Origins According to the
Torah, the tribe consisted of descendants of
Reuben, the first son of
Jacob, and a son of Leah, from whom it took its name. Modern scholarship views the events described in Genesis and Exodus, which contain the early stories about Jacob and his immediate descendants, as non-historical. The Bible divides the tribe of Reuben into four clans or families, the Hanochites, Palluites, Hezronites, and Carmites, which according to the Bible were descended from Reuben's sons Hanoch, Pallu, Hazron, and Carmi. Genesis 49 contains the
Blessing of Jacob, a series of predictions which the Bible presents as delivered by the patriarch Jacob about the future fate of the tribes descended from his twelve sons. Some textual scholars date it substantially later than these events. Reuben is characterised as fickle, "unstable as water", and condemned to no longer "have ... the excellency" due to Reuben's crime of having sexual relations with his father's concubine
Bilhah. The Bible relates that Jacob and his twelve sons, along with their sons, went down into Egypt as a group of about seventy persons, including Reuben and his four sons. According to the account in Exodus, the Israelites stayed in Egypt for 430 years, and their numbers grew to include about 600,000 men, not counting women or children. At this point they left Egypt (see
The Exodus) and wandered for forty years in the wilderness between Egypt and the promised land of Canaan. As the tribes prepared to enter Canaan by crossing over to the west side of the Jordan, the Book of Numbers records that the Israelites defeated
Sihon and
Og, kings east of the Jordan. The tribes of Reuben and Gad requested that they be given land in the territory east of Jordan, because it was suitable for their needs as livestock grazers. In exchange for their promise to help with the conquest of the land west of the Jordan, Moses accepted their request and granted to them and half of Manasseh land east of the Jordan. Following the death of Moses,
Joshua became the leader of the Israelites, and with the help of these eastern tribes including Reuben, conquered some of Canaan and assigned the land of Israel to the various twelve tribes. According to
Kenneth Kitchen, this conquest occurred around 1200 BC, but "almost all" scholars have abandoned the idea that Joshua carried out a conquest of Canaan similar to that described in the Book of Joshua.
Israel Finkelstein et al., have claimed that lack of evidence for a systematic conquest or the abrupt appearance of a new culture indicates that the Israelites simply arose as a subculture within Canaanite society. The territory of Reuben encapsulated the territory of the earlier kingdom of
Sihon.
Family tree Tribal history In this period, according to the ancient
Song of Deborah, Reuben declined to take part in the war against
Sisera, the people instead idly resting among their flocks as if it were a time of peace, though the decision to do so was taken with a heavy heart. Nahash appears abruptly as the attacker of
Jabesh-Gilead, which lay outside the territory he laid claim to. Having subjected the occupants to a
siege, the population sought terms for
surrender, and were told by Nahash that they had a choice of death (by the sword) or having their right eyes gouged out. The population obtained seven days' grace from Nahash, during which they would be allowed to seek help from the
Israelites, after which they would have to submit to the terms of surrender. The occupants sought help from the people of Israel, sending messengers throughout the whole territory, and
Saul, a herdsman at this time, responded by raising an army which decisively defeated Nahash and his cohorts at
Bezek. The strangely cruel terms given by Nahash for surrender were explained by
Josephus as being the
usual practice of Nahash. A more complete explanation came to light with the discovery of the
Dead Sea Scrolls: although not present in either the
Septuagint or
Masoretic Text, an introductory passage, preceding this narrative, was found in a copy of the Books of Samuel among the scrolls found in
cave 4: According to the
Book of Chronicles, Adina and thirty Reubenites aided David as members of his
mighty warriors in conquering the
City of David. Also according to Chronicles, during the reign of
King Saul Reuben instigated a war with the
Hagarites, and was victorious; in another portion of the same text, Reuben is said to have been assisted in this war by
Gad and the eastern half of
Manasseh. According to 1 Chronicles 5:26,
Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria (ruled 745–727 BC) deported the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh to "Halah, Habor, Hara, and the Gozan River." According to the Moabite
Mesha Stele (ca. 840 BCE) the Moabites reclaimed many territories in the second part of the 9th century BCE (only recently conquered by Omri and Ahab according to the Stele). The stele does mention fighting against the tribe of Gad but not the tribe of Reuben, even though taking Nebo and Jahaz which were in the centre in their designated homeland. This would suggest that the tribe of Reuben at this time was no longer recognizable as a separate force in this area. Even if still present at the outbreak of this war, the outcome of this war would have left them without a territory of their own, just like the tribes of Simeon and Levi. This is, according to
Richard Elliott Friedman in
Who Wrote the Bible?, the reason why these three tribes are passed over in favour of Judah in the J-version of the Jacob's deathbed blessing (composed in Judah before the fall of Israel).
Banner The
Tribes of Israel had banners described by the
Book of Numbers, such the
Lion of Judah. Jewish writers have diverged on whether the banner of Reuben bore the symbol of a man or male child (Aben Ezrah), a
mandrake, or a child holding a mandrake in his hand. == Historical criticism ==