REUBEN
10G0
KEl'EL
of the national government and of the national religion, it is not to be wondered at thai Reuben relinquished the faith of Jehovah. "They weni after the gods of tin- people of the land whom God destroyed before them," and we hear little more of them till the time of Hazael, king of Syria, who ravaged and for a time held ■ n of their country (2 Kings x, 33). The Last historical notice which we possess of I hem, while it re- cords tlii- fact, records also as its natural consequence, thai the Reubenites and Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh were carried off by Pul and Tiglath-pileser, and placed in the districts on and about the river Kha- bur, in the upper part of Mesopotamia -" in Halah, and Habor, and tiara, and the river Gozan" (1 Chron. v, 26). The following is a list of all the Biblical localities in the tribe of Reuben, with their probable identifications. For the boundaries, see Tribe. Abaiim. Mountains. El-Belka.
Almon-diblnthaim. Town. [N. of Dhiban] ?
Arnon. River. Mojeb.
Aroer. Town. Arair.
Ashdoth-pisgah. Brooks. SeePisGAii.
Ataroth. Town. Atoms.
Baal-meon. do. Main.
Bajith. do. See Baal-meon.
Bamoth (-baal). j ''i",^1'"") [Jebel Htmeh]1 Beer (-elim). Well. ' [On Soil Hadan]?
Beon. Town. See Baal-meon.
Beth-baal-ineon. do. See Baal-meon.
Beth-diblathaim. do. See Almon-jwblathaim.
Beth-jeshimoth. do. Beit-Jismutht
Bi I on. do. See Baal-meon.
Beth-peor. Temple. [N. W. of Hesban] ?
Bezer. Town. [Buraziny!
Dibon [or Dimon]. do. Dhiban,
Elealeh. do. EUAl
Heshbon. do. Hesban.
Jahaz. do. [Khan es-Shiby}
Eedemoth. do. [Kd-Dideilatl ?
Kiijathaim. do. Kureyatt
Lasha. do. See Cali.ibeiwe.
Mattanah. do. [In plain Ard Ramadan]?
Medeba. do. Mniaba.
Mephaatn. do. iEm el-Weled] 1
Miunith. do. Minyah.
Misgnb. do. See Bamoth.
Nahaliel. do. [N. of Wady Maleh] ?
Nebo. Mount. Jebel Neba.
Nophah. Town. [El-Habeis]1
Pisgah. Mount. Sec Nemo.
8bJ)Iib'mahbma,,'}Town- »*r*»
Zareth-snahar. do. Zarat
Zophim. Field. [Plain of Medeba}?
The country allotted to the Reubenites extended on the south to the river Anion, which divided it from the Moabites (Josh. xiii,8, 16); on the cast it touched the desert of Arabia; on the west were the Dead Sea and the Jordan. The northern border was probably marked by a line running eastward from the .Ionian through Wady Besban (vers. 17-21 ; Numb.xxxii,37,38). This
country had originally been conquered and occupied by
the Moabites; but they were driven out a short time
Jeth-Trararv (' A D " «u ,rshoph^n'
Abel-ceramirn
Map of the Tribe of Reuben.
before the Exodus by Sihon. king of the Amorites. wha was in his turn expelled by the Israelites (Deut. ii: Numb. xxi. 22-31 i. Immediately after the captivity
the Moabites again returned to their old country and occupied their old cities. This is the reason why, in the later prophets, many of the cities of Reuben are i m-
braced in the curses pn unced upon Moab (.ler. xlviii).
The territory was divided into sections — the western
declivities towards the Dead Sea and the Jordan valley, which were steep, rugged, and bare, with the little sec- tion of the lower plain of Jordan dulled in Scripture '■the plains of Moab" [ Numb. xxii. 1 ] ) at their base; and the high table-land stretching from the summit of the ridge away towards Arabia. The latter, from its even surface, as contrasted with the rocky soil of West- ern Palestine, received from the accurate sacred writers the appropriate name Mishor (q. v.). Under its modern name of the Belka it is still esteemed beyond all others by the Arab sheepmasters. It is well watered, covered with smooth, short turf, and losing itself gradually in those illimitable wastes n bub have always been, and al- ways will be, the favorite resort of pastoral nomad t iilie>. The whole region is now deserted ; there is not a single settled inhabitant within its borders. Its great cities, mostly bearing their ancient name-,, are heaps of ruins. The wild wandering tribes of the desert visit it period- ically to feed their fiocks .and herds on its rich pastures, and to drink the waters of its fountains and cisterns. See Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, p. 065 sq.; Irby and Mangles, Travels, p. 460 sq.; Porter, Hand-look for Syria, p. 298 sq.
Reu'benite (Heb. with the art. ha-Reubeny', ^^"X-in; Sept. 'Povfifiv, occasionally oi utoi 'Pow/3qv or 'Povj3i]i'i), a descendant of Reuben (Numb, xxvi, 7,
etc.).
Reuchlin, .Ioiiann von, an eminent German schol- ar, who adopted the Graecized name of Capnio, was born at Pforzheim in 1451. After serving in different politi- cal functions, he became, in 1520, professor of Creek and Hebrew at Ingolstadt, whence he removed to Tubin- gen, thence to Stuttgart, where he died, Dec. 28, 1521. Resides his memorable services in connection with clas- sical literature and general culture, he may be regarded as the principal promoter of the study of Hebrew in his day. lie published a Hebrew grammar and lexicon under the title Ad Dionysium Fratrem suum dt Rudi- mentis ll<l>nii,-i.< Libri III (s. 1. 1506, Ito), of which an improved edition, by Seb. Minister, appeared in 1537 (Basel, foL). Reuchlin wrote also D, Accentibuset Ortho- graphia Linn. II<1>. ( Hagenau, 1518, Ito).— Kitto.
Reii'el (Heb. Reilel', b»Wl, friend of (in,!; Sept. 'Payovrjk; A. Y. Raguel | Numb, x, 29]), the name of three or four men.
1. A son of Esau by Bashemath (Gen. xxxvi. I. 10; 1 Chron. i, 35, 37) ; bis four sons I Gen. xxx\ i. 13) were princes, i. e. chiefs of the Edomites (ver. 17). P>.< '. post 1963. SeeKsu.