Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.
Now the sons of Reuben. In proceeding to give this genealogy, the sacred historian states in a parenthesis. (1 Chronicles 5:1-2) the reason why it was not placed first, as Reuben was the oldest son of Jacob, The birthright, which by a foul crime he had forfeited, implied not only dominion, but a double portion (Deuteronomy 21:17); and both of these were transferred to Joseph, whose two sons having been adopted as the children of Jacob (Genesis 48:5), received each an allotted portion, as forming two distinct tribes in Israel. Joseph, then, was entitled to the precedency; and yet, as his posterity were not mentioned first, the sacred historian judged it necessary to explain that 'the genealogy was not to be reckoned after the birth-right,' but with reference to a superior honour and privilege that had been conferred on Judah-not the man, but the tribe-whereby it was invested with the pre-eminence over all the other tribes, and out of it was to spring David, with his royal lineage, and especially the great Messiah (Hebrews 7:14). These were the two reasons why, in the order of enumeration, the genealogy of Judah is introduced before that of Reuben.