According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Reuben () was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Unlike the majority of the tribes, the land of Reuben, along with that of Gad and half of Manasseh, was on the eastern side of the Jordan and shared a border with Moab. According to the biblical narrative, the Tribe of Reuben descended from Reuben, the eldest son of the patriarch Jacob. Reuben, along with nine other tribes, is reckoned by the Bible as part of the northern kingdom of Israel, and disappears from history with the demise of that kingdom in c. 723 BC.

Tribal territory
The Book of Joshua records that the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh were allocated land by Moses on the eastern side of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. The Tribe of Reuben was allocated the territory immediately east of the Dead Sea, reaching from the Arnon river in the south, and as far north as the Dead Sea stretched, with an eastern border vaguely defined by the land dissolving into desert; the territory included the plain of Madaba.

The exact border between Reuben and the Tribe of Gad, generally considered to have been situated to the north of Reuben, is somewhat inconsistently specified in the Bible, with Dibon and Aroer being part of Gad according to Numbers 32:34, but part of Reuben according to Joshua 13:15–16. On that basis, the Jewish Encyclopedia (1906) claimed that the territory of Reuben was an enclave in the territory of Gad.

The territories described in Joshua 13 depict Gad as being to the north of Reuben, while the description in Numbers 32 and 34 has Reubenites living near Heshbon, surrounded by Gadites. Yohanan Aharoni interpreted the description in Numbers as referring to the actual distribution of Reubenites and Gadites around the time of David, and the description in Joshua 13 as reflecting administrative districts set up in the time of Solomon, but not reflecting actual tribal settlement patterns. By 900 BC, some of the territory of Reuben and Gad had been captured by the Moabite kingdom.

Biblical narrative

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.

See also 
 Israel
 The Making of the Pentateuch

References

External links 

 Map of the tribal territory of the Tribe of Reuben, Adrichem, 1590, Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, the National Library of Israel
 Map of the tribal territory of the Tribe of Reuben, Fuller, 1650 Eran Laor Cartographic Collection,  the National Library of Israel

 
Reuben, Tribe of
Reuben
르우벤 지파()는 이스라엘의 열두 지파 중 하나이다. 르우벤 지파는 다른 지파들과 다르게 요단강 동편 모압과의 경계에 있는데, 이는 가드 지파의 땅과 므나쎄 지파의 땅 절반만 띄는 특성이다. 르우벤 지파는 야곱의 장자 르우벤의 후손으로 여겨진다. 북이스라엘 왕국의 구성원으로 여겨지며, 기원전 723년경 북이스라엘 왕국의 멸망 이후 역사에서 언급되지 않는다.

영토 
여호수아기는 므나쎄 지파의 절반과 가드 지파처럼 르우벤 지파의 땅이 요단강 동쪽 트란스요르단 지역에 위치한다고 전한다. 르우벤 지파의 땅은 서쪽으로는 사해와 접하며, 남쪽으로는 아르논강, 동쪽으로는 메드바 곁에 있는 온 평지에 이른다.

성경은 르우벤 지파와 가드 지파 사이의 경계를 분명히 하지 않는다. 대표적으로 민수기 32장 34절에서 디본과 아로엘이 가드 지파의 땅이라 말하지만, 여호수아기 13장 15-16절에서는 르우벤의 땅으로 나타난다. 이에 따라 유대교에서는 르우벤 지파의 땅이 가드 지파 안에 월경지처럼 존재했을 것으로 추정하기도 한다.

또한 여호수아기 13장은 르우벤 지파의 북쪽이 가드 지파에 접한다고 말하지만, 민수기에서는 르우벤 지파가 헤스본 인근에서 가드 지파에게 둘러싸여 사는 것처럼 설명한다. 이를 두고 여호수아기의 영토는 솔로몬 통치기를, 민수기의 영토는 다윗 통치기를 나타낸다는 해석도 존재한다. 기원전 900년경에는 르우벤 지파와 가드 지파의 영토 일부가 모압에 의해 빼앗긴다.

성경

기원 
모세오경에 따르면, 르우벤 지파의 시조 르우벤은 야곱이 레아에게서 낳은 장자이다. 역사학자들은 야곱과 르우벤의 이야기가 르우벤 지파의 기원을 설명하기 위해 창작된 이야기라고 해석한다.

민수기는 르우벤 지파가 르우벤의 네 아들 하녹, 발루, 헤스론, 갈미를 따라 네 분파로 나뉜다고 전한다.

창세기 49장에 기록된 야곱의 축복에서 야곱은 자손들의 운명을 예언하고 축복한다. 현대 역사학자들은 야곱의 축복이 각 지파의 사건들이 모두 벌어진 후에 그 원인을 창작하여 적은 것으로 추정한다. 르우벤은 여기서 야곱의 첩 빌하와 동침한 것에 대한 대가로 "위풍이 월등하고 권능이 탁월하다마는 물의 끓음 같았은즉 너는 탁월하지 못하리니(창 49:4)"라는 예언을 받는다.

성경은 르우벤과 네 아들을 포함해 야곱의 가족들 약 70명이 이집트로 내려갔다고 말한다. 출애굽기 기록에 따르면 이스라엘 자손은 이집트에 430년 동안 머물렀고, 그 수는 여성이나 어린이를 제외하고 약 60만 명으로 늘어났다. 이 때에 그들은 이집트를 떠나서 이집트와 약속된 가나안 땅 사이의 광야를 사십 년 동안 떠돌았다.

지파들이 요단 강을 건너 가나안으로 들어갈 준비를 하고 있을 때, 민수기는 이스라엘 자손이 요단 강 동쪽의 왕 시혼과 옥을 물리쳤다고 기록한다. 르우벤과 가드 지파는 그들이 가축을 키우는데 적합한 요단 동쪽의 땅을 그들의 기업으로 달라고 부탁한다. 모세는 요단 강 서쪽의 땅을 정복하는 것을 돕겠다는 약속을 받는 대가로 그들의 요구를 받아들여, 그들에게 요단강 동편의 땅을 주었다. 모세가 죽은 후 여호수아는 이스라엘 자손의 지도자가 되었고, 르우벤을 포함한 요단강 동부 지파들의 도움을 받아 가나안의 일부를 정복한 뒤 가나안 땅을 나머지 열두 지파에게 분배하였다.

이 사건이 기원전 1200년에 일어났다고 주장하는 학자가 있는 반면, 거의 모든 역사학자들은 여호수아기에 나타난 것과 같은 가나안 정벌이 벌어진 적이 없다고 본다. 이스라엘 핑켈슈타인은 체계적인 정복의 증거 부족과 가나안 유적에서 새로운 문화가 갑작스레 출현한 것은 이스라엘이 가나안 사회 내의 하위 문화로 먼서 생성된 것을 보여준다고 주장한다.

이후 
여호수아에 의해 땅을 받은 뒤 이스라엘 왕국이 형성되기 전까지 르우벤 지파는 느슨한 이스라엘 지파 연합에 속하였다. 어떠한 중앙정부도 존재하지 않았고, 민족적인 어려움이 닥쳤을 때에만 판관이 그들을 인도했다. 드보라의 노래에서 르우벤은 시스라의 군대와의 전투로 쇠락했다고 묘사된다.

역대기에서는 다윗이 후에 다윗성이라 불리는 성을 점령할 때 도움을 준 다윗의 용사들이 기록되어 있는데, 르우벤 지파의 우두머리 아디나와 삼십인의 르우벤 지파 전사들이 등장한다. 마찬가지로 역대기에서 사울왕의 통치기에 하갈 사람들과 싸워 승리했다는 기록도 전하는데, 가드 지파와 므나쎄 지파의 절반이 힘을 보탠 것으로 묘사된다.

각주 

 
이스라엘의 열두 지파