Interesting Facts

• Reu was the son of Peleg.
• The birth of Reu is chronologically placed in the fourth year of the week following the marriage of his parents, Peleg and Lomna, in the thirty-third jubilee.
• His father, Peleg, named him Reu, observing that during his lifetime, the children of men had become evil due to their wicked intention of constructing a city and a tower in the land of Shinar. This suggests a period of significant human endeavor and, in the view of the narrator, moral decline.
• The Jasher text mentions that Peleg had a brother named Yen.
• Reu lived for two hundred and thirty-nine years and died in the seventy-eighth year of the life of Abram.

Genealogy

• Father: Peleg.
• Mother: Lomna.
• Brother: According to Jasher, Peleg had a brother named Yen. However, Yen is not explicitly identified as a brother of Reu.
• Spouse: Ora, the daughter of Ur, the son of Kesed.
• Offspring: Serug.

Historical Context

Reu’s life unfolded in a period marked by significant events following the dispersal from Babel. His very naming reflects the perceived wickedness associated with the Tower of Babel project in the land of Shinar. The sources indicate that this era saw the rise of Nimrod’s kingdom in Shinar and the subsequent reign over the sons of Noah. While the immediate aftermath of the confounding of languages and scattering is placed before Reu’s birth, the lingering effects and the establishment of new centers of power, like Nimrod’s in Shinar, would have shaped the geopolitical landscape of his time. Furthermore, the division of the earth, an event commemorated by his father Peleg’s name, would have continued to influence the settlement patterns and interactions among the descendants of Noah. The subsequent narratives highlight the building of cities by Noah’s sons and grandsons, and the beginnings of distinct nations and languages. Thus, Reu lived in a world transitioning from a unified post-flood society to a more fragmented and geographically dispersed one, with the memory of the Tower incident and the burgeoning of new kingdoms serving as key contextual elements.

Narrative

The narrative surrounding Reu in the provided sources is primarily genealogical, situating him within the lineage connecting the early generations after the flood to later figures like Abram. His birth is specifically tied to the moral commentary on the generation that built the Tower of Babel, suggesting his life began in a time viewed with divine disapproval due to human ambition. His marriage to Ora is noted in the thirty-fifth jubilee, and his fathering of Serug further advances the ancestral line. The Jasher text’s mention of Peleg’s brother Yen is isolated and does not intersect with the narrative of Reu’s life, leaving their potential relationship, if any beyond being contemporaries within the same extended family, unexplored. The fact that Reu lived to be two hundred and thirty-nine years old places him within the long lifespans attributed to the patriarchs of this era, highlighting the temporal distance between the flood and the later generations. His death is noted as occurring in Abram’s seventy-eighth year, providing a chronological marker within the broader sweep of the post-flood history. While Reu’s personal actions and dialogues are not detailed, his existence and lineage serve as a crucial link in the unfolding narrative of humanity after the deluge, leading towards the pivotal figure of Abram and the subsequent covenantal history.