Reuben (Tribe of Israel)

According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Reuben (Hebrew: רְאוּבֵן, Modern: Rəʼūven, Tiberian: Rəʼūḇēn) was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Unlike the majority of the tribes, the land of Reuben, along with that of Gad and half of Manasseh, was on the eastern side of the Jordan and shared a border with Moab. According to the biblical narrative, the Tribe of Reuben descended from Reuben, the eldest son of the patriarch Jacob. Reuben, along with nine other tribes, is reckoned by the Bible as part of the northern kingdom of Israel, and disappears from history with the demise of that kingdom in c. 723 BC. Academic consensus, informed by historical context, textual analysis, and archaeological evidence, largely views the Israelite tribes as eponymous figures representing social or regional groups formed from indigenous Canaanite populations during the Late Bronze and Early Iron periods, rather than as actual historical individuals.