...hear, ye sons of Jacob ; And hearken unto Israel your father. 3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, — my might, and the beginning of my strength. The excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power : 4 Unstable as water, thou shall not excel :'-' Because thou wentcst up to thy father's bed ; Then...

...where the 'fruits' of the earth are made to stand by metonymy for the vegetative principle from which beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: they spring; 'If I have eaten the fruits (rD) thereof without money.' By the Gr., Chal., and most of...

...Brother. In this sense the word unquestionably occurs Gen. 49. 3, ' Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity (Heb. FiJSlD elevation, eminence).' From the latter clause of the verse it is evident that God alludes...

...be all that the amplest patrimony can afford us. — How 3 IT Reuben, thou art d my first-born, • t 5: 8 2 4 f Unstable as water, * thou shah not excel, 8 because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst...

...priest in the family. Agreeably to this, Jacob addresses his first-born son in the following words : " Reuben, thou art my first born, my might, and the...excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power." (Gen. xlix. 3.) The first born was, in a peculiar sense, the heir, and, by his birth, had a right to...

...the family. Agreeably to this, Jacob addresses his first-born son in the following words : " R«uben, thou art my first born, my might, and the beginning...excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power." (Gen.'xlix. 3.) The first born was, in a peculiar sense, the heir, and, by his birth, had a right to...

...men be few." Jacob addresses the progenitor of this tribe, thus : " Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power : Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel ; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed ; then defiledst...

...affectionate parents, address this their eldest child in patriarchal style, " Thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power" — they may with all safety complete the sentence by adding, " Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel."...

...precedency among his brethren ; and this his father acknowledged. " Keuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power." But notwithstanding this, for the sins of former years, and for his existing imperfections, he and...

...of them separately, beginning with the eldest, in these words : — " Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. Unstable as water thou shalt not excel ; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed: then thou defilcdst...