Genesis 49:4 Unstable as water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father's bed; then defiled you it: he went up to my couch. That the tribe of Reuben did not excel is evident at the first glance of Hebrew history. At the time of the Exodus it was but the seventh in population, and, before entering Canaan, its numbers had so far diminished that it was then the ninth (Numbers 1:21; Numbers 26:5). On the division of the Promised Land, the Reubenites received an inheritance on the east side of the Jordan, where they were exposed to the incursions of surrounding nations (Numbers 32:1; Joshua 1:14, &c.), and it is observable that they were among the first of the tribes of Israel who were carried away by the kings of Assyria (see 1 Chronicles 5:26). (Thornley Smith.) Parallel Verses KJV: Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch. |
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