionaries
Reuben
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or REUBEN . The firstborn of Jacob by Leah, Genesis 29:32 (J [Note: Jahwist.] ) Genesis 35:23 (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ) Genesis 46:8 (R [Note: Redactor.] ). The popular etymology connects the name with Leah’s distress, because of Jacob’s previous dislike of her. She called his name Reuben: for she said, because Jahweh hath looked upon my affliction ( râ’âh be‘onyi ). 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 Rûbîl . 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 Jerahme’el , 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.] (Genesis 35:22 ), viz., because he had lain with his father’s 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 ( Genesis 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 father’s 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’ (Deuteronomy 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 (Genesis 46:9 etc.), viz. Hezron and Carmi, reappear as Judahites; Hezron as the grandson of Judah ( Genesis 46:12 etc.) and Carmi in Joshua 7:1; Joshua 7:18 . Moreover, Shimei is a Reubenite 1 Chronicles 5:4 , a Simeonite 1 Chronicles 4:27 , and a Levite Exodus 6:17 . In Joshua 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 father’s 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 Reuben’s 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 ( 1 Kings 2:1-46 ).
P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] in his Sinai census (Numbers 1:21; Numbers 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 (Numbers 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 Joshua 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 Numbers 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 Joshua 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 remnant ‘men of number,’ i.e. so few that they might easily be counted. It is, however, still mentioned in 2 Kings 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 ( 1 Chronicles 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.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Reuben'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/r/reuben.html. 1909.
