1 Chronicles 5:1-10--Descendants of Reuben

1 Chronicles 5:1-10
English Standard Version

Descendants of Reuben
5 The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father's couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, so that he could not be enrolled as the oldest son; 2 though Judah became strong among his brothers and a chief came from him, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph), 3 the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 4 The sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son, 5 Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son, 6 Beerah his son, whom Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria carried away into exile; he was a chief of the Reubenites. 7 And his kinsmen by their clans, when the genealogy of their generations was recorded: the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah, 8 and Bela the son of Azaz, son of Shema, son of Joel, who lived in Aroer, as far as Nebo and Baal-meon. 9 He also lived to the east as far as the entrance of the desert this side of the Euphrates, because their livestock had multiplied in the land of Gilead. 10 And in the days of Saul they waged war against the Hagrites, who fell into their hand. And they lived in their tents throughout all the region east of Gilead.

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Reuben was the firstborn son of Israel, but he lost his birthright because he had sexual relations with his father's concubine (Genesis 3522 and the result of that decisions was reflected in Israel's blessings to his sons in Genesis 49:4).  Reuben was also one of the tribes that chose their portion for themselves on the east side of the Jordan River.  The birthright belonged to Joseph--specifically to Ephraim, as this text says.  He lived far to the east away from most of the other Jewish people and they would be challenged with identifying themselves with the people and God of Israel when it was easier for them to identify with the people and gods of the people that were on the same side of the Jordan as them.  We'll look at the genealogy of the other Trans-Jordan tribes in our next two passages.  While there is some genealogy data, there is no census data for these tribes right now.