34 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
34 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
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title = "1 Chronicles 5:1–10"
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date = "2023-09-14"
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### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/1Chronicles5.1-10)
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Reuben was an interesting character. He was the eldest of Israel's sons, and
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the main thing I remember about him was that he convinced his brothers not to
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kill Joseph and planned to rescue him from the pit, but the others sold Joseph
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to the slavers before he could. What doesn't get mentioned much, because
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exactly two verses (widely separated) in Genesis talk about it, is that Reuben
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had relations with his father's concubine at some point after Rachel died. For
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this dishonor, the double-portion of the inheritance that is the birthright of
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the firstborn was removed from Reuben and given to Joseph, Rachel's firstborn,
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instead. This is why there is not a single "tribe of Joseph", but tribes named
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after his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh.
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As short genealogy of the tribe of Reuben is given, probably mentioning only
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the more famous members or leaders from the tribe. Beerah was captured and
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taken into exile, but this was before the time the whole northen kingdom was
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conquered. Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria invaded Syria and Israel and captured
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a large chunk of their land (including Syria's capital Damascus), but the
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kingdom of Israel didn't fall completely for another couple of generations.
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The tribe of Reuben was one of the two-and-a-half tribes that settled east of
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the Jordan River, along with Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh. The
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Chronicles list a few of the places that the Reubenites dwelled as they
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expanded their territory, and lists a significant victory they had during the
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time of King Saul.
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* * *
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We are none of us righteous; only You are holy.
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