The Sons of Jacob

Ruben

The Lexham English Bible Chapter 49

3 Reuben, you are my firstborn,

my strength, and the firstfruit of my vigor,

excelling in rank and excelling in power.

4 Unstable as water, you shall not excel any longer,

for you went up upon the bed of your father,

then defiled it. You went up upon my couch!

Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary The Blessing of the Twelve Sons (49:1–28)

Unstable (paḥaz) is from the root which describes the lawless mob of Judges 9:4 and the wanton prophets of Zephaniah 3:4: it suggests wildness as much as weakness (cf. Speiser, ‘untruly’)51. It is this aspect of water, so quickly becoming an undisciplined torrent, as in Proverbs 17:14, which is the point of the comparison

Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary The Blessing of the Twelve Sons (49:1–28)

Reuben was a man of ungoverned impulse.