Reuben - Firstborn, birthright

Gen 37:21-22  21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.  22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again. KJV

• Here Reuben is pleading for Josephs life. He is trying to figure out how to keep him alive.

Gen 37:29-30 29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. 30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?  KJV

• In verse 30 it would seem that Reuben was worried about himself not Joseph.  Because his concern is about what will happen to him when he tells his father that Joseph is gone.

Gen 35:22 And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. KJV

• Reuben, Jacob's firstborn son, may have been aserting his right to be the principal heir.  Maybe he felt slighted by jacob's implication that the youngest son benjamin was the son of his right hand. By sleeping with his father's concubine, he was assserting that he would succeed his father. Ironically, this very action caused him to lose the blessing he desired (see 49:3,4)

Gen 49:3-4  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 shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch. KJV

It also appears that the very same struggle that Jacob and Esau had over the birthright was still being faught through Jacobs oldest son Reuben, who many years later is still struggling to hold on to his birthright as the firstborn son.