Reuben The name is evidently here assumed to consist of two words, re"û= "behold ye," ben= "a son."

hath … affliction Heb. râ"ah be-onyi. The sound of these two words forms some kind of a play on the name Reuben, and represents a popular and unscientific etymology. In some MSS. of LXX and the Syriac, and in Josephus, the name appears as "Reubel," which has been compared with the Arabic Ri'bal, meaning "a lion"; or it may be compounded with the name of the god Belor Baal. The tribe Reuben settled between the Jabbok and the Arnon. See Judges 5:15-16.

"My affliction." LXX τὴν ταπείνωσιν = "low estate"; cf. 1 Samuel 1:11; Luke 1:48.

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