[6][7] Some scholars suspect that the final consonant may originally have been an l similar to an n in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, and Josephus rendered the name as Reubel; it is thus possible that Reuben's name is cognate with an Arabic term meaning "wolves".

[10] In classical rabbinical literature, Reuben is described as being motivated by a sense of responsibility over his brothers (since he was the eldest), and as having become angry when he discovers that Joseph had gone missing as a result of his brothers selling him to Ishmaelites[11] (textual scholars attribute this version of the narrative to the Yahwist[12]) or Joseph being found and taken by Midianites[13] (textual scholars attribute this version of the narrative to the Elohist[12]).

The rabbinical sources argue that the first Cities of Refuge were located in the territory of the tribe of Reuben since their eponym had tried to save Joseph from the mob of his brothers.

There is a tradition that Reuben was buried at a shrine in the former village of Nabi Rubin; the site was a place of pilgrimage and an annual festival before the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.

[14] The ruins of the shrine containing the Tomb of Reuben and those of an adjacent mosque, nowadays abandoned, are today part of Palmachim Beach, a national park of Israel.