“Let Reuben live and not die,
nor his people be few.”
-Deuteronomy 33:6
From today we’re going to begin examining the individual blessings Moses will pronounce upon each tribe of Israel.
The first blessing was directed towards Reuben.
Ironically, when this blessing was pronounced, Moses just happened to be standing in the region that Reuben ended up inheriting.
Do you recall that Reuben and Gad and about 1/2 of the clans of Manasseh decided to settle on the east side of the Jordan River (aka the Trans-Jordan).
Now it actually makes sense that Reuben would be the first tribe to be given a blessing because after all Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn son.
Yet about 3 centuries earlier Reuben had his preeminent firstborn status stripped from him due to his sexual immorality.
Remember he slept with Jacob’s concubine Bilah (which means he also dishonored his father to boot).
As a result, what would have been Reuben’s inheritance was split in half and given to Judah and Joseph.
Judah was given the authority to rule over all of Israel and Joseph was given what’s called the double-portion of the firstborn blessing.
The double-portion refers to abundant wealth and fruitfulness above all the other tribes.
I should add that even though I said Joseph got the double-portion blessing, technically speaking it actually went to Joseph’s son Ephraim who represented his father in this case.
True to prophecy, Judah was the predominant tribe throughout Israel’s history and through his line the Messiah (the king of Israel) would be born.
And the tribe of Ephraim became one of the most powerful tribes if not the most powerful tribe in Israel whose population numbers overwhelmed the other tribes.
So what’s the meaning of Moses’ blessing when he pleads to the Lord that Reuben would “live and not die”?
Moses is praying that the tribe of Reuben would not go extinct due to being swallowed up by another tribe of Israel or by being taking over by a gentile conquerer.
Unfortunately Moses’ prayer did not come true.
When we examine the history of Reuben we find that the tribe managed to maintain a separate identity up until the period of the Book of Judges.
There is also mention of Reuben in the beginning of the Books of the Kings.
But then that’s it.
After that Reuben’s population died out to the point where it lost all of its political power and for all practical purposes became a nonentity.
There’s a huge takeaway I feel the Lord is communicating to me here.
So let me share it with you.
We all know that Reuben’s downfall was caused by the sexual immorality he committed with his father’s concubine.
Because of this action, not only did he end up losing his firstborn rights but the very tribe named after him throughout the course of history ended up dying out.
What Reuben reaped he indeed sowed…all the way through his descendants.
My point is I’m seeing a strong correlation between sexual immorality and the lack of abundance, prosperity and fruitfulness in one’s life.
The same goes for wasting one’s seed.
Your sexual energy is one of the most powerful forces in the world.
You can channel it into other areas of life besides its physical expression to achieve great things.
Or you can waste it on frivolous things like spending four hours binge watching porn in front of your computer.
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