Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.
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Aphrahat the Persian Sage
AD 345
Moses wished by his priestly power to absolve Reuben from his transgression and sin, in that he had lain with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, so that when his brothers should rise, he might not be cut off from their number. So he said in the beginning of his blessing, “Reuben shall live and not die and shall be in the number.”
Number. This is conformable to the prophecy of Jacob, who deprived Ruben of his birth-right, on account of incest. He is even treated with indulgence, in being permitted to form one of the tribes. Yet some copies of the Septuagint, Syriac, (Theodoret q. 42,) and many interpreters, take this in a quite contrary sense, "let him be numerous, or not few "the negation being supplied from the former part of the verse, which is not unusual in Hebrew. See Genesis ii. 6., Psalm ix. 19., and Proverbs xxxi. 1 The tribe of Ruben was in effect more numerous than those of Gad, Joseph, or Benjamin. Simeon receives no blessing, probably on account of the crimes for which so many of that tribe were exterminated, (Numbers i. 23., and xxvi. 14.; Calmet,) and particularly Zambri, one of the chief princes, Numbers xxv. (Worthington)
But Grabe's Septuagint applies to Simeon what the rest attribute to Ruben. "And let Simeon be many in number. "No solid reason can be given why he should be passed over entire...
