Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.
Let Reuben live, and not die. Although deprived of the honour and privileges of primogeniture, he was still to hold rank as one of the tribes of Israel. He was more numerous than several other tribes (Numbers 1:21; Numbers 2:11), yet gradually sank into a mere nomadic tribe, which had enough to do merely to "live, and not die."
Josephus says ('Antiquities,' b. 4:, ch. 8:, sec. 48) that Moses blessed each one of the tribes; so that it may be concluded the name of Simeon must have been found in the text of his copy of the Pentateuch, although it is now omitted both in the Hebrew and Samaritan copies; and accordingly it stands in the Alexandrian manuscript of the Septuagint: kai Sumeoon estoo polus en arithmoo. But Apollinaris remarks, that 'the accurate copies do not contain the name of Simeon;' and Tischendorf has excluded it from his edition of the 'Codex Vaticanus,' although he places it, of course, among the various readings in his notes.
Professor Blunt ('Undesigned Coincidences.' p. 89) account for the omission by the preeminence of this tribe in the guilt of Baal-peor, (Numbers 25:1-18; Numbers 26:1-65.) The reading of our present text is in harmony with other statements of Scripture respecting this tribe (Numbers 1:23; Numbers 25:6-14; Numbers 26:14; Joshua 19:1).
And let not his men be few, х mªtaayw (H4962) micpaar (H4557)] - men of number; i:e., easily counted, few (Deuteronomy 4:27; Genesis 34:30; Numbers 9:20; 1 Chronicles 16:19; Psalms 105:12; Jeremiah 44:28). 'In these words,' says Gesenius, 'a negative particle is implied from the preceding clause, so as to translate, "and let not his men be a number" - i:e., let them be many, innumerable.' This interpretation of Gesenius is supported by most of the versions [the Septuagint has: kai estoo polus en arithmoo, with the exception of the Vulgate, 'et sit parvus in numero.'