of the whole family and of all its servants and livestock and properties. Would these responsibilities devolve upon Reuben?

Jacob dealt with Reuben first, saying: “Reuben, you are my first-born, my vigor and the beginning of my generative power, the excellence of dignity and the excellence of strength. With reckless license like waters, do not you excel, because you have gone up to your father’s bed. At that time you profaned my lounge. He went up to it!”—Gen. 49:3, 4.

Jacob recalled a disqualification for Reuben that affected his future privileges. Reuben had disgraced his father. He had committed incestuous immorality with his father’s concubine, Bilhah, the maidservant of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel. This was shortly after Rachel died following her giving birth to Benjamin. Whether firstborn Reuben violated the maidservant Bilhah to prevent her from taking Rachel’s place in Jacob’s affection and thus becoming more favored than Reuben’s mother Leah; or whether Reuben acted out of sheer lust for Bilhah, the Bible record does not explain. It simply says: “And it came about while Israel was tabernacling in that land that once Reuben went and lay down with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel got to hear of it.” The Greek Septuagint Version adds: “And it appeared evil in his sight.”—Gen. 35:22, NW; LXX (vs. 21) (Thomson).

Reuben was not disowned and cast out for this. It was years later, when Jacob blessed his sons, that he said to Reuben, by divine inspiration: “Do not you excel.” Thus Reuben was stripped of privileges that would otherwise have been his as a firstborn son. This was because he acted with “reckless license like waters.” He proved himself either unstable like waters or turbulent and headlong like waters bursting a dam or raging down a torrent valley. Reuben should have exercised self-control. He should have shown a son’s respect for his father’s dignity and for the honor of the two sons of Bilhah, his father’s concubine.

2. The name Reuben also stands for the tribe made up of Reuben’s descendants, as well as the land of their inheritance. Reuben’s tribe stemmed from his four sons, Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi, the family heads of the Reubenites.—Gen. 46:8, 9; Ex. 6:14; 1 Chron. 5:3.

A year after the exodus from Egypt, Elizur, the son of Shedeur, was selected as chieftain to represent the entire tribe of Reuben when offering sacrifices and as head of its military forces. (Num. 1:1, 4, 5; 7:30-35; 10:18) The tribe of Reuben was consistently one of the less numerous among the twelve. A census taken in the second year of the wilderness experience enumerated 46,500 Reubenites fit for military service, twenty years old and upward. About thirty-nine years later this force was somewhat less, 43,730.—Num. 1:2, 3, 20, 21; 26:5-7.

In the camp of Israel the Reubenites, flanked by the descendants of Simeon and Gad, were situated on the S side of the tabernacle. When on the march this three-tribe division headed by Reuben followed the three-tribe division of Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. (Num. 2:10-16; 10:14-20) This was also the order in which the tribes made their presentation offerings on the day the tabernacle was inaugurated.—Num. 7:1, 2, 10-47.

When Korah the Levite rebelled against Moses, three Reubenites, On, the son of Peleth, and the two sons of Eliab, Dathan and Abiram, joined in the revolt, charging Moses with trying “to play the prince” over them and with failing to bring them into a “land flowing with milk and honey.” Nemuel, the brother of Dathan and Abiram, apparently took no part in the revolt. (Num. 16:1, 12-14; 26:8, 9) Jehovah showed that the revolt was actually disrespect against Him by causing the earth to open up and swallow the rebels and their families alive, together with all their belongings.—Num. 16:23-33; Deut. 11:6; see ABIRAM No. 1.

TERRITORY ASSIGNMENTS

Shortly before Israel entered the Promised Land the tribes of Reuben and Gad requested that they be given territory E of the Jordan that was acquired through the victory over the two kings, Sihon and Og, on the grounds that the land was ideal for their large flocks and herds. Moses granted this request to them (and half the tribe of Manasseh) on one condition, that the fighting forces of these tribes also cross over the Jordan and assist the other tribes in the conquest of Canaan, a condition that the two and a half tribes willingly met.—Num. 32:1-38; Josh. 1:12-18; 4:12, 13; 12:6; 13:8-10.

Reuben’s territorial inheritance was thus settled even before the Israelites crossed the Jordan, Moses himself giving the southern portion of Sihon’s conquered kingdom to this tribe. It extended from the torrent valley of Arnon, a natural boundary that separated this territory from Moab on the S, to just N of the Dead Sea; the land N of Reuben was given to the Gadites. (Num. 34:13-15; Deut. 3:12, 16; 29:8; Josh. 13:15-23; 18:7) The territory of the Ammonites formed the E boundary, with the Dead Sea and Jordan River on the W. (Josh. 15:1, 6; 18:11, 17) One of the six cities of refuge, Bezer, lay in Reuben’s territory. This and other Reubenite cities were set aside for the use of the Levites.—Deut. 4:41-43; Josh. 20:8; 21:7, 36; 1 Chron. 6:63, 78, 79.

Moses directed that, once the Israelites reached the heart of Canaan, the tribe of Reuben, together with Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali, was to be represented on Mount Ebal for the reading of the maledictions and curses, with the rest of the tribes represented on Mount Gerizim for the pronouncing of blessings. (Deut. 27:11-13) After Moses made these arrangements he blessed Reuben along with the rest of the tribes. To the Reubenites Moses said: “Let Reuben live and not die off, and let his men not become few.”—Deut. 33:1, 6.

At the end of Joshua’s campaign in Canaan he called together the armed forces of Reuben, with those of Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh, and after commending them on keeping their promises to Moses, sent them home with his blessing. (Josh. 22:1-8) As they reached the Jordan they erected a huge altar on the western bank, which action, being at first misinterpreted by the other tribes, nearly resulted in a rupture of relations, even civil war. But when it was explained that the altar was not for sacrifices, but was for a witness of faithfulness between the tribes on both sides of the Jordan, the altar was given a name, likely “Witness,” for, as they said, “it is a witness between us that Jehovah is the true God.”—Josh. 22:9-34.

LATER HISTORY

Possibly some 180 years later, when Barak and Deborah sang a great victory song, they recalled that the Reubenites had failed to join them in the battle against Sisera. As a result, “among the divisions of Reuben great were the searchings of the heart.” (Judg. 5:15, 16) In the days of Saul, the Reubenites joined forces with their neighbors and gained a great victory over the Hagrites and their allies, “for it was to God that they called for aid in the war, and he let himself be entreated in their favor because they trusted in him.” (1 Chron. 5:10, 18-22) The Reubenites then shared in the occupation of Hagrite territory apparently down to the Assyrian subjugation of Israel in the eighth century B.C.E., when the Reubenites were among the first taken into exile. (1 Chron. 5:6, 22b, 26) Individual Reubenites, and the tribe as a whole, are mentioned in connection with David’s history, both before and after he became king.—1 Chron. 11:26, 42; 12:37, 38; 26:32; 27:16.

IN PROPHECY

In the symbolic books of Ezekiel and Revelation, Reuben is mentioned in significant order along with the other tribes. For example, in Ezekiel’s vision he saw in the middle of the tribes the “holy contribution” of land containing Jehovah’s temple, the city called Jehovah-shammah, meaning “Jehovah Himself Is There,” and territory belonging to the priests, Levites and the chieftain. Immediately adjacent to this holy strip on the N was Judah, with Reuben bordering next to Judah on the N. (Ezek. 48:6-22, 35) Also, the gate named Reuben on the N side of the holy city, Jehovah-shammah, was next to that named Judah. (Ezek. 48:31) In John’s vision of the sealing of the twelve tribes of spiritual Israel, Reuben is not given the leading place, but is named second, after the tribe of Judah.—Rev. 7:4, 5.

REUEL

(Reuʹel) [friend of God].

1. Second-named son of Esau, by Ishmael’s daughter Basemath. Reuel’s own four sons became Edomite sheiks.—Gen. 36:2-4, 10, 13, 17; 1 Chron. 1:35, 37.

2. Moses’ father-in-law, a priest of Midian. (Ex. 2:16-21; Num. 10:29) Elsewhere called Jethro.—See JETHRO.

3. A Gadite whose son Eliasaph was tribal chieftain during the wilderness march. (Num. 2:14) The name is spelled Deuel in its other occurrences.—See DEUEL.

4. Ancestor of a Benjamite who lived in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.—1 Chron. 9:3, 7, 8.

REUMAH

(Reuʹmah) [exalted].

Concubine of Abraham’s brother Nahor. She gave birth to four sons.—Gen. 22:20, 24.

REVELATION

The Greek word (a·po·kaʹly·psis) thus translated denotes ‘an uncovering’ or ‘an unveiling’ and is often used regarding revelations of spiritual matters or of God’s will and purposes. (Luke 2:32; 1 Cor. 14:6, 26; 2 Cor. 12:1, 7; Gal. 1:12; 2:2; Eph. 1:17; Rev. 1:1; Kingdom Interlinear Translation) The operation of God’s spirit makes such revelations possible. Wrote the apostle Paul concerning the revelation of the “sacred secret”: “In other generations this secret was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by spirit, namely, that people of the nations should be joint heirs and fellow members of the body and partakers with us of the promise in union with Christ Jesus through the good news.”—Eph. 3:1-6; Rom. 16:25.

The book of Acts forcefully confirms that this revelation of the sacred secret resulted from the operation of God’s spirit. It had been at the spirit’s direction that Peter, Paul and Barnabas preached to non-Jews. Believing non-Jews, “people of the nations,” received holy spirit while in an uncircumcised state, thereby becoming a people for God’s name. (Acts 10:9-48; 13:2-4) The prophet Amos, under inspiration, had foretold this and, in the first century C.E., the fulfillment of his prophecy became evident through the operation of God’s spirit.—Acts 15:7-20; compare Amos 9:11, 12, LXX.

The Bible also speaks of the “revealing of God’s righteous judgment” (Rom. 2:5), the “revealing of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19) and the “revelation of Jesus Christ” and “of his glory.” (1 Pet. 1:13; 4:13) A consideration of the context and related texts aids in determining when such revealings or revelations occur. In each case, the revealing or revelation is a time for causing righteous persons to enter into particular rewards and blessings and/or bringing destruction upon wicked ones.

OF GOD’S RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT

At Romans 2:5 the “revealing of God’s righteous judgment” is associated with the ‘day of God’s wrath.’ Therefore, God’s righteous judgment is revealed when ‘he renders to each one according to his works,’ everlasting life to those enduring in work that is fine and destruction to those obeying unrighteousness.—Rom. 2:6-8.

OF THE SONS OF GOD

In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul identified God’s “sons” as those having received a spirit of adoption. Being joint heirs with Christ, these sons of God will be glorified. (Rom. 8:14-18) The Lord Jesus Christ will refashion their humiliated body to conform to his glorious body (Phil. 3:20, 21), and they will reign with him as kings. (2 Tim. 2:12) So the “revealing of the sons of God” points to the time when it will become evident that they have indeed been glorified and are reigning with Christ Jesus. The glory that will be revealed in them will be so grand as to make all their former suffering on earth seem as nothing. (Rom. 8:18, 19) This revealing is attended by grand blessings, for the apostle Paul writes: “The creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption and have the glorious freedom of the children of God.”—Rom. 8:21.

OF JESUS CHRIST

The “revelation of Jesus Christ” and “of his glory” a time for rewarding his faithful followers and executing vengeance upon the ungodly. He is thus revealed as a glorious King, empowered to reward and to punish. The Scriptures show that spirit-anointed Christians who faithfully endured suffering would be “overjoyed” during the revelation of Christ’s glory. (1 Pet. 4:13) The tested quality of their faith would be found a cause for praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, and these Christians would become recipients of undeserved kindness. (1 Pet. 1:7, 13) On the other hand, those who do not know God and who do not obey the good news about the Lord Jesus would be destroyed everlastingly, thereby bringing relief to those who have suffered tribulation at their hands.—2 Thess. 1:6-10.

REVELATION TO JOHN, A

[Gr., a·po·kaʹly·psis, an uncovering].

The last book of the Bible (though not the last written) as arranged in most translations. It is also called the Apocalypse of John the Apostle.

WRITER, AND WHEN AND WHERE WRITTEN

The apostle John names himself as the writer of the book, and designates the place of writing as the island of Patmos, where John was in exile at the time for being a preacher of God’s Word and a witness of Jesus Christ. (Rev. 1:1, 9) The time of writing was possibly about 96 C.E.

STYLE, AND APPROPRIATENESS

The book is in letter form, detailing a series of visions set forth in a proper order in regular progression, finally coming to the climactic vision. It supplies a fitting conclusion to the entire Bible.

The book seems to proceed on the basis of a series of sevens. Seven seals open into the blowing of seven trumpets, then into seven plagues. There are seven lampstands, seven stars, seven thunders and many other things by sevens, evidently because the number seven represents completeness, and the book deals with the completion of the sacred secret of God.—Rev. 10:7; see SACRED SECRET.

AUTHOR AND CHANNEL

Jehovah God the Almighty is the book’s author, and the channel of information is Jesus Christ, who sent and presented it to John by means of his angel. (Rev. 1:1) The spirit of God is represented as being sevenfold, hence acting in its fullest capacity to convey this disclosure. John was given divine command to write.—Rev. 1:4, 11.

PURPOSE

While some of the things seen by John in the vision may seem terrifying—the beasts, the woes, the plagues—the book was written, not to terrify, but to comfort and encourage those who read it with faith. It can lead the reader to blessings. In fact, the writer of the book states at the outset: “Happy [or “blessed”]