N32-2: Is Our Behavior Actually Governed By The Already-Fixed-By-God Destiny Of Our Ancestors?

In yesterday’s post I talked about the Tribes of Reuben and Gad.

These were the two tribes who decided against living inside the Promised Land and instead informed Moses they would rather live in the Trans-Jordan (the territory east of the Jordan River).

The initial reason they gave Moses was because the super fertile pastureland in that area was perfect for their many large flocks and herds.

However, this reason is just scratching the surface.

In order to really understand why Reuben and Gad decided as they did, we need to dig a bit deeper.

We need to be like a psychiatrist who detective-style probes into the complex past of his or her patients in order to find out the REAL REASONS behind why they do what they do.

Let’s time travel back into Reuben’s past and see if we can’t pick up some clues that will explain what I believe was a tragic decision on this tribe’s part to not join their other brothers in inheriting the Promised Land.

Let’s rewind the tape all the way back to the Book of Genesis and revisit the scene when Jacob on his deathbed and uttering prophetic blessings one-by-one upon his sons.

Let’s recall what he said when he came to Reuben.

“Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my strength, the firstfruits of my manhood.
Though superior in vigor and power
you are unstable as water,
so your superiority will end,
because you climbed into your father’s bed
and defiled it —
he climbed onto my concubine’s couch!“

Not exactly the most flattering of words, is it?

Seriously, imagine if this is what your father’s last words were to you before he passed away.

The psychological trauma would have been quite deep I imagine.

Jacob had disowned Reuben and had given the traditional rights of the firstborn which would normally have gone to him over to Judah.

Reuben may very well have possessed all of the necessary morality and strength of character to do well in life, but he was “unstable as water” as his father Jacob put it.

This instability caused him to attempt a power play against his father by sleeping with one of his concubines.

And as we now see, this lack of morality and weak character resulted in Reuben opting out of a settled and blessed life inside the Promised Land and choosing a nomad’s lifestyle in gentile territory instead. 

Understand that when Jacob pronounced blessings upon his sons, those prophetic blessings didn’t just apply to each individual son, they also applied to each son’s future descendants.

We’re talking about prophecies that would affect thousands of future tribal members descended from each of the 12 sons of Jacob. 

That’s right.

On his deathbed, Jacob had literally pronounced the destinies of the 12 tribes of Israel starting with his twelve sons.

As we study Scripture, it’s actually quite amazing to behold the characteristics of Jacob’s twelve sons manifest themselves through their descendants over the centuries.

We will literally see, well heck we’re seeing it right now, how Reuben’s unstable character was passed along and realized within his tribe even many centuries later.

Again, this is why Reuben chose (unwisely I believe) to stay out of the Promised Land.

What are we going to find happen to the Tribe of Reuben in the future?

In a nutshell, we’re going to find that there importance and influence as a tribe diminished considerably over time.

They adopted a Bedouin lifestyle and ended up just wandering around with their flocks and herds along the desert fringes of the Transjordan.  

Even though they technically maintained their tribal identity, they never seriously governed the territory allotted to them inside the Promised Land.

Instead, we’ll see that Reuben’s territory eventually came to be ruled by the tribe of Gad.

I find this study fascinating because it makes me wonder if a lot of my own behavioral tendencies are really outside of my control and are instead being governed by the character and possibly already-fixed-by-God destiny of my ancestors.

The next time we meet, we’ll talk about the Tribe of Gad and see what was in this tribe’s past that caused them to also choose not to live in the Promised Land.