The Tribes and Us: Reuben and His Legacy

[Genesis 49 is the record of Jacob’s prophecies about his sons and Deuteronomy 33 is Moses’ blessings to each of the tribes those sons engendered.  This is an exploration of these passages and others about the tribes of Israel and what we can learn from them for us today.]

Just before the people of Israel begin their invasion of Canaan, Moses speaks the messages of Deuteronomy, reminders of the covenant relationship Israel has with Yahweh and the requirements for that relationship.  Then he gives a blessing to each of the tribes.  Here is what he spoke to Reuben:

“Let Reuben live, and not die, but let his men be few.” (Deuteronomy 33:6, ESV)

Hardly a ringing endorsement of Reuben.  Yes, it is good as a tribe not to die, and that is a real possibility due to war or disease.  By all means, “let Reuben live”!  And there is a “but,” a caveat to the blessing, tepid as that blessing is – “Let his men be few.”  Fewer men means greater chance of not living as a tribe.  Moses is predicting via his blessing that Reuben will live as a tribe but the census of men in the tribe will be low.

When the census of fighting men is taken before the people of Israel wandered 40 years in the wilderness due to their disobedience to God, Reuben’s number was 46,500 fighting men (Numbers 1:21).  There were other tribes with smaller fighting forces, Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin and Asher, but that is a small number.  When the second census is taken after the wandering and just before Israel conquers Canaan, Reuben’s fighting force is 43,730, somewhat reduced we are told, because some of Reuben’s tribe rose up against Moses and were slain by God when the earth opened up beneath them (Numbers 26:5-11).  But there were other tribes who fighting forces were smaller (Simeon, Gad, and Ephraim).  Reuben was smaller than most, but not all.

What is the legacy of Reuben and his small tribe after his stunning moral failure with his father’s concubine and his better character as he tried to rescue Joseph from being killed by his brothers?  Well, we have a small glance with the rebellion of Korah in the wilderness against Moses, which Reubenites participated in.  Korah was from the tribe of Levi, so Reuben wasn’t alone in making a terrible mistake.  And not all the tribe participated in this rebellion, just a handful.

More telling is what happened after Israel conquered Canaan and were still waging wars against enemies from surrounding countries, as recounted in the book of Judges.  At one such incident, Deborah, the judge of Israel, calls for tribal military help against Jabin, king of Canaan (Judges 4).  Israel wins, but no thanks to Reuben.  In Deborah’s song of victory (Judges 6) she says the “commanders of Israel…offered themselves willingly” in the battle, and she lists several of the tribes, but of Reuben she says, “there were great searchings of heart” and she asks, “Why did you sit still among the sheepfolds?”  They didn’t help, and neither did the tribes of Dan and Asher.

This is a sad legacy for Reuben.  He was willing to try to rescue his brother Joseph but his descendants were not willing to come to the aid of their brothers later when they needed it.  It wasn’t their problem, they must have told themselves, as they searched their hearts.  Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh chose to settle outside Canaan, on the east side of the Jordan River, but had promised Moses and the others that they would help them conquer Canaan and get those tribes their land holdings.  Yet decades later, when there was a later need for their help, they were no-shows.

They did not honor their promise.  They found excuses to not keep their word.  It was too far to travel, perhaps, or their people were facing some hardship of their own, or they were just too busy keeping their sheep.  That is a lousy legacy.  As time passes we hear little to nothing about the way the tribes who settled on the east of the Jordan River fared.  They became non-players.  That is perhaps the worst legacy of all.  You no longer matter to anyone.

At the great conclusion to history, during the period of tribulation the precedes Christ’s coming, 12,000 are sealed and protected from each of the 12 tribes, and Reuben is included.  And when the heavenly Jerusalem comes down from heaven to the remade earth after Christ’s restoration of the kingdom, we are told that the 12 gates to that city will be named for each tribe in Israel and we presume Reuben’s name will be there on one of those gates.  God’s grace does not fail for those He loves and rescues.  Our legacy may be pretty lame but that will not cause us to lose our relationship to God.  It will just be a shame that we didn’t matter more when it counted.