REUVEN

 

  Name:  Reuben  

  Hebrew Name:  Reuven

  Father: Jacob

  Mother: Leah

  Birth Date:   14th Day, 9th Month, 1st Year, 3rd Week, 44th Jubilee , Reuben was born of Leah    Jubilees 28:11

  Died:  Goshen, Egypt - 125 yrs old

  Sons: Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

  Numbers: Men over 20 - 46,500

 

   LEAH'S STATEMENT:

And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, "Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will  love me."   Gen 29:32

   JACOB BLESSES REUBEN:

"Reuben, you are my firstborn, My might and the beginning of my strength, The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.  Unstable as water, you shall not excel, Because you went up to your father’s bed; Then you defiled it;He went up to my couch."    Gen 49:3-4

 

   MOSES BLESSES REUBEN:

"Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few." Gen 33:6

 

 

 

 

 

The tribe of Reuben called Reubenites were warriors that fought many tribes and nations in  battles. 

The sons of Reuben,  the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh,  were valiant men.  Jacob taught them the bear buckler (shield) and sword, and to shoot with bow, (bow & arrows) and  they were skillful in war.

When Jacob went away to visit Isaac Reuben went and laid with Bilhah his father’s wife. And Jacob heard about it. Gen 35:22  (Bilhah was  Rachel's handmaid and technically Reuben's  stepmother)   Since he defiled his father’s bed,  he lost his position that is usually given to the first born son  as head tribe.

 

THE MANDRAKES  

A mandrake was a type of aphrodisiac or hallucinogenic that was used increase sex drive. Rachel wanted to give mandrakes to Jacob because she was desperate to have a child. Reuben found mandrakes in the field.  Rachel wanted them to give to Jacob.  She told Leah if she gave her the mandrakes that she could lie with Jacob this night.  Ironically,  Leah laid with Jacob and conceived  Issachar.

Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes (hallucinogenics) in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes."   Gen 30:14-16

"And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?"  And Rachel said,  "Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son’s mandrakes."

In the evening,  Jacob came out of the field and Leah went out to meet him.  She said:  "Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night."

This is how Issachar was conceived...LOL

 

Joseph’s Brothers Throw Him Into The  Pit

It doesn’t appear that Reuben was too thrilled about the plan to betray Joseph. Reuben warned his brothers not to kill Joseph because if they kill him his blood would be required of them.  When he looked in to the pit and Joaeph was gone he was extremely distressed.

  Reuben said to them,  Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again."   Gen 37:22

  When Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes (he was devistated)  Genesis 37:29

  Reuben said  "Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold also his blood is required." Genesis 42:22 

Translation: Reuben  said : Didn't I tell you not to sin against the child and you wouldn't listen?  Therefore we will have to pay for our sin against him.

 

Reuben Moves to Egypt

There was a great famine in the land of Canaan. Jacob sent Reuben and his brothers Egypt to buy food.  While there they didn't recognize his their brother Joseph who was second in command in Egypt .   Once Joseph reveled himself to his brothers Reuben  along with his family moved to Egypt.  They lived in the land of Goshen which is Cairo today. 

Thirty years after Joseph died; the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt.

 

 Excerpt:   The Testament of Reuben

Reuben was 125 years old when he gathered his children together to discuss his life lessons and  give his advice before he died.

 Reuben fell ill and his children were gathered together to visit him. He said to them: 'My children, behold I am dying, and go the way of my fathers." When he saw his brothers Judah, Gad, and Asher he asked them to raise him up.   He said he wanted to discuss the things he had hidden in his heart.  Then he arose and kissed them.

  Reuben's Sin

"I had  wrought the abominable thing. For while Jacob our father had gone to Isaac his father, when we were in Eder, near to Ephrath in Bethlehem, Bilhah (Jacob's wife Reuben's stepmother) became drunk and was asleep uncovered in her chamber. Having therefore gone in and beheld nakedness, I wrought the impiety without her perceiving it, and leaving her sleeping I departed. And forthwith an angel of God revealed to my father concerning my impiety, and he came and mourned over me, and touched her no more."

  Jacob Prayed for Me

"I defiled the bed of my father Jacob. And I tell you that he the Lord smote me with a sore plague in my loins for seven months; and had not my father Jacob prayed for me the Lord would have destroyed me. For I was thirty years old when I wrought the evil thing before the Lord, and for seven months I was sick unto death."

  I was Ashamed

"For until my father's death I had not boldness to look in his face, or to speak to any of my brethren, because of the reproach. Even until now my conscience causeth me anguish on account of my impiety."

"And yet my father comforted me much and prayed for me unto the Lord, that the anger of the Lord might pass from me, even as the Lord showed."
And thenceforth until now I have been on my guard and sinned not.

  I Repented

And after this I repented with set purpose of my soul for seven years before the Lord. And wine and strong drink I drank not, and flesh entered not into my mouth, and I eat no pleasant food; but I mourned over my sin, for it was great, such as had not been in Israel.

 

  Giants

Flee, fornication, my children, and command your wives and your daughters, that they adorn not their heads and faces to deceive the mind: because every woman  who useth these wiles hath been reserved for eternal punishment. For thus they allured the Watchers who were before the flood; for as these continually beheld them, they lusted after them, and they conceived the act in their mind; for they changed themselves into the shape of men, and  appeared to them when they were with their husbands. And the women lusting in their minds after their forms, gave birth to giants, for the Watchers appeared to them as reaching even unto heaven.

 

  Advice

Therefore, my children, I say unto you, observe all things whatsoever I command you, and ye shall not sin.  You walk not in the sins of youth and fornication, For a pit unto the soul is the sin of fornication, separating it from God, and bringing it near to idols, because it deceiveth the mind and understanding, and leadeth young men into hades before their time.

 

  Reuben Dies

And Reuben died, having given these commands to his sons. And they placed him in a coffin until they carried him up from Egypt, and buried him in Hebron in the cave with his father.

 

"Testament of the Twelve Patriachs" by R. H. Charles

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