| | | The Tribe of Reuben (רְאוּבֵן)is one of the Hebrew tribes of Israel, founded by Reuben, son of Jacob. (see also: sons of Jacob)According to the bible, it numbered 46,500 male adults at the time of the exodus, from twenty years old and upwards (Num. 1:20-21), and at the close of the wilderness wanderings they numbered only 43,730 (26:7). This tribe united with that of Gad in asking permission to settle in the "Land of Gilead," "on the other side of Jordan" (Num. 32:1-5). The lot assigned to Reuben was the smallest of the lots given to the trans-Jordanic tribes. It extended from the Arnon, in the south along the coast of the Dead Sea to its northern end, where the Jordan flows into it (Josh. 13:15-23). It thus embraced the original kingdom of Sihon. Reuben is to the eastern tribes what the Tribe of Simeon is to the western. 'Unstable as water,' he vanishes away into a mere arab tribe. 'His men are few;' it is all he can do 'to live and not die.' We hear of nothing beyond the multiplication of their cattle in the Land of Gilead, their spoils of 'camels fifty thousand, and of asses two thousand' (1 Chr. 5:9-10, 5:20-21). In the great struggles of the nation he never took part. |  Map of the twelve tribes of Israel
(larger image) | The complaint against him in the Song of Deborah is the summary of his whole history. 'By the streams of Reuben,' i.e., by the fresh streams which descend from the eastern hills into the Jordan and the Dead Sea, on whose banks the Bedouin chiefs met then as now to debate, in the 'streams' of Reuben great were the 'desires'", i.e., resolutions which were never carried out, the people idly resting among their flocks as if it were a time of peace (Judg. 5:15-16). from Stanley's Sinai and Palestine.All the three tribes on the East of Jordan at length fell into complete apostasy, and the time of retribution came. God "stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tiglath-Pileser iii, king of Assyria," to carry them away, the first of the tribes, into captivity (1 Chr. 5:25-26).FateAs part of the Kingdom of Israel, the territory of Reuben was conquered by the Assyrians, and the tribe exiled; the manner of their exile lead to their further history being lost.ReferencesThis entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897. See also: Tribes of Israel
Great Apostasy |
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