REUBEN rōō’ bən (רְאוּבֵ֑ן, according to Gen 29:32 derived from רָאָה֒, H8011, see, and בֵּנ֒, H1201, son), the name given to the eldest son of Jacob by Leah, his first wife. Reuben was born in Paddan-aram, and is first mentioned in connection with mandrakes which he found in the field and presented to his mother, who used them in family intrigue (Gen 30:14-16). As the first-born he would rightly have become the leader of the sons of Jacob, but he lost his ascendancy by his illicit affair with his father’s concubine (Gen 35:22; 49:4). He interceded with the other sons in their plot against Joseph, and prevented their killing Joseph outright by suggesting that they imprison him in an empty cistern instead (37:21, 22). When Joseph incognito confronted his brothers in Egypt, Reuben reminded them that he had urged them not to harm Joseph (42:22), and later offered his sons to Jacob as surety to guarantee the safety of Benjamin whom he wished to take to Egypt on a second trip for grain. When the family migrated to Egypt with Jacob, Reuben had four sons of his own (46:8, 9).

The tribe of Reuben is mentioned first in the lists given in Exodus 1:1-4; Numbers 1:5, 20, 21, but in the later lists it follows others (Num 2:10); the leadership belonged to Judah (2:3). In the line of march through the wilderness Reuben led the second division that followed the Levites, who transported the Tabernacle (Num 10:17, 18).

At the time of the Conquest the tribe of Reuben along with the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh petitioned for the right to remain on the high plateau E of the Jordan where there was ample room for grazing cattle. The permission was granted on condition that they would give military support to the tribes on the W bank of the river until the latter had completed the subjugation of the land (Num 32:1-32; Josh 4:12, 13). In Moses’ final partition of the land this agreement was confirmed, and the E bank of the Jordan became the heritage of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (Josh 13:8-23; 18:7).

Severed from the other tribes by the valley of the Jordan, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh felt alienated from the others, and wanted to have a center of worship for themselves. They established an altar of their own, which the western tribes interpreted as a move toward religious secession. The latter threatened war, but the eastern tribes disavowed any desire to desert the worship of Yahweh. On the contrary, they did not wish to be excluded from the united worship of the nation. A war was averted, and the issue was closed (Josh 22:10-34).

The tribe of Reuben was not involved in the struggles with the Canaanite kings subsequent to the days of Joshua (Judg 5:15, 16), though it may have participated in the civil war with the Benjaminites (Judg 20:10; 21:5), since “all the tribes” are mentioned. Reubenites served in the army of David (1 Chron 11:42; 12:37), and the tribal group was incorporated into the political structure of David’s realm (26:32; 27:16). In the period of the divided kingdom it seems to have been less active in the affairs of the nation, and finally its territory passed under the domination of Syria (2 Kings 10:32, 33). Some vestiges of the tribe must have persisted until the Assyrian captivity, since it is mentioned in conjunction with the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh who were deported to Assyria by Tiglath-pileser (1 Chron 5:26).

The name of Reuben occurs only once in the NT in the enumeration of the tribes comprised in the sealing of the 144,000 (Rev 7:5).