kathy,
Good insite.
Vinny
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kathy Du Bois" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 7:55 AM
Subject: Poor Reuben


> Hey, while you guys are talking about the contributions of Judah and 
> Leah, as I have been re-reading the same story, my heart has gone out 
> to Reuben, for the first time.  When you think about it, that guy 
> really got a raw deal.  I mean, think about it!  He was the first 
> born.  He should have received the blessing, the birth right and up 
> to half of the inheritance, according to Eastern custom.  But, Jacob 
> didn't really like his mother so he ignored the boy.  I suppose that 
> Reuben was a teenager when he decided to get it on with Bilhah, but 
> chances are, that could have been an act of desperation, and 
> frustration on his part.  It was kind of an, in your face, I'm a man 
> now too, sort of thing.   Maybe a kind of "peeing on the father's 
> turf," kind of challenge.  Chris went through that kind of an 
> attitude a lot with us.  Not  toward me necessarily, I just mean that 
> pack mentality attitude  of challenging the leader.  Some boys are 
> just like that.   Then, as he gets older, he is the first brother to 
> plead for Joseph's life and is secretly hoping to be able to sneak 
> Joseph back to Jacob and come off as a hero so that, maybe Jacob will 
> finally notice him and love him and recognize him as a person, but 
> no, that is not to be.  Then, in the end, he gets nothing.  Jacob 
> won't even acknowledge him on his death bed except to say, you 
> screwed up and I'll never forgive you for it, even with one foot in 
> the grave.  Reuben must have ended up a very bitter person.  He had 
> to suck up to his little brother just  to stay alive.  Jacob was 
> really a lousy parent, you know that?  Incredible.  I'll say one 
> thing for the bible, it doesn't hide the truth!
> Kathy
>