From Nave’s Topical Bible
Reuben
Every passage the 1896 Nave’s Topical Biblegathers under this heading, in Nave’s own arrangement and then in Bible order. MannaFest has not written this page — it is the older index, transcribed, with the Word travelling beside each reference.
- 13Passages listed
- 4Books of the 66
- 1896Nave's edition
How Nave’s arranged it
- Son of JacobGenesis 29:321 Chronicles 2:1
- Brings mandrakes (an aphrodisiac) to his motherGenesis 30:14
- Commits incest with one of his father' s concubines, and, in consequence, forfeits his birthrightGenesis 35:22Genesis 49:41 Chronicles 5:1
- Adroitly seeks to save Joseph from the conspiracy of his brothersGenesis 37:21–30Genesis 42:22
- Jacob' s prophetic benediction uponGenesis 49:3Genesis 49:4
- His childrenGenesis 46:9Exodus 6:141 Chronicles 5:3–6Numbers 16:1
The passages, in Bible order (13)
The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 13 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.
- Genesis 29:32
And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.”
Commentary on Genesis 29:321 voice
She called his name Reuben - ראובן reuben, literally, see ye or behold a son; for Jehovah hath looked upon, ראה raah, beheld, my affliction; behold then the consequence, I have got a son!
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the BibleEvangelical
- Genesis 30:14
Now during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother, Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
Commentary on Genesis 30:142 voices
And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest,.... Leah's eldest son, who is supposed to be at this time about four or five years of age (e), who went out from the tent to the field, to play there perhaps; and this was at the time of wheat harvest, in the month Sivan, as the Targum of Jonathan, which answers to part of our May; a time of the year when the earth is covered with flowers: and found mandrakes in the field; the flowers or fruit of mandrakes, mandrake apples, as the Septuagint.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)Reformed
Reuben - found mandrakes - דודאים dudaim. What these were is utterly unknown, and learned men have wasted much time and pains in endeavoring to guess out a probable meaning. Some translate the word lilies, others jessamine, others citrons, others mushrooms, others figs, and some think the word means flowers, or fine flowers in general.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the BibleEvangelical
- Genesis 35:22
While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
Commentary on Genesis 35:221 voice
Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine - Jonathan, in his Targum, says that Reuben only overthrew the bed of Bilhah, which was set up opposite to the bed of his mother Leah, and that this was reputed to him as if he had lain with her.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the BibleEvangelical
- Genesis 37:21–30
When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue Joseph from their hands. “Let us not take his life,” he said.
Commentary on Genesis 37:21–302 voices
Indeed, Reuben and Judah observed the holy bonds of brotherhood and desired to free Joseph from their hands. Judah receives the preference by his father's blessing, and rightly so, when it is said to him, "The sons of your father shall bow down to you. A lion's whelp is Judah, and he is the expectation of nations."
Ambrose of Milan· On Joseph the PatriarchPatristic
Reuben heard it - Though Reuben appears to have been a transgressor of no ordinary magnitude, if we take Gen 35:22 according to the letter, yet his bosom was not the habitation of cruelly. He determined, if possible, to save his brother from death, and deliver him safely to his father, with whose fondness for him he was sufficiently acquainted.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the BibleEvangelical
- Genesis 42:22
And Reuben responded, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen. Now we must account for his blood!”
Commentary on Genesis 42:221 voice
Note, (1.) It is an aggravation of any sin that it was committed against admonitions. (2.) When we come to share with others in their calamities, it will be a comfort to us if we have the testimony of our consciences for us that we did not share with them in their iniquities, but, in our places, witnessed against them.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Puritan
- Genesis 46:9
The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
Commentary on Genesis 46:91 voice
In the speech of Stephen (Ac 7:14) the number is stated to be seventy-five; but as that estimate includes five sons of Ephraim and Manasseh (1Ch 7:14-20), born in Egypt, the two accounts coincide.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
- Genesis 49:3
Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.
Commentary on Genesis 49:32 voices
(Chapter 49, verse 3) Reuben, my firstborn, you are my strength and the first of my sons, tough in bearing and tough in insolence and injury, like water that does not boil. You went up on your father's bed, then you defiled it when you went up. In Hebrew it is written: Reuben, my firstborn, you are my strength, and the first in power among my sons. Greater in carrying, and greater in strength. You are poured out like water, do not exceed. For you have ascended the bed of your father and defiled the couch in his ascent.
Jerome· Hebrew Questions on GenesisPatristic
Reuben as the first-born had a right to a double portion of all that the father had; see Deu 21:17 The eminence or dignity mentioned here may refer to the priesthood; the power, to the regal government or kingdom - In this sense it has been understood by all the ancient Targumists.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the BibleEvangelical
- Genesis 49:4
Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.
Commentary on Genesis 49:41 voice
Pouring out like the waters - This is an obscure sentence because unfinished. It evidently relates to the defilement of his father’s couch; and the word פחז pachaz, here translated pouring out, and in our Version unstable, has a bad meaning in other places of the Scripture, being applied to dissolute, debauched, and licentious conduct.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the BibleEvangelical
- Exodus 6:14
These were the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans of Reuben.
Commentary on Exodus 6:142 voices
The heads of the houses of three of the tribes are here named, agreeing with the accounts we had, Gen. xlvi, 8-27. Reuben and Simeon seem to be mentioned only for the sake of Levi, from whom Moses and Aaron descended, and all the priests of the Jewish church.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765Evangelical
These be the heads - ראשי rashey, the chiefs or captains. The following genealogy was simply intended to show that Moses and Aaron came in a direct line from Abraham, and to ascertain the time of Israel’s deliverance. The whole account from Exo 6:14-26 inclusive, is a sort of parenthesis, and does not belong to the narration; and what follows from Exo 6:28 is a recapitulation of what was spoken in the preceding chapters.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the BibleEvangelical
- Numbers 16:1
Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath son of Levi, along with some Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—conducted
Commentary on Numbers 16:12 voices
The Kohathites encamped on the same side of the tabernacle that the Reubenites did, which perhaps gave Korah an opportunity of drawing them in, whence the Jews say, Woe to the wicked man, and woe to his neighbour, who is in danger of being infected by him.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Puritan
Amram and Izhar were brothers (compare Exo 6:18), and thus Korah, the “son,” i. e. descendant of Izhar, was connected by distant cousinship with Moses and Aaron. Though being a Kohathite, he was of that division of the Levites which had the most honorable charge, yet as Elizaphan, who had been made “chief of the families of the Kohathites” Num 3:30, belonged to the youngest branch descended from Uzziel Num 3:27, Korah probably regarded himself as injured; and therefore took the lead in this rebellion. Of the others, On is not again mentioned. He probably withdrew from the conspiracy.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)Evangelical
- 1 Chronicles 2:1
These were the sons of Israel:
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 2:11 voice
The sons of Israel - The order of the names here approximates to an order determined by legitimacy of birth. A single change - the removal of Dan to the place after Benjamin - would give the following result: (1) The six sons of the first wife, Leah. (2) the two sons of the second wife, Rachel. (3) the two sons of the first concubine, Bilhah. (4) the two sons of the second concubine, Zilpah. Dan’s undue prominency may, perhaps, be accounted for by his occupying the seventh place in the “blessing of Jacob” Gen 49:16.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)Evangelical
- 1 Chronicles 5:1
These were the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. Though he was the firstborn, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, because Reuben defiled his father’s bed. So he is not reckoned according to birthright.
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 5:12 voices
Not reckoned - This is the second reason, which sheweth both why Reuben's genealogy was not first mentioned; and if another tribe was to be ranked before it, why that was Judah, and not Joseph, because the order of their genealogy was not to be ruled by the birthright, but by an higher privilege, which was given to Judah.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765Evangelical
His birthright was given ... - In particular, the right of the first-born to a double inheritance Deu 21:17 was conferred on Joseph, both by the expressed will of Jacob Gen 48:22 and in the actual partition of Canaan Josh. 16–17. But though the birthright, as respecting its material privileges, passed to Joseph, its other rights, those of dignity and pre-eminence, fell to Judah; of whom came the chief ruler, an allusion especially to David, though it may reach further, and include a glance at the Messiah, the true “Ruler” of Israel Mic 5:2.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)Evangelical
- 1 Chronicles 5:3–6
The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.