Bird's-eye view
In this opening volley of Moses' final blessing upon the tribes of Israel, we are confronted with a stark and gracious reversal. Reuben, the firstborn son of Jacob, was a man marked by instability and a grievous sin that cost him his birthright. His father Jacob's prophecy over him was one of demotion and decline. Yet here, Moses, the covenant mediator, speaks a word of life over the tribe. This is not a blessing of preeminence or glory, but it is the most fundamental blessing of all: the blessing of continued existence. Moses prays that Reuben would live, that he would not fade into obscurity, and that his tribe would not dwindle into nothing. This short verse is a potent demonstration of God's covenant mercy, where judgment is tempered and the consequences of sin do not get the final word. It establishes the foundational truth that all subsequent blessings depend upon God's gracious will to grant life and posterity to His people, even to the undeserving.
This is grace in action. The tribe that should have been first is now last in the order of blessing, and the blessing itself is a plea for bare survival. But it is a plea made by God's prophet, and therefore it is an effective one. It stands as a permanent reminder that our standing before God is not based on our performance or our pedigree, but on the mediation of a righteous representative. For Reuben, it was Moses. For the Christian, it is the Lord Jesus Christ, who secures for us not just survival, but abundant and eternal life.
Outline
- 1. The Blessing of the Unstable Firstborn (Deut 33:6)
- a. A Prayer Against Extinction (Deut 33:6a)
- b. A Prayer for Posterity (Deut 33:6b)
Context In Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 33 is the final testament of Moses, the man of God. Poised on the edge of the Promised Land, a land he himself will not enter, Moses' last official act is not one of judgment but of blessing. This chapter parallels Jacob's blessing of his sons in Genesis 49, but with a significant difference in tone. While Jacob's words were raw prophecy, mixing blessing and cursing, Moses' words are overwhelmingly gracious. This is the final charge from the covenant mediator to the covenant people. The structure is poetic, beginning with an introduction celebrating God's majesty in giving the law (vv. 2-5), followed by the individual blessings for the tribes (vv. 6-25), and concluding with a magnificent celebration of Israel's unique blessedness under God's protection (vv. 26-29). The blessing on Reuben comes first, befitting his status as firstborn, even though the content of the blessing reflects his diminished status.
Key Issues
- Reuben's Sin and Jacob's Curse
- The Nature of Mediatorial Blessing
- Survival as a Foundational Grace
- Corporate Identity and Generational Sin
- The Relationship Between Prophecy and Prayer
Grace for the Unstable
To understand the gravity of what is happening in this verse, we have to go back to the beginning. Reuben was Jacob's firstborn, the one who should have had the preeminence, the double portion, and the leadership of the family. But in a moment of profound folly and wickedness, he slept with his father's concubine, Bilhah (Gen. 35:22). This was not just a sexual sin; it was a power play, a direct assault on his father's authority and honor. For this, his father Jacob, on his deathbed, delivered a stinging prophecy: "Reuben, you are my firstborn... Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence" (Gen. 49:3-4). The tribe of Reuben was consequently marked by this instability. They were not leaders. They settled on the east side of the Jordan. And by the time of Deborah, they were known for their "great searchings of heart" but ultimate inaction (Judges 5:15-16).
The natural trajectory for Reuben was to dwindle, to fade away, to have the curse of instability run its full course into non-existence. But here, Moses, acting as a type of Christ, stands in the gap. He speaks a word that pushes back against the curse. He does not promise Reuben a return to preeminence; that was forfeited and given to others (Judah got the scepter, Joseph the double portion). But he prays for their life. He asks God to halt the decline. This is the essence of common grace, and for Israel, covenant grace. It is God's kindness that keeps the consequences of our sin from running their full and terrible course.
Verse by Verse Commentary
6 “May Reuben live and not die,
This is the most basic prayer one can offer. Let him live. Do not let him be blotted out. The force of Jacob's prophecy was that Reuben would "not excel," which carried the implicit threat of decline and eventual disappearance. The tribe of Simeon, for example, is not even mentioned in Moses' blessing and was later absorbed into Judah, nearly vanishing as a distinct entity. The same fate could have easily befallen Reuben. So Moses intercedes. This is a prayer against the full consequences of sin. Reuben, because of his father's treachery, deserved to die, to have his tribal line cut off. But Moses, the mediator, pleads for life. This is what Christ does for us. We deserve death, to be cut off from God forever. But our Mediator has secured our life. The first gift of the gospel is not that we become great, but that we who were dead are made to live.
Nor his men be few.”
This second clause amplifies the first. It is not enough to simply exist as a remnant of two or three families. Moses prays that the tribe would have demographic strength, that their "men" would be a significant number. The Hebrew here is concise, literally "and let his men be a number." Some have tried to read this as a limitation, as in "let his men be of a number that can be counted," implying they would be small. But this twists the grammar and ignores the context of a blessing. In the Old Testament, being numerous is a sign of God's favor, a fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise. A prayer for fewness would be a curse, not a blessing. Moses is praying for the opposite of decline. He is asking God not only to preserve Reuben's life, but to grant him a measure of fruitfulness. He is praying that the tribe would be a viable, functioning part of the commonwealth of Israel. This is a prayer for robust, masculine strength within the tribe, ensuring its ability to defend itself and contribute to the nation. God's grace is not just about bare survival; it is about restoring a measure of strength and purpose.
Application
The blessing on Reuben is a profound encouragement for any Christian, family, or church that is painfully aware of past failures. Reuben's story is one of great sin and great loss. He forfeited his birthright through impulsive, wicked behavior. The consequences were real and lasting; he never regained his preeminence. And yet, God did not abandon him or his descendants. Through the prayer of a mediator, God granted him the grace of continuance.
Our past sins have consequences. We cannot defile our father's bed, so to speak, and expect to emerge with our inheritance fully intact in this life. But the gospel truth is that our sin does not have the final say. Christ is our Mediator, and His first word over us is "Live!" Though our sins deserve death and extinction, He grants us life and a future. He does not promise every Christian worldly preeminence, but He does promise preservation.
We should therefore learn to pray like Moses. For our families, for our churches, especially those that are struggling or seem to be in decline, our first prayer should be, "Let them live, and not die. Let their men not be few." This is a prayer against the spiritual entropy that sin introduces. It is a prayer that God, by His sheer grace, would preserve a people for Himself, that He would grant us stability where we have been unstable, and that He would raise up generations to serve Him where decline seems inevitable. Reuben is the patron saint of the undeserving survivor, and his story is our story, for we all live by a grace we did not earn and a mercy that triumphs over judgment.