(One of Israel's 12 sons; The 1st Born)

REUBEN.. Israel's (aka Jacob's) 1st born son!!  When I think of Reuben; amongst my first 'o thoughts is... What in da HELL were YOU thinking!!  FIRST BORN (aka heir to the birthright).. Of Israel & Leah.. Then messes it ALL up by sleeping with his father's wife!!  It hadda be.. That HE DEFINITELY WASN'T THINKING!!  At ALLLL!!  BUT due to his misdeed; Joseph got the blessing!!  So GOOD on Joseph!!  Joseph certainly deserved EVERYTHING he got!!  He definitely went thru the most DUNG!!  On Reuben's behalf though; he did try 'at least' to save his brother, Joseph, from the hands of his brethren!! 

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~SO, with that??  Reuben's story..~

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Reuben or Re'uven (Hebrew: רְאוּ; was born in 1569 BC, in Paddan-aram... (now modern day southeastern Turkey).. The first born of Israel (aka Jacob), & wife Leah.   As a child; we know he was a natural boy of the field!  As Genesis 30:14-18, states that Reuben, 

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O .....went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.

P And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes.

Q And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.

R And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.

S And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar. ~Genesis 30:14-18

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And  so - it could rightly be said, that Reuben, was responsible for his brother, Issachar!  FoSho!!  Thanks to Reuben's mandrakes!  I'm sure the note would read.."Your welcome, Issachar!  ~Love your brother, Reuben!"  I am guessing, no doubt, is what Reuben would say about that, FoSho!!  WHY Rachael even WANTED Reuben;s mandrakes - the jury is still out on, but, in surmising ((we can surmise eh?? #whydahellnot)), was that mandrakes, ((even today)), have a swath of nutrients in them proven by science to be VERY effective in fertilization for pregnancy.  Assuming Rachael knew that, is why she wanted them, for she was barren.  Theory #2??  She just had a #cravingsostrongformandrakesshesoldherhubbyforthenighttoLeah .. FoSho!!  In ANY case.. the rest is history and Reuben's mandrakes set the stage for it ALL!! ANND we could say that the mandrakes worked if it wasn't written that ''THE LORD" remembered Rachel...

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W Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. X She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” Y She named him Joseph, and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.” ~Genesis 30:22-24

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Anyhoo - Reuben (& brothers), lived with dad, Israel, and moms in Paddan-aram.. After leaving there ((finally)), coming ti  the hill country of Gilead.. Leaving there, a stop at ford of the Jabbok.. In Bethel, Wrestling with God there.. Then, leaving there, & after meeting Jacob's brother Esau, and mending their ways.. The family went to Sukkoth.. & eventually returning home to the land of Canaan.. Where they (Israel's sons), jealousy sold their brother, Joseph.  Though..

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T “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. U “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”

V When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. W “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

X So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— Y and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

Z As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

8 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?  9 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.

: So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

; When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. < He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?” ~Genesis 37:19-30

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So.. needs to be said.. Reuben tried saving his brother!!  FoSho!!

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After the move to Egypt; and the time had come for Israel to bless his sons.. To Reuben, he pronounced a curse in the stead of a blessing, saying to Reuben..

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D “Reuben, you are my firstborn,
    my might, the first sign of my strength,
    excelling in honor, excelling in power.
E Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel,
    for you went up onto your father’s bed,
    onto my couch and defiled it. ~Genesis 49:3&4

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And thus, as Reuben was cursed to NO LONGER excel, & thus; so was his tribe, the Tribe of Reuben, that; was supposed to lead the other tribes, was reduced to NOT further excel.  The Tribe of Judah; took the place of the first born, Reuben, for the blessing of Israel.  And all for a minutes to hours pleasure!

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It was a sad thing really.. And over ONE NIGHT of pleasure, that, prolly only lasted moments!!  We could ALL learn a lesson from Reuben.  

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Reuben is planted in Nabi Rubin, Israel... And is in here!  See his tribe flag??

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RIP REUBEN!!!

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#tribeofReuben