Reuben

Family: Joseph's Family · Role: one of Joseph's brethren · First appears: Joseph Hated By His Brethren

As the oldest of Jacob’s sons, Reuben was held responsible to his father. When Joseph’s brothers plotted against him, Reuben persuaded them to put Joseph in a pit rather than kill him. He later searched the pit, found Joseph gone, and told his brothers, deeply grieved; they then confessed that they had sold Joseph. Reuben had also kept a sin against his father secret, but after Judah publicly confessed, Reuben acknowledged his own. He married Elyoram, daughter of Uzzi of Timnah, in the year of Joseph’s misfortune.

Later, when Joseph imprisoned his brothers in Egypt, Reuben was among those held for three days and released on condition that one brother remain as hostage. The brothers returned with Benjamin after the cup was found, tore their clothes in distress, and fell before Joseph. At Jacob’s blessing, Reuben’s birthright was transferred to Joseph because of his sin, while kingship went to Judah and priesthood to Levi. Jacob was later grateful for the revelation that Reuben had repented and atoned for his trespass by penance.

In his testament, Reuben acknowledged that he had entered Bilhah’s tent while she slept and committed a sin. He said Jacob interceded for him during a life-threatening illness, and that after an angel revealed the sin, Jacob never again approached Bilhah. Two years after Joseph’s death, Reuben fell sick and summoned his sons, grandsons, and brothers to give his final admonitions. He died at 125; his sons carried his body from Egypt to Hebron and buried him in the Double Cave.