(BA) Reuben

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29 July 2022 - 11 September 2022

Reuben, in the Hebrew Bible, is the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. It plays a minor role in the biblical stories about the Israelites. The Hebrew Bible maintains that the twelve tribes of Israel were descended from the twelve sons of Jacob, requiring a character named "Reuben" to appear in Genesis and in various genealogical contexts.

In Genesis and elsewhere, this Reuben is the eldest son of Jacob, and therefore might be expected, on the principle of primogeniture, to be the ancestor of the most significant tribe of Israelites. Genesis resolves this issue, in line with its repeated subversions of firstborn status, with a story in which Reuben has sexual relations with his father's wife Bilhah. On these grounds, Reuben loses his status as firstborn (see Genesis 35:22, Genesis 49, and 1 Chronicles 5:1). The portrayal of Reuben as a person is not entirely negative; in the story of Joseph he attempts to prevent his brother's from murdering Joseph (Genesis 37:21). He also makes a brief appearance as a child in a story about the conflict between Jacob's wives (30:14).

Because portions of the Hebrew Bible allot the land and clans of Israelites to the twelve tribes, Reuben sometimes makes an incidental appearance in passing genealogical mentions, and in contexts where some or all of the twelve tribes are listed.

Though modern historians tend to disagree, the Hebrew Bible explains the locations of the twelve tribes of Israel in terms of a conquest of Canaan reported in Numbers 32 and Joshua. There, Reuben's location in Transjordan, rather than in Canaan proper, is explained in terms of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh preferring to settle in Transjordan due to its suitability to their lifestyle as herders.

All this belongs to the period of Israel's origins as found in the Bible. The Bible does not record Reuben as playing any significant role in the period of the monarchy or afterward.