Talk:Tribe of Reuben

Stone Symbolism

I know that there are twelve precious stones that represent the twelve tribes of Israel and also the foundations of the New Jersulem. My question is what does each stone represent indivdually, why was this particular stone assigned to where it was.
— above unsigned added by 162.39.38.110 (talk) 20 March 2005

Additions

In characteristics: The tribe never played an important role in Israel among the other tribes. They disappeared early in Hebrew history. {See: "The founders and rulers of United Israel: from the death of Moses to the division of the Hebrew Kingdom"} (p. 30) They are remembered for being tent dwellers whose most notable construction was a single stone to serve as a landmark for their tribe, while producing no figures of significance in theology, the judiciary, gallantry, royalty, or celebrity. They were said to be news gossipers content with herding and spoiled as descendants of Jacob's first child, while being unstable and weak. {See: "A dictionary of the Bible: comprising its antiquities, biography, geography, and natural history"} (p. 1033) {See: "The sons of Jacob and their tribal blessings character studies: A series of Sunday afternoon addresses"} (p. 1-21)

Wheres Dan (talk) 06:10, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

"Coat of Arms" Image and a Comment in Character Section

What is the notability and connection for the coat of arms image (currently labeled with "Portuguese sketch. The English name is Reuben.")? This appears to be a self-created image out of the imagination of some author. It does not seem to have any biblical basis, nor any historical significance, it is in Portuguese rather than any language that could understandably be connected with this WP article, and I am not sure what information this contributes/adds to this article.

There is also a comment in the Character section of the article which states "The mandrakes in Reuben's coat-of-arms are based on the story where young Reuben brought his mother Leah mandrakes from the field." This comment seems to refer to the image which has the issues mentioned above.

It would seem reasonable to remove both the image and the comment in the article. — al-Shimoni (talk) 01:26, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Three weeks have passed and so far no response to the above. I went ahead and removed it. If you disagree, please respond to the above to discuss this before reädding it. Many thanks. — al-Shimoni (talk) 04:27, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Reorganization

This article is in need of two kinds of attention -- it needs to be reorganized to some extent, and then there's also the matter of checking old references against scholarship, improving some parts, etc. For the reorganization, the basic problem can all be seen by comparing the article to WP:LEAD. The structure that WP:LEAD mandates starts with a beginning section which sums up the whole article pretty succinctly, and then the later sections cover the material in greater detail.

As it stands, the lead gives a 1-sentence summary of what the Tribe of Reuben is, and then dives directly into a paraphrase of the biblical narratives about the tribe. Then there is a section on the tribe's territory, a section on the origins of the Tribe of Reuben, a section on the "character" of the tribe, and a section on the "fate" of the Tribe.

If we pull the long paragraph from the intro section and put it somewhere between the "origin" and "fate" sections, then we'd have a chronologically better organized article. Then we'd just have to expand the lead a little bit so that it summarizes the article. I plan to do this before I make any alterations to the content of the article by adding and subtracting information. Alephb (talk) 03:47, 7 July 2017 (UTC)

Character Section

I think it would improve the article's flow and organization if the material in the "character" section were reassigned to other sections. As it stands, the character section simply relates a set of episodes involving Reuben: (1) Reuben's non-involvement in a war between some Israelite tribes and Sisera, (2) a war with the Hagrites described in Chronicles, (3) and the "Blessing of Jacob."

The section doesn't attempt to explain how these three episodes define the tribe's "character," and even if they did it would be a matter of WP:OR, because only primary sources are consulted. Only the title gives the impression that some sort of psychoanalysis of the tribe is being conducted. The bit about the war with Sisera can be folded into the biblical narrative section at the appropriate place. The narrative about the Hagarites can be put at the end of the current biblical narrative section. And the bit about the Blessing of Jacob can be placed in the middle of the "origins" section.

Then the article would be organized pretty neatly into two sections -- one on the geography of the tribe of Reuben, and the other on the tribe of Reuben as its story is told in the Bible. Alephb (talk) 04:08, 7 July 2017 (UTC)