Jacob: Gen. 49:3-4: "Reuben, you are my firstborn, my power and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of exaltation and the excellency of power. Boiling like water, you do not excel, because you went up to your fathers bed, then you defiled it; he went up to my couch." Moshe Rabainu: Deut. 33:6: "Let Reuben live, and not die, and let his men be numbered."

Comments: Reuben are those Israelites who have a love for the carnal and sensual despite their regeneration. They have great struggle between right and wrong and they are relatively few in number. Mainly found among the French. They succeed in many different endeavors initially but have no continuity in righteousness. Thus their success turns to oft repeated failures.