Genesis 49:3

Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) The beginning of my strength.—In Genesis 35:18, the word oni means “my sorrow,” and it is so translated here by the Vulg., Aquila, and Symmachus. But in this verse Jacob magnifies the prerogatives of the firstborn, and our version is undoubtedly right in deriving oni from a different and not uncommon word signifying strength. It occurs in Deuteronomy 21:17; Job 40:16; Psalm 78:51; Psalm 105:36, &c.

The excellency . . . —We must here supply, “And therefore to thee as the firstborn belonged,” first, the excellency of dignity, that is, the priesthood; and secondly, the excellency of power, that is, the kingly office. As a matter of history no king, judge, or prophet is recorded as having sprung from the tribe of Reuben.

Benson Commentary

Genesis 49:3-4. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might — Begotten in the prime and vigour of my days; the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power — Such were the prerogatives of the birthright, which he would have enjoyed had he not forfeited and fallen from them by his sin; dignity above his brethren, and considerable power over them. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel — As water is prone to flow, and still tends downward to an inferior situation, so Reuben should fall from the pre-eminence he had by birth. In the Chaldee paraphrase it is, “Thou wast to have had three parts, the birthright, the priesthood, and the kingdom; but thou hast followed thy own will; as water spilled, thou shalt not prosper.” Two shares of the inheritance, which are supposed to have belonged to the birthright, were given to Joseph, the priesthood to Levi, and the kingdom to Judah. And nothing great or excellent is recorded of the tribe of Reuben throughout the Scriptures. From it arose no judge, prophet, prince, nor any person of renown, only Dathan and Abiram, who were noted for their impious rebellion. This tribe, not aiming to excel, chose a settlement on the other side Jordan. Jacob here charges him with the sin for which he was disgraced. It was forty years ago that he had been guilty of this sin; yet now it is remembered against him. It left an indelible mark of infamy upon his family; a wound not to be healed without a scar.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

49:3-7 Reuben was the first-born; but by gross sin, he forfeited the birthright. The character of Reuben is, that he was unstable as water. Men do not thrive, because they do not fix. Reuben's sin left a lasting infamy upon his family. Let us never do evil, then we need not fear being told of it. Simeon and Levi were passionate and revengeful. The murder of the Shechemites is a proof of this. Jacob protested against that barbarous act. Our soul is our honour; by its powers we are distinguished from, and raised above, the beasts that perish. We ought, from our hearts, to abhor all bloody and mischievous men. Cursed be their anger. Jacob does not curse their persons, but their lusts. I will divide them. The sentence as it respects Levi was turned into a blessing. This tribe performed an acceptable service in their zeal against the worshippers of the golden calf, Ex 32. Being set apart to God as priests, they were in that character scattered through the nation of Israel.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Reuben, as the first-born by nature, has the first place in the benedictory address. My might. In times and places in which a man's right depends on his might, a large family of sons is the source of strength and safety. "The excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power" - the rank and authority which belong to the first-born. "Boiling over as water." That which boils over perishes at the same time that it is pernicious. This is here transferred in a figure to the passionate nature of Reuben. "Thou shalt not excel." There is here an allusion to the excellency of dignity and power. By the boiling over of his unhallowed passions Reuben lost all the excellence that primogeniture confers. By the dispensation of Providence the double portion went to Joseph, the first-born of Rachel; the chieftainship to Judah; and the priesthood to Levi. The cause of this forfeiture is then assigned. In the last sentence the patriarch in a spirit of indignant sorrow passes from the direct address to the indirect narrative. "To my couch he went up." The doom here pronounced upon Reuben is still a blessing, as he is not excluded from a tribe's share in the promised land. But, as in the case of the others, this blessing is abated and modified by his past conduct. His tribe has its seat on the east of the Jordan, and never comes to any eminence in the commonwealth of Israel.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Ge 49:3, 4. Reuben forfeited by his crime the rights and honors of primogeniture. His posterity never made any figure; no judge, prophet, nor ruler, sprang from this tribe.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The beginning of my strength; the first instance or evidence of my might or strength, or of that masculine rigour whereby God enabled me to beget a child. Compare Deu 21:17 Psalm 105:36. Or the first of my children, which are the strength, the stays, and supports of a father, and of his family; thence called his arrows, as Psalm 127:4, and by other authors, the pillars of the house.

The excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. As first-born thou hadst the right of precedency before all thy brethren in point of dignity and power or privilege; the double portion, the priesthood, the dominion over thy brethren were thine.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Reuben, thou art my firstborn,.... Jacob addressed himself to Reuben first, in the presence of his brethren, owned him as his firstborn, as he was, Genesis 29:31 did not cashier him from his family, nor disinherit him, though he had greatly disobliged him, for which the birthright, and the privileges of it, were taken from him, 1 Chronicles 5:1.

my might, and the beginning of my strength; begotten by him when in his full strength (z), as well as the first of his family, in which his strength and glory lay; so the Septuagint, "the beginning of my children"; and because he was so, of right the double portion belonged to him, had he not forfeited it, Deuteronomy 21:17. Some versions render the words, "the beginning of my grief", or "sorrow" (a), the word "Oni" sometimes so signifying, as Rachel called her youngest son "Benoni", the son of my sorrow; but this is not true of Reuben, he was not the beginning of Jacob's sorrow, for the ravishing of Dinah, and the slaughter and spoil of the Shechemites, by his sons, which gave him great sorrow and grief, were before the affair of Reuben's lying with Bilhah:

the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power; that is, to him of right belonged excellent dignity, power, and authority in the family, a preeminence over his brethren, a double portion of goods, succession in government, and, as is commonly understood, the exercise of the priesthood; and so the Targums interpret it, that he should, had he not sinned, took three parts or portions above his brethren, the birthright, priesthood, and kingdom. Jacob observes this to him, that he might know what he had lost by sinning, and from what excellency and dignity, grandeur and power, he was fallen.

(z) "Nate. meae vires. --------" Virgil. (a) , Aquila; , Symmachus apud Drusium; "principium doloris mei", V. L. Tigurine version.

Geneva Study Bible

Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my {b} might, and the beginning of my strength, {c} the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

(b) Begotten in my youth.

(c) If you have not left your birthright by your offence.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. Reuben] Reuben’s early pre-eminence is forfeited. The tribe’s loss of power is here ascribed to the curse of Jacob for an act of incest (see Genesis 35:22; 1 Chronicles 5:1). The territory of the tribe of Reuben lay on the east side of the Dead Sea. In Biblical history, the Reubenites are practically unknown, except for one successful campaign against the Hagarenes (1 Chronicles 5:8-10). In the Song of Deborah (Jdg 5:16), Reuben is denounced for apathy.

beginning] Better, as R.V. marg., firstfruits. The firstborn was expected to inherit the full strength of the parent. Cf. Deuteronomy 21:17; Psalm 78:51; Psalm 105:36. The versions follow a different text. LXX ἀρχὴ τέκνων μου; Lat. principium doloris mei; Aquila κεφάλαιον λύπης μου; Symmachus ἀρχὴ ὀδύνης.

The excellency] This word in Early English had the meaning of “superiority,” owing to its derivation from “excel.” But this has now been lost sight of.

Vulg. major in donis, major in imperio; Targ. Onk. paraphrases “for thee it was provided to receive three portions, the right of firstborn, the priesthood, and the kingdom.”

LXX must here follow a different text, σκληρὸς φέρεσθαι καὶ σκληρὸς αὐθάδης.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 3, 4. - Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: - Jacob's patriarchal benediction takes the form of an elevated poem, or sublime religious hymn, exhibiting the well-known classes of parallelism, the synthetic the antithetic, and the synonymous, not alone in its separate clauses, but sometimes also in its stanzas or verses. As was perhaps to be expected, it begins with Reuben, who is characterized by a threefold designation, viz.,

(1) by his position in the family, as Jacob's firstborn;

(2) by his relation to Jacob, as the patriarch's "might," כּחַ, or robur virile, and "the beginning" of his "strength," not "of his sorrow" (Vulgate, Aquila, Symmachus), though און might be so translated (cf. Genesis 35:18), and the sense would sufficiently accord with the allusion of ver. 4, but, as required by the parallelism, "of his vigor," און being here equivalent to כּחַ (Rosenmuller, Kalisch, Keil, 'Speaker's Commentary,' et alii); and

(3) by the natural prominence which as Jacob's eldest son belonged to him, "the excellency of dignity" or "elevation," i.e. the dignity of the chieftainship, and "the excellency of power," or authority, which the first born claimed and received as his prerogative. Yet the natural advantages enjoyed by Reuben as Jacob's firstborn were to be taken from him, as the patriarch proceeded to announce - Unstable as water, - literally, boiling over like water, the import of which is not effusus es sicut aqua (Vulgate), but either ἐξύβρισας ὡς ὑδωρ (LXX.), or lasciviousness (sc. was to thee) as the boiling of water (Gesenius, Rosenmüller, Keil, Kalisch, &c.), the same root in Arabic conveying the notion of pride, and in Syriac that of wantonness - thou shalt not excel; - literally, thou shalt not have the ישׂנךללךשׂצך רו יֶרֶת (ver. 3), i.e. the pre-eminence belonging to the firstborn, a sense which the versions have more or less successfully expressed: μὴ περισσεύσης (Aquila), οὐκ ἔση περισσότερος (Symmachus), μὴ ἐκζέσης (LXX.), non crescas (Vulgate) - because thou wentest up to thy father's bed (vide Genesis 35:22; 1 Chronicles 5:1); then defiledst thou it: - the verb is used absolutely, as meaning that Reuben had desecrated what ought to have been regarded by him as sacred (cf. Deuteronomy 27:20) - he went up to my couch - literally, my couch he ascends; the order of the words and the change from the second to the third person helping to give expression to the horror and indignation with which, even at that distance of time, the venerable patriarch contemplated the shameful deed. Genesis 49:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Reuben, my first-born thou, my might and first-fruit of my strength; pre-eminence in dignity and pre-eminence in power. - As the first-born, the first sprout of the full virile power of Jacob, Reuben, according to natural right, was entitled to the first rank among his brethren, the leadership of the tribes, and a double share of the inheritance (Genesis 27:29; Deuteronomy 21:17). (שׂאת: elevation, the dignity of the chieftainship; עז, the earlier mode of pronouncing עז, the authority of the first-born.) But Reuben had forfeited this prerogative. "Effervescence like water - thou shalt have no preference; for thou didst ascend thy father's marriage-bed: then hast thou desecrated; my couch has he ascended." פּחז: lit., the boiling over of water, figuratively, the excitement of lust; hence the verb is used in Judges 9:4; Zephaniah 3:4, for frivolity and insolent pride. With this predicate Jacob describes the moral character of Reuben; and the noun is stronger than the verb פחזת of the Samaritan, and אתרעת or ארתעת efferbuisti, aestuasti of the Sam. Vers., ἐξύβρισας of the lxx, and ὑπερζέσας of Symm. תּותר is to be explained by יתר: have no pre-eminence. His crime was, lying with Bilhah, his father's concubine (Genesis 35:22). חלּלתּ is used absolutely: desecrated hast thou, sc., what should have been sacred to thee (cf. Leviticus 18:8). From this wickedness the injured father turns away with indignation, and passes to the third person as he repeats the words, "my couch he has ascended." By the withdrawal of the rank belonging to the first-born, Reuben lost the leadership in Israel; so that his tribe attained to no position of influence in the nation (compare the blessing of Moses in Deuteronomy 33:6). The leadership was transferred to Judah, the double portion to Joseph (1 Chronicles 5:1-2), by which, so far as the inheritance was concerned, the first-born of the beloved Rachel took the place of the first-born of the slighted Leah; not, however, according to the subjective will of the father, which is condemned in Deuteronomy 21:15., but according to the leading of God, by which Joseph had been raised above his brethren, but without the chieftainship being accorded to him.