Benjamin
VIEW:53 DATA:01-04-2020
son of the right hand
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary
BENJAMIN.1. The youngest son of Jacob by Rachel, and the only full brother of Joseph (Gen_30:22 f. [JE [Note: Jewish Encyclopedia.] ] Gen_35:17 [J [Note: Jahwist.] ] Gen_35:24 [P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ]). He alone of Jacobs sons was native-born. J [Note: Jahwist.] (Gen_35:16) puts his birth near Ephrath in Benjamin. A later interpolation identifies Ephrath with Bethlehem, but cf. 1Sa_10:2. P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] , however (Gen_35:22-26), gives Paddan-aram as the birth-place of all Jacobs children. His mother, dying soon after he was born, named him Ben-oni (son of my sorrow). Jacob changed this ill-omened name to the more auspicious one Benjamin, which is usually interpreted son of my right hand, the right hand being the place of honour as the right side was apparently the lucky side (cf. Gen_48:14). Pressed by a famine, his ten brothers went down to Egypt, and Jacob, solicitous for his welfare, did not allow Benjamin to accompany them; but Joseph made it a condition of his giving them corn that they should bring him on their return. When Judah (Gen_43:9 J [Note: Jahwist.] ) or Reuben (Gen_42:37 E [Note: Elohist.] ) gave surety for his safe return, Jacob yielded. Throughout the earlier documents Benjamin is a tender youth, the idol of his father and brothers. A late editor of P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] (Gen_46:21) makes him, when he entered Egypt, the father of ten sons, that is more than twice as many as Jacobs other sons except Dan, who had seven.
The question is, What is the historical significance of these conflicting traditions? Yâmin, right hand, appears to have been used geographically for south, and Ben-yâmin may mean son (s) of the south, i.e. the southern portion of Ephraim. Ben-oni may be connected with On in the tribe of Benjamin. The two names may point to the union of two related tribes, and the persistence of the traditions that Benjamin was the full brother of Joseph, whereas the other Joseph tribes (Manasseh and Ephraim) are called sons, would indicate not only a close relationship to Joseph, but also a comparatively early development into an independent tribe. On the other hand, J [Note: Jahwist.] E [Note: Elohist.] P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] all make Benjamin the youngest son, and P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] gives Canaan as his native land. This points to a traditional belief that the tribe was the last to develop. This and the fact that Shimei, a Benjamitc, claims (2Sa_19:20) to be of the house of Joseph, suggest that the tribe was an offshoot of the latter.
The limits of the tribal territory are given by P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] in Jos_18:11-28. Within it lay Bethel (elsewhere assigned to Ephraim), Ophrah, Geba, Gibeon, Ramab, Mizpeh, Gibeah, all primitive seats of Canaanitish worship and important centres in the cultus of Israel (cf., e.g., Bethel, Amo_7:10 ff.). Jericho, where in early times there may have been a cult of the moon-god (jârçach = moon), and Jerusalem are also assigned to Benjamin. Deu_33:12, as commonly but not universally interpreted, also assigns Jerusalem to Benjamin, though later it belonged to Judah. Anathoth, the birth-place of Jeremiah, also lay in Benjamin (Jos_21:18 [P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ]). In the Blessing of Jacob (Gen_49:27) a fierce and warlike character is ascribed to Benjamin. The statement is all the more important, since in this Blessing we have certainly to deal with vaticinia post eventum. The rugged and unfriendly nature of the tribal territory doubtless contributed to martial hardihood. The tribe participated in the war against Sisera (Jdg_5:14). A late and composite story is found in Jdg_19:1-30; Jdg_20:1-48; Jdg_21:1-25 of an almost complete annihilation of the tribe by the rest of the Israelites. Later the tribe gave to united Israel its first king, Saul of Gibeah. It had in Asas army, according to 2Ch_14:8, 280,000 picked warriorsan exaggeration of course, but a very significant one in this connexion. Benjamin, under Sheba, a kinsman of Saul, led in the revolt against David when the quarrel provoked by Davids partisanship broke out between Judah and the northern tribes (2Sa_20:1 ff.). From the first the tribe was loyal to the house of Saul and violently opposed to David (cf. 2Sa_16:5; 2Sa_20:2). In the revolt against the oppressions of Rehoboam it joined with the North (1Ki_12:20). A variant account joins it with Judah (1Ki_12:21 f.), but this is only a reflexion of later times. The history of the tribe is unimportant after David. Besides Saul and Jeremiah, St. Paul also traced descent to this tribe (Php_3:5). See also Tribes. 2. A great-grandson of Benjamin (1Ch_7:10). 3. One of those who had married a foreign wife (Ezr_10:32; prob. also Neh_3:23; Neh_12:34).
James A. Craig.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
("son of my right hand"), as Jacob named him; first called by his dying mother Rachel Benoni, son of my sorrow (compare Jer_31:15; Mat_2:17-18). Jesus the antitype was first "a man of sorrows" (Isa_53:3), the mother's sorrows attending tits birth also at Bethlehem; afterward "the man of God's right hand," on whom God's hand was laid strengthening Him (Rev_1:17; Psa_80:17; Psa_89:21; Act_5:31).
1. Rachel's second son, the only son of Jacob born in Palestine (Gen_35:16-19), on the road between Betheland Bethlehem Ephrath, near the latter (Gen_48:7) (probably "the fertile", from parah, corresponding to the town's other name, Bethlehem, "bread-house.") The Arabic jamin means "fortunate". And in the expression "sons of Benjamin" or a "man of Benjamin, ... land of Benjamin," the first syllable is suppressed Benee Ha-Jemini, Ish Jemini, Erets Jemini, compare Gen_46:10. Benjamin was his father's favorite after Joseph's supposed death (Gen_44:30); as the youngest, the child of his old age, and the child of his beloved Rachel. Joseph's gifts to him exceeded far those to each of his elder brothers (Gen_43:34; Gen_45:22).
Benjamin was only 23 or 24 years old when Jacob went down to Egypt. He clearly could not then have had ten sons already (Gen_46:6-21), or eight sons and two grandsons (Num_26:38-40). It is plain that the list in Genesis 46 includes those grandsons and great grandsons of Jacob born afterward in Egypt, and who in the Israelite mode of thought came into Egypt "in the loins" of their fathers (compare Heb_7:9-10). Hence, arises the correspondence in the main between the list given in connection with Jacob's descent to Egypt in Genesis 46, and the list taken by Moses ages afterward in Numbers 26. Benjamin's sons, Becher, Gera, Rosh, are missing in Moses' list, because they either died childless, or did not leave a sufficient number of children to form independent families.
After the Exodus the tribe was the smallest but one (Num_1:1; Num_1:36-37; 1Sa_9:21; Psa_68:27). On march it held the post between Manasseh and Ephraim, its brother tribes, W. of the tabernacle, which it followed (Psa_80:2) under its captain Abidan, son of Gideoni (Num_2:18-24). Palti, son of Raphu, was the spy representing it (Num_13:9). In the division of the land Elidad, son of Chislon, represented it (Num_34:21). Its predominant characteristic of warlike tastes is foretold by Jacob (Gen_49:27); "Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf, in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night shall divide the spoil." How truly is attested by the war waged them alone (and victoriously at against all the tribes, rather give up the wicked men of Gibeah (Judges 19; 20; compare Mat_26:52). Their number was reduced thereby to 600, who took refuge in the cliff Rimmon, and were provided with wives partly from Jabesh, partly from Shiloh (Judges 21).
The period of the judges must have been a long one to admit of the increase to Benjamin's subsequent large numbers (1Ch_7:6-12; 1Ch_7:8; 1Ch_12:1-8). The same determined spirit, but in a better cause, appears in their resisting Saul, their own kinsman's, appeal to them to betray David's movements (1Sa_22:7-18). Moreover Ehud, judge and deliverer of Israel from Eglon of Moab, was of Benjamin; also Saul and Jonathan, whose prowess was famed (2Sa_1:18-19; 2Sa_1:23). Also Baanah and Rechab, captains of marauding bands and murderers of Ishbosheth (2 Samuel 4). Archers and slingers, generally left handed (as also Ehud was), were the chief force of the "sons of Jacob's right hand" (Jdg_3:15, etc.; Jdg_20:16; 1Ch_12:2; 2Ch_14:8; 2Ch_17:17).
The "morning" and "night" in Jacob's prophecy mark that Benjamin, as he was in the beginning, so he should continue to the end of the Jewish state. Similarly in Moses' prophecy (Deu_33:12), "Benjamin, the beloved of the Lord (attached to David = beloved after Saul's dynasty fell), shall dwell in safety by Him; the Lord shall cover him all the day long;" implying a longer continuance to Benjamin than to the other tribes. So Benjamin alone survived with Judah, after the deportation of the ten tribes to Assyria, arid accompanied Judah to and front the Babylonian captivity, and lasted until Shiloh came and until Jerusalem was destroyed. As on the march, so in the promised land, Benjamin's position was near that of Ephraim, between it on the N. and Judah on the S., a small but rich territory, advantageously placed in commanding the approach to the valley of the Jordan, and having Dan between it and the Philistines (Jos_18:11, etc.); a parallelogram, 26 miles long, 12 broad, extending from the Jordan to the region of Kirjath Jearim eight miles W. of Jerusalem, and from the valley of Hinnom S. to Bethel N.
When the Lord rejected the tabernacle of Joseph at Shiloh He chose mount Zion, Jerusalem which chiefly belonged to Benjamin (the of the Jebusite, "Jebusi, which Jerusalem" (Jos_18:28), and all the land N. of the valley of Hinnom), and only in part to Judah, God's chosen tribe (Psa_78:60; Psa_78:67-68). In this sense Benjamin fulfilled Moses' prophecy in "dwelling between" Judah's (the Lord's representative) "shoulders," or ridges of the ravines which on the W., S., and E. environ the holy city. Primarily, however, the idea is, Benjamin as "the beloved of Jehovah shall dwell in safety with Him (literally, founded upon Him), and he (Benjamin) shall dwell between His (Jehovah's) shoulders," as a son borne upon his father's back (Deu_1:31; Deu_32:11; Exo_19:4; Isa_46:3-4; Isa_63:9).
This choice of Jerusalem as the seat of the ark and David's place of residence formed a strong He between Judah and Benjamin, though Saul's connection with the latter had previously made the Benjamites, as a tribe, slow to recognize David as king (1Ch_12:29; 2Sa_2:8-9). Hence at the severance of the ten tribes Benjamin remained with Judah (1Ki_12:23; 2Ch_11:1). The two coalesced into one, under the common name Jews, whence they are called "one tribe" (1Ki_11:13; 1Ki_11:32; 1Ki_12:20-21). Moreover, a part of Benjamin including Bethel, the seat of Jeroboam's calf worship, went with the ten tribes. Possibly Jeroboam's having appropriated it for the calf worship may have helped to alienate Benjamin from him and attach Benjamin to Judah. They two alone were the royal tribes.
David was connected with Saul of Benjamin by marriage with his daughter, and therefore, feeling the political importance of the connection, made it a preliminary of his league with Abner that Michal should be restored to him, though Phaltiel had her heart (2Sa_3:13-16). Above all, what knit together Benjamin and Judah most was the position fixed by God for the great national temple, which deprived Ephraim of its former glory (Psa_78:60-68); not in Judah only, or in Benjamin only, but on part of the confines of both, so that one text places it in Judah and the parallel text in Benjamin; compare Jos_15:63 with Jos_18:28. These elements of union between Benjamin and Judah are not obviously put forward in the sacred writings, but are found in them on close observation, just such seeds as would produce the ultimate union which the history records.
Such undesigned coincidences agree best with the belief that the narrative is minutely true, not forged. Benjamin occupied a plateau generally about 2,000 feet above the Mediterranean plain, and 3,000 feet above the valley of the Jordan. The hilly nature of the country is marked by the names Gibeon, Gibeah, Geba, Ramah, Mizpeh (watchtower), "the ascent of Bethhoron," the cliff Rimmon, the pass of Michmash. Torrent beds and ravines are the only avenues from the Philistian and Sharon plains on the W., and from the deep Jordan valley on the E. These ravines were frequented once by many wild beasts, as the names of places testify: Zeboim, "hyaenas" (1Sa_13:17-18); Shual and Shaalbim (Jdg_1:35), "foxes" or "jackals"; Ajalon, "gazelle." Up these western passes the Philistines advanced against Saul in the beginning of his reign, and drove him to Gilgal in the Arabah, occupying from Michmash to Ajalon. Down them they were driven again by Saul and Jonathan. Joshua chased the Canaanites down the long slopes of Bethhoron.
The regular road between Jericho and Jerusalem was another of these passes, the scene of the parable of the good Samaritan. Lod, Ono, Aijalon were westward extensions of Benjamin's bounds beyond the original limit (Neh_11:35). The presence of the ark at Kirjath Jearim in Benjamin, the prophet Samuel's residence in the sanctuary Ramah (1Sa_7:17; 1Sa_9:12), the great assemblies of "all Israel" at Mizpeh (1Sa_7:5), and the sanctity attached of old to Bethel, "the great high place" at Gibeon (1Ki_3:4; 2Ch_1:3), all tended to raise B. high in the nation, and to lead them to acquiesce in the choice of Saul as king, though belonging to "the smallest of the tribes of Israel" (1Sa_9:21). After Saul's and then Ishbosheth's death, Benjamin sent 3,000 men to Hebron to confirm the kingdom to David (1Ch_12:23; 1Ch_12:29; 2Sa_5:3), Abner having declared for him. But the Benjamite Shimei's curses and Sheba's rebel. lion indicate that Saul's party among the Benjamites, even after his dynasty had ceased, cherished the old grudge against David.
Besides the causes mentioned before, which finally united Benjamin and Judah, there was Jeroboam's setting up the calf worship in Bethel (a Benjamite city) in rivalry of the temple of Jehovah in the joint city of Benjamin and Judah, Jerusalem (1Ki_12:29); also Rehoboam's wise policy in dispersing his children through all Judah and Benjamin, into every" fenced city" (2Ch_11:12; 2Ch_11:23); also Asa's covenant with Jehovah, in which Benjamin took part (2 Chronicles 15); also the advancement of Benjamites to high posts in the army (2Ch_17:17). "The high gate of Benjamin" (Jer_20:2) marked the tribe's individuality even in the joint metropolis of Benjamin and Judah; compare Ezra 2; Ezr_10:9; Nehemiah 7; Neh_11:31-35 in proof of this individuality even after the return from Babylon. The genealogy of Kish and Saul, traced to a late date, brings us down to a Kish, father of Mordecai, the savior of the Jewish nation from Haman's intended destruction (
Est_2:5).
The royal name reappears in Saul of Tarsus, whose glory was that he belonged to "the tribe of Benjamin" (Rom_11:1; Php_3:5.) His full sense of that honor appears in his reference to his forefather," Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin" (Act_13:21.) In his own person he realized some of the prominent characteristics of his tribe: fierce obstinacy when be was "exceedingly mad against Christians, and persecuted them even unto strange cities" (Act_26:11), equally persistent firmness when he declares, in spite of friends' entreaties, "I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus" (Act_21:13). Thus Benjamin had the distinction of producing one of Israel's first judges, her first king, and the great apostle of the uncircumcision.
2. A Benjamite, head of a family of giant men; son of Bilhan (1Ch_7:10).
3. One who married a foreign wife (Ezr_10:32).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Ben'jamin. (son of the right hand, fortunate).
1. The youngest of the children of Jacob. His birth took place on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, near the latter, B.C. 1729. His mother, Rachel, died in the act of giving him birth, naming him with her last breath, Ben-oni (son of my sorrow). This was, by Jacob, changed into Benjamin. Gen_35:16; Gen_35:18. Until the journeys of Jacob's sons and Jacob himself into Egypt, we hear nothing of Benjamin. Nothing personal is known of him. Henceforward, the history of Benjamin is the history of the tribe.
2. A man of the tribe of Benjamin, son of Bilhan, and the head of a family of warriors. 1Ch_7:10.
3. One of the "sons of Harim," an Israelite, in the time of Ezra who had married a foreign wife. Ezr_10:32.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel, who was born, A.M. 2272. Jacob, being on his journey from Mesopotamia, as he was proceeding southward with Rachel in the company, Gen_35:16-17, &c, the pains of child-bearing came upon her, about a quarter of a league from Bethlehem, and she died after the delivery of a son, whom, with her last breath, she named Benoni, that is, the son of my sorrow; but soon afterward Jacob changed his name, and called him Benjamin, that is, the son of my right hand. See JOSEPH.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.
Of all Jacobs sons, the two born to Rachel were his favourites, Joseph and Benjamin. In giving his prophetic blessing on the future tribes of Israel, Jacob knew that the descendants of Joseph would be far more dominant than those of Benjamin (Gen_49:22-27).
Protected son
Since Rachel died while giving birth to Benjamin (Gen_35:16-19), Jacob had a special concern for Benjamin. To protect Benjamin from any possible harm, Jacob would not allow him to go to Egypt the first time his sons went to buy grain (Gen_42:4). He allowed Benjamin to go on the second journey only because he had no alternative (Gen_42:38; Gen_43:13-15). Joseph, though delighted at seeing his younger brother again (Gen_43:16; Gen_43:29-34), used Benjamin to test the sincerity of his brothers before inviting the whole of Jacobs family to come and live in Egypt (Gen_44:2; Gen_44:12; Genesis 45).
Aggressive tribe
Little is recorded concerning Benjamins character, but Jacob had sufficient insight to see that the tribe to be descended from him would be fiercely aggressive (Gen_49:27). Perhaps this characteristic developed in the tribe when, after the division of Canaan, it found itself squeezed into a narrow strip of land between Israels two most powerful tribes, Ephraim to the north and Judah to the south (Jos_18:11-28). As a result Benjamin soon lost towns on its northern border to Ephraim (see BETHEL; GILGAL; JERICHO), and towns on its southern border to Judah (see JERUSALEM; KIRIATH-JEARIM). For other important Benjaminite towns see GIBEAH; GIBEON; MIZPAH.
The tribe of Benjamin soon became famous for its skilled fighters, many of whom were left-handed (Gen_49:27; Jdg_3:15; Jdg_20:15-16; 1Ch_8:40). On one occasion, when the men of Gibeah had committed a terrible crime that brought shame on all Israel, Benjamin chose to fight against the other tribes rather than punish its guilty citizens. As a result of the war that followed, Benjamin was almost wiped out (Judges 19; Judges 20; Judges 21).
Yet Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel, produced Israels first king, Saul (1Sa_9:21; 1Sa_10:20-24). When Saul became jealous of David, the leading men of Benjamin encouraged Saul to kill him, no doubt because they saw David, and Davids tribe Judah, as a threat to their own position (1Sa_18:22-26; 1Sa_22:7; 1Sa_24:9; 1Sa_26:19; Psalms 7). When David later became king, some of the leading Benjaminites maintained their hostility to him (2Sa_16:5-8; 2Sa_20:1-2).
Jerusalem, on the border between Benjamin and Judah, was still under enemy control when David became king. Davids conquest of Jerusalem and his decision to make it his capital probably helped to win the allegiance of the Benjaminites (Jdg_1:21; 2Sa_5:6-7). The blessing that Moses promised the tribe of Benjamin was possibly fulfilled when Israels temple was built in Jerusalem, which was officially in Benjamins territory (Deu_33:12; Jer_20:2). When, after the death of Solomon, the northern tribes broke away from Judah, Benjamin was the only tribe in Israel to remain loyal to Judah and the Davidic throne (1Ki_11:11-13; 1Ki_11:31-32; 1Ki_12:21; 1Ch_8:1; 1Ch_8:28).
Benjamin went into captivity in Babylon with Judah, and later returned from captivity with Judah (Ezr_4:1). Mordecai and Esther, who feature in a story of post-captivity Jews in a foreign land, were from the tribe of Benjamin (Est_2:5-7). The apostle Paul also was from the tribe of Benjamin (Rom_11:1; Php_3:5).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.
ben?ja-min (בּנימין, binyāmı̄n, or בּנימן, binyāmin; Βενιαείν, Beniaeı́n, Βενιαμίν, Beniamı́n):
1. The Patriarch
The youngest of Jacob's sons. His mother Rachel died in giving him birth. As she felt death approaching she called him Benoni, ?son of my sorrow.? Fearing, probably, that this might bode evil for the child - for names have always preserved a peculiar significance in the East - Jacob called him Benjamin, ?son of the fight hand? (Gen_35:17). He alone of Jacob's sons was born in Palestine, between Bethel and Ephrath. Later in the chapter, in the general enumeration of the children born in Paddan-ar am, the writer fails to except Benjamin (Gen_35:24). Joseph was his full brother. In the history where Benjamin appears as an object of solicitude to his father and brothers, we must not forget that he was already a grown man. At the time of the descent of Israel to Egypt Joseph was about 40 years of age. Benjamin was not much younger, and was himself the father of a family. The phrase in Gen_44:20, ?a little one,? only describes in oriental fashion one much younger than the speaker. And as the youngest of the family no doubt he was made much of. Remorse over their heartless treatment of his brother Joseph may have made the other brothers especially tender toward Benjamin. The conduct of his brethren all through the trying experiences in Egypt places them in a more attractive light than we should have expected; and it must have been a gratification to their father (Gen 42ff). Ten sons of Benjamin are named at the time of their settlement in Egypt (Gen_46:21).
2. The Tribe
At the Exodus the number of men of war in the tribe is given as 35,400. At the second census it is 45,600 (Num_1:37; Num_26:41). Their place in the host was with the standard of the camp of Ephraim on the west of the tabernacle, their prince being Abidan the son of Gideoni (Num_2:22 f). Benjamin was represented among the spies by Palti the son of Raphu; and at the division of the land the prince of Benjamin was Elidad the son of Chislon (Num_13:9; Num_34:21).
3. Territory
The boundaries of the lot that fell to Benjamin are pretty clearly indicated (Jos_18:11). It lay between Ephraim on the North and Judah on the South. The northern frontier started from the Jordan over against Jericho, and ran to the north of that town up through the mountain westward past Bethaven, taking in Bethel. It then went down by Ataroth-addar to Beth-horon the nether. From this point the western frontier ran southward to Kiriath-jearim. The southern boundary ran from Kiriath-jearim eas tward to the fountain of the waters of Netophah, swept round by the south of Jerrus and passed down through the wilderness northern by shore of the Dead Sea at the mouth of the Jordan. The river formed the eastern boundary. The lot was comparatively small. This, according to Josephus, was owing to ?the goodness of the land? (Ant., V, i, 22); a description that would apply mainly to the plans of Jericho. The uplands are stony, mountainous, and poor in water; but there is much good land on the western slopes.
4. Importance of Position
It will be seen from the above that Benjamin held the main avenues of approach to the highlands from both East and West: that by which Joshua led Israel past Ai from Gilgal, and the longer and easier ascents from the West, notably that along which the tides of battle so often rolled, the Valley of Aijalon, by way of the Beth-horons. Benjamin also sat astride the great highway connecting North and South, which ran along the ridge of the western range, in the district where it was easiest of defense. It was a position calling for occupation by a brave and warlike tribe such as Benjamin proved to be. His warriors were skillful archers and slingers, and they seem to have cultivated the use of both hands, which gave them a great advantage in battle (Jdg_20:16; 1Ch_8:40; 1Ch_12:2, etc.). These characteristics are reflected in the Blessing of Jacob (Gen_49:27). The second deliverer of Israel in the period of the Judges was Ehud, the left-handed Benjamite (Jdg_3:15).
5. History
The Benjamites fought against Sisera under Deborah and Barak (Jdg_5:14). The story told in Jdg_20:21 presents many difficulties which cannot be discussed here. It is valuable as preserving certain features of life in these lawless times when there was no details in Israel. Whatever may be said of the details, it certainly reflects the memory of some atrocity in which the Benjamites were involved and for which they suffered terrible punishment. The election of Saul as first king over united Israel naturally lent a certain prestige to the tribe. After the death of Saul they formed the backbone of Ish-bosheth's party, and most unwillingly conceded precedence to Judah in the person of David (2Sa_2:15, 2Sa_2:25; 2Sa_3:17). It was a Benjamite who heaped curses upon David in the hour of his deep humiliation (2Sa_16:5); and the jealousy of Benjamin led to the revolt on David's return, which was so effectually stamped out by Joab (2 Sam 19 f). Part of the tribe, probably the larger part, went against Judah at the disruption of the kingdom, taking Bethel with them. 1Ki_12:20 says that none followed the house of David but the house of Judah only. But the next verse tells us that Rehoboam gathered the men of Judah and Benjamin to fight against Jeroboam. It seems probable that as Jerusalem had now become the royal city of the house of David, the adjoining parts of Benjamin proved loyal, while the more distant joined the Northern Kingdom. After the downfall of Samaria Judah assumed control of practically the whole territory of Benjamin (2Ki_23:15, 2Ki_23:19, etc.). Nehemiah gives the Valley of Hinnom as the south boundary of Benjamin in his time (Neh_11:30), while westward it extended to include Lod and Ono. Saul of Tarsus was a member of this tribe (Phi_3:5).
(4) A great-grandson of Benjamin, son of Jacob (1Ch_7:10).
(5) One of those who had married a foreign wife (Ezr_10:32, and probably also Neh_3:23; Neh_12:34).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Ben?jamin, youngest son of Jacob, by Rachel (Gen_35:18). His mother died immediately after he was born, and with her last breath named him Ben-Oni, 'Son of my pain,' which the father changed into Benjamin, a word of nearly the same sound, but portending comfort and consolation, 'Son of my right hand,' probably alluding to the support and protection he promised himself from this, his last child, in his old age.
The tribe of Benjamin, though the least numerous of Israel, became nevertheless a considerable race in process of time. In the desert it counted 35,400 warriors, all above twenty years of age (Num_1:36; Num_2:22); and, at the entrance of Israel into Canaan, even as many as 45,600. The portion allotted to this tribe was in proportion to its small number, and was encompassed by the districts of Ephraim, Dan and Judah, in central Palestine. The territory, though rather small, was highly-cultivated and naturally fertile, and contained thirty-six towns (with the villages appertaining to them), which are named in Jos_18:21-28; and the principal of which were Jericho, Bethagla, Bethel, Gibeon, Ramah, and Jebus or Jerusalem. This latter place subsequently became the capital of the whole Jewish empire; but was, after the division of the land, still in possession of the Jebusites. The lower or less fortified part had been taken by Judah (Jdg_1:8), who in this matter had almost a common interest with Benjamin; but Zion, the upper part, was not finally wrested from the Jebusites till the time of David (2Sa_5:6, sq.). In the time of the Judges, the tribe of Benjamin became involved in a civil war with the other eleven tribes, for having refused to give up to justice the miscreants of Gibeon who had publicly violated and caused the death of a concubine of a man of Ephraim, who had passed with her through Gibeon. This war terminated in the almost utter extinction of the tribe; leaving no hope for its regeneration from the circumstance, that, not only had nearly all the women of that tribe been previously slain by their foes, but the eleven other tribes had engaged themselves by a solemn oath not to marry their daughters to any man belonging to Benjamin. When the thirst of revenge, however, had abated, they found means to evade the letter of the oath, and to revive the tribe again by an alliance with them (Jdg_21:20-21). This revival was so rapid, that in the time of David it already numbered 59,434 able warriors (1Ch_7:6-12); in that of Asa, 280,000 (2Ch_14:8); and in that of Jehoshaphat, 200,000 (2Ch_17:17).
This tribe had also the honor of giving the, first king to the Jews, Saul being a Benjamite (1Sa_9:1-2). After his death, the Benjamites, as might have been expected, declared themselves for his son Ishbosheth (2Sa_2:8, sq.); until, after the assassination of that prince, David became king of all Israel. David having at last expelled the Jebusites from Zion, and made it his own residence, the close alliance that seems previously to have existed between the tribes of Benjamin and Judah (Jdg_1:8) was cemented by the circumstance that, while Jerusalem actually belonged to the district of Benjamin, that of Judah was immediately contiguous to it. Thus it happened, that, at the division of the kingdom after the death of Solomon, Benjamin espoused the cause of Judah, and formed, together with it a kingdom by themselves. Indeed, the two tribes stood always in such a close connection, as often to be included under the single term Judah (1Ki_11:13; 1Ki_12:20). After the exile, also, these two tribes constituted the flower of the new Jewish colony in Palestine (comp. Ezr_4:1; Ezr_10:9).
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
Gen_43:5, Gen_43:13 (c) This person is a type of CHRIST in that his brothers could not see the face of Joseph unless he came with them. So it is with us; we cannot see GOD the Father unless CHRIST is with us. (See also Joh_14:6).
Deu_33:12 (a) Here is a beautiful picture of the trusting and confident Christian who dwells in the presence of his Lord, is covered by GOD's gracious, protecting care, and like the Indian's papoose, rests securely and happily between the shoulders of his wonderful Lord. The papoose does not care how long the journey is nor how rough the road is, neither does the "Benjamin Christian" who dwells between GOD's shoulders.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
Benjamin
(Heb. Binyamin', בַּנְיָמַין, i. q. Felix [see below]; Sept., Joseph., and New Test. Βενιαμίν), the name of three men.
1. The youngest son of Jacob by Rachel (Gen_35:18), and the only one of the thirteen (if indeed there were not more; comp. all his daughters, Gen_37:35; Gen_46:7) who was born in Palestine. His birth took place on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, a short distance-a length of earth from the latter. B.C. 1889. His mother died immediately after he was born, and with her last breath named him בֶּןאּעוֹנַי, BEN-ONI (son of my pain), which the father changed into BENJAMIN, a word of nearly the same sound, but portending comfort and consolation son of my right hand, probably alluding to the support and protection he promised himself from this, his last child, in his old age. SEE JAMIN. This supposition is strengthened when we reflect on the reluctance with which he consented to part with him in very trying circumstances, yielding only to the pressure of famine and the most urgent necessity (Genesis 42). This interpretation is inserted in the text of the Vulgate and the margin of the A.V., and has the support of Gesenius (Thes. p. 219). On the other hand, the Samaritan Codex gives the name in an altered form as בנימים, son of days, i.e. son of my old age (comp. Gen_44:20), which is adopted by Philo, Aben-ezra, and others. Both these interpretations are of comparatively late date, and it is notorious that such explanatory glosses are not only often invented long subsequently to the original record, but are as often at variance with the real meaning of that record. The meaning given by Josephus (διὰ τὴν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ γενομένην ὀδύνην τῇ μητρί, Ant. 1, 21, 3) has reference only to the name Ben-Oni. However, the name is not so pointed as to agree with the usual signification, son of, being בַּנְאּ, and not בֶּןאּ. But the first vowel has here probably supervened (for בְּנְאּ) merely because of the perfect coalescence of the two elements into a single word. Moreover, in the adjectival forms of the word the first syllable is generally suppressed, as בְּנֵיאּיְמַינַיor הִיְּמַינַי, i.e. sons of Yemini for sons of Benjamin; אַישׁ יְמַינַי, man of Yemini for man of Benjamin (1Sa_9:1; Est_2:5); יְמַינַי אֶרֶוֹ, land of Yemini for land of Benjamin (1Sa_9:4);as if the patriarch's name had been originally יָמַיןYamin (comp. Gen_46:10), and that of the tribe Yeminites. These adjectival forms are carefully preserved in the Sept. The prefix Ben seems to be merely omitted in them for brevity, as being immaterial to the reference. Usually, however, the posterity of Benjamin are called BENJAMITES (Gen_35:18; Gen_49:27; Deu_33:12; Jos_18:21-28; 1Ki_12:16-24; Jdg_3:15; Jdg_19:16, etc.). SEE BEN-; SEE JEMINI.
Until the journeys of Jacob's sons and of Jacob himself into Egypt we hear nothing of Benjamin, and, so far as he is concerned, those well-known narratives disclose nothing beyond the very strong affection entertained toward him by his father and his whole-brother Joseph, and the relation of fond endearment in which he stood, as if a mere darling child (comp. Gen_44:20), to the whole of his family. Even the harsh natures of the elder patriarchs relaxed toward him.
In Gen_46:21 sq., the immediate descendants of Benjamin are given to the number of ten, whereas in Num_26:38-40, only seven are enumerated, and some even under different names. This difference may probably be owing to the circumstance that some of the direct descendants of Benjamin had died either at an early period or at least childless. Considerable difficulty occurs in the several Biblical lists of the sons and grandsons of Benjamin (Gen_46:21; Num_26:38-40; 1Ch_7:6-12; 1Ch_8:1-7), which may be removed by the following explanations. As Benjamin was quite a youth at the time of the migration to Canaan (Gen_44:20; Gen_44:22), the list in Genesis 56 cannot be merely of Jacob's descendants at that time, since it contains Benjamin's children (comp. the children of Pharez, Genesis 56:12, who was at that time a mere child, see Gen_38:1), but rather at the period of his death, seventeen years later (Gen_47:28). SEE JACOB.
Yet the list could not have been made up to a much later period, since it does not contain the grandchildren of Benjamin subsequently born (1Ch_8:3 sq.). The sons of Benjamin are expressly given in 1Ch_8:1-2, as being five, in the following order: Bela (the same in the other accounts), Ashbel (otherwise perhaps Jediael), Aharah (evidently the same with Ahiran of Numbers, and probably the Aher of 1Ch_7:12, since this name and Ir are given apparently in addition to the three of 1Ch_7:6, and probably also the Ehi of Genesis), Nohah (who is therefore possibly the same with Becher, and probably also with Ir, since Shupham [Shuppim or Muppim of the other] and Hupham [Huppim], enumerated as the sons of the latter, although they do not appear in the list of Becher's sons, must be such under other names, but-like Bela's in the same list-undistinguishable, as Jediael had but one son, and the rest are otherwise identified), and finally Rapha (who can then be no other than Rosh). See all the names in their alphabetical place.
TRIBE OF BENJAMIN. The history of Benjamin to the time of the entrance into the Promised Land is as meagre as it is afterward full and interesting. We know indeed that shortly after the departure from Egypt it was the smallest tribe but one (Num_1:36; comp. Num_1:1); that during the march its position was on the west of the tabernacle, with its brother tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (Num_2:18-24). In the desert it counted 35,400 warriors, all above twenty years of age (Num_1:36; Num_2:22), and, at the entrance of Israel into Canaan, even as many as 45,600. We have the names of the captain of the tribe when it set forth on its long march (Num_2:22); of the ruler who went up with his fellows to spy out the land (Num_13:9); of the families of which the tribe consisted when it was marshalled at the great halt in the plains of Moab by Jordan-Jericho (Num_26:38-41; Num_26:63), and of the prince who was chosen to assist in the dividing of the land (Num_34:21). But there is nothing to indicate what were the characteristics and behavior of the tribe which sprang from the orphan darling of his father and brothers. No touches of personal biography like those with which we are favored concerning Ephraim (1Ch_7:20-23); no record of zeal for Jehovah like Levi (Exo_32:26); no evidence of special bent as in the case of Reuben and Gad (Numbers 32). The only foreshadowing of the tendencies of the tribe which was to produce Ehud, Saul, and the perpetrators of the deed of Gibeah, is to be found in the prophetic gleam which lighted up the dying Jacob, Benjamin shall raven as a wolf;:in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil (Gen_49:27). From this passage some have inferred that the figure of a wolf was the emblem on the tribal standard.
1. Geography. The proximity of Benjamin to Ephraim during the march to the Promised Land was maintained in the territories allotted to each. Benjamin lay immediately to the south of Ephraim, and between him and Judah. The situation of this territory was highly favorable. It formed almost a parallelogram, of about 26 miles in length by 12 in breadth. Its eastern boundary was the Jordan, and from thence it mainly extended to the wooded district of Kirjath-jearim, about six miles west of Jerusalem, while in the other direction it stretched from the valley of Hinnom, under the Shoulder of the Jebusite on the south, to Bethel on the north. Thus Dan intervened between this tribe and the Philistines, while the communications with the valley of the Jordan were in its own power. On the .south the territory ended abruptly with the steep slopes of the hill of Jerusalem; on the north it almost melted into the possessions of the friendly Ephraim. SEE TRIBE.
In Joshua 18, from Jos_18:12-14, is sketched the northern boundary-line (mostly repeated in chap. 16:1-5), and from 15 to 20 the southern (repeated in chap. Jos_15:6-9, in a reverse direction). Within the boundaries described in these few verses lay a district rather small, but highly cultivated and naturally fertile (Josephus, Ant. 5, 1, 22; Reland, p. 637), containing twenty-six chief towns (with their villages, in two main sections), which are named in Jos_18:21-28; and the principal of which were Jericho, Bethhogla, Bethel, Gibeon, Ramah, and Jebus or Jerusalem. This latter place subsequently became the capital of the whole Jewish empire, but was, after the division of the land, still in possession of the Jebusites. The Benjamites had indeed been charged to dispossess them, and occupy that important town; but (Jdg_1:21) the Benjamites are reproached with having neglected to drive them from thence, that is, from the upper, well-fortified part of the place Zion, since the lower and less fortified part had already been taken by Judah (Jdg_1:8), who in this matter had almost a common interest with Benjamin. The Jebusite citadel was finally taken by David (2Sa_5:6 sq.). A trace of the pasture- lands may be found in the mention of the herd (1Sa_11:5); and possibly others in the names of some of the towns of Benjamin, as hap- Parah, the cow; Zela-ha-eleph, the ox-rib (Jos_18:23; Jos_18:28). In the degenerate state of modern Palestine few evidences of the fertility of this tract survive. But other and more enduring natural peculiarities remain, and claim our recognition, rendering this possession one of the most remarkable among those of the tribes.
(1.) The general level of this part of Palestine is very high, not less than 2000 feet above the maritime plain of the Mediterranean on the one side, or than 3000 feet above the deep valley of the Jordan on the other, besides which this general level or plateau is surmounted, in the district now under consideration, by a large number of eminences defined, rounded hills almost every one of which has borne some part in the history of the tribe. Many of these hills carry the fact of their existence in their names. Gibeon, Gibeah, Geba or Gaba, all mean hill; Ramah and Ramathaim, eminence; Mizpeh, Watch-tower; while the ascent of Beth-horon, the cliff Rimmon, the pass of Michmash with its two teeth of rock, all testify to a country eminently broken and hilly. The special associations which belong to each of these eminences, whether as sanctuary or fortress, many of them arising from the most stirring incidents in the history of the nation, will be best examined under the various separate heads.
(2.) No less important than these eminences are the torrent beds and ravines by which the upper country breaks down into the deep tracts on each side of it. They formed then, as they do still, the only mode of access from either the plains of Philistia and of Sharon on the west, or the deep valley of the Jordan on the east the latter steep and precipitous in the extreme, the former more gradual in their declivity. Up these western passes swarmed the Philistines on their incursions during the time of Samuel and of Saul, driving the first king of Israel right over the higher district of his own tribe, to Gilgal, in the hot recesses of the Arabah, and establishing themselves over the face of the country from Michmash to Ajalon. Down these same defiles they were driven by Saul after Jonathan's victorious exploit, just as in earlier times Joshua had chased the Canaanites down the long hill of Bethhoron, and as, centuries after, the forces of Syria were chased by Judas Maccabaeus (1Ma_3:16-24). It is perhaps hardly fanciful to ask if we may not account in this way for the curious prevalence among the names of the towns of Benjamin of the titles of tribes. Ha-Avvim, the Avites Zemaraim, the Zemarites; ha-Ophni, the Ophnite; Chephar ha-Ammonai, the village of the Ammonites; ha-Jebusi, the Jebusite, are all among the names of places in Benjamin; and we can hardly doubt that in these names is preserved the memory of many an ascent of the wild tribes of the desert from the sultry and open plains of the low level to the fresh air and secure fastnesses of the upper district.
The passes on the eastern side are of a much more difficult and intricate character than those on the western. The principal one, which, now unfrequented, was doubtless in ancient times the main ascent to the interior, leaves the Ghor behind the site of Jericho, and, breaking through the barren hills with many a wild bend and steep slope, extends to and indeed beyond the very central ridge of the table-land of Benjamin, to the foot of the eminence on which stand the ruins of the ancient Beeroth. At its lower part this valley bears the name of Wady Fuwar, but for the greater part of its length it is called Wady Suweinit. It is the main access, and from its central ravine branch out side valleys, conducting to Bethel, Michmash, Gibeah, Anathoth, and other towns. After the fall of Jericho this ravine must have stood open to the victorious Israelites, as their natural inlet to the country. At its lower end must have taken place the repulse and subsequent victory of Ai, with the conviction and stoning of Achan, and through it Joshua doubtless hastened to the relief of the Gibeonites, and to his memorable pursuit of the Canaanites down the pass of Beth-horon, on the other side of the territory of Benjamin. Another of these passes is that which since the time of our Savior has been the regular road between Jericho and Jerusalem, the scene of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Others lie farther north, by the mountain which bears the traditional name of Quarantania; first up the face of the cliff, afterward less steep, and finally leading to Bethel or Taiyibeh, the ancient Ophrah. These intricate ravines may well have harbored the wild beasts which, if the derivation of the names of several places in this locality are to be trusted, originally haunted the district-zeboim, hyenas (1Sa_13:18), shual and shaalbim, foxes or jackals (Jdg_1:35; 1Sa_13:17), ajalon, gazelles. (See Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, ch. 4.)
Such were the limits and such the character of the possession of Benjamin as fixed by those who originally divided the land. But it could not have been long before they extended their limits, since in the early lists of 1 Chronicles 8 we find mention made of Benjamites who built Lod and Ono, and of others who were founders of Aijalon (12, 13), all which towns were beyond the spot named above as the westernmost point in their boundary. These places, too, were in their possession after the return from the captivity (Neh_11:35).
The following is a list of all the Scriptural localities in the tribe of Benjamin, with their probable modern representatives, except those connected with the topography of Jerusalem (q.v.).
Abel-mizraim. Village. SEE BETH-HOGLAH.
Ai. Town. Tel el-Hajar.
Ajephim. Village. [W. of Wady Sidr]?
Alemeth. Town. Almit.
Allon-bachuth. Oak. SEE BAAL-TAMAR.
Ammah. Hill. [Spring N.E. of el-Jib]?
Ananiah. Town. Beit-Hanina?
Anathoth. do. Anata.
Arabah. do. SEE BETH-ARABAH.
Atad. Threshing-floor: SEE ABEL-MIZRAIM.
Aven. Town. SEE BETH-AVEN.
Avim. do. See Ai.
Azmaveth. do. [Hizmeh]? Baal-hazor. do. SEE HAZOR.
Baal-perazim. Hill. [Jebel Aly]?
Baal-tamar. Town. [Erhah]?
Bahurim. do. Deir es-Sid?
Beeroth. do. El-Bireh.
Beth-arabah. do. [Kusr-Hajlo]?
Beth-aven. do. Burj-Beitin?
Beth-azmaveth. do. SEE AZMAVETH.
Beth-car. Hill. SEE EBENEZER.
Beth-el. Town. Beitin.
Beth-hoglah. do. Ain Hajla.
Bozez. Cliff. In Wady Suweinit.
Chephar-haammonai. Town. [Ain-Yebrud]?
Chephirah. do. Kefir. Cherith. Brook. Wady Kelt?
Chidon. Threshing-floor. [Khurbet el-Bistun]?
Ebenezer. Stone. . [Biddu]?
El-Bethel. Town. SEE BETHEL.
Eleph. do. [Katamon]?
Emmaus. do. El- Kubeibeh?
En-shemesh. Spring. Bir el-Khot?
Ephraim, or Ephron. Town. SEE OPHRAH.
Gaba. do. SEE GEBA.
Gallim. do. [Khurbet Haiyeh?
Geba. do. Jiba. Gebim. do. [El-Isawiyeh]?
Geliloth. do. SEE GILGAL.
Giah. Village. [Bir-Nebala]?
Gibeah. Town. Tuleil el-Ful.
Gibeon. do. El-Jib.
Gidom. Plain. [N.E. of Michmash]?
Gilgal. Town. Moharfer?
Hai. do. See Ai.
Hazor. Town. Tell Azur?
Helkath-hazzurim. Plain. E. of El-Jib?
Irpeel. Town. [Kustul]? (Town. W. of er-Riha. Jericho. Waters. Ain es-Sultan.
Plain. [El- Wadiyeh.]
Jerusalem. City. El-Khuds.
Keziz. Valley. Wady el-Kaziz.
Menukah. Town. [Hill E. of Gibeah]?
Michmash. do. Mukmas. Migron. do. [Ruins S. of Deir Diwan]?
Mizpeh. do. Neby Samwil? Moza. do. Kulonich?
Naarath, or Naaran. do. [E-Nejemeh]?
Naioth. do. SEE RAMAH.
Nob. do. [Kurazeh]?
Ophni. do. Jifna. Ophrah. do. Tayibeh?
Parah. do. Farah. Ramah. do. Er-Ram. Rekem. do. [Deir Yesin]l?
Rephaim. Valley. Plain S.W. of Jerusalem.
Rimmon. Rock. Rummon.
Sechu. Well. SEE RAMAH.
Seneh. Cliff. In Wady Suweinit?
Shalim. Region. SEE SHUAL.
Shen. Rock. [Beit Enan]?
Shual. Region. [El-Aliya]?
Taralah. Town. [Beit Tirsa]?
Zelah or Zelzah. do. Beit Jala.
Zemaraim. City and Hill. Es-Sumrah?
2. History. In the time of the Judges the tribe of Benjamin became involved in a civil war with the other eleven tribes for having refused to give up to justice the miscreants of. Gibeon that had publicly violated and caused the death of a concubine of a man of Ephraim, who had passed with her through Gibeon. This war terminated in the almost utter extinction of the tribe, leaving no hope for its regeneration from the circumstance that not only had nearly all the women of that tribe been previously slain by their foes, but the eleven other tribes had engaged themselves by a solemn oath not to marry their daughters to any man belonging to Benjamin. When the thirst of revenge, however, had abated, they found means to evade the letter of the oath, and to revive the tribe again by an alliance with them (Jdg_19:20-21). That frightful transaction was indeed a crisis in the history of the tribe; the narrative undoubtedly is intended to convey that the six hundred who took refuge in the cliff Rimmon, and who were afterward provided with wives partly from Jabesh-gilead (Jdg_21:10), partly from Shiloh (Jdg_21:21), were the only survivors. The revival of the tribe, however, was so rapid that, in the time of David, it already numbered 59,434 able warriors (1Ch_7:6-12); in that of Asa, 280,000 (2Ch_14:8); and in that of Jehoshaphat, 200,000 (2Ch_17:17). SEE CHENAANAH.
This tribe had also the honor of giving the first king to the Jews, Saul being a Benjamite (1Sa_9:1-2). After the death of Saul, the Benjamites, as might have been expected, declared themselves for his son Ishbosheth (2Sa_2:8 sq.), until, after the assassination of that prince, David became king of all Israel. David having at last expelled the Jebusites from Zion, and made it his own residence, the close alliance that seems previously to have existed between the tribes of Benjamin and Judah (Jdg_1:8) was cemented by the circumstance that, while Jerusalem actually belonged to the district of Benjamin, that of Judah was immediately contiguous to it. Thus it happened that, at the division of the kingdom after the death of Solomon, Benjamin espoused the cause of Judah, and formed, together with it, a kingdom by themselves. Indeed, the two tribes stood always in such a close connection as often to be included under the single term Judah (1Ki_11:13; 1Ki_12:20). After the exile, also, these two tribes constituted the flower of the new Jewish colony in Palestine (comp. Ezra 11:1; Ezr_10:9).
3. Characteristics. The contrast between the warlike character of the tribe and the peaceful image of its progenitor has been already noticed. That fierce ness and power are not less out of proportion to the smallness of its numbers and of its territory. This comes out in many scattered notices.
(a) Benjamin was the only tribe that seems to have pursued archery to any purpose, and their skill in the bow (1Sa_20:20; 1Sa_20:36; 2Sa_1:22; 1Ch_8:40; 1Ch_12:2; 2Ch_17:17) and the sling (Jdg_20:16) are celebrated.
(b) When, after the first conquest of the country, the nation began to groan under the miseries of a foreign yoke, it is to a man of Benjamin, Ehud, the son of Gera, that they turn for deliverance. The story seems to imply that he accomplished his purpose on Eglon with less risk, owing to his proficiency in the peculiar practice of using his left hand a practice apparently confined to Benjamites, and by them greatly employed (Jdg_3:15, and see 20:16; 1Ch_12:2).
(c) Baanah and Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin, are the only Israelites west of the Jordan named in the whole history as captains of marauding predatory bands (גְּדוּדַים); and the act of which they were guilty the murder of the head of their house hardly needed the summary vengeance inflicted on them by David to testify the abhorrence in which it must have been held by all Orientals, however warlike.
(d) The dreadful deed recorded in Judges 19, though repelled by the whole country, was unhesitatingly adopted and defended by Benjamin with an obstinacy and spirit truly extraordinary. Of their obstinacy there is a remarkable trait in 1Sa_22:7-18. Though Saul was not only the king of the nation, but the head of the tribe, and David a member of a family which had as yet no claims on the friendship of Benjamin, yet the Benjamites resisted the strongest appeal of Saul to betray the movements of David; and after those movements had been revealed by Doeg the Edomite (worthy member as he must have seemed to them of an accursed race!) they still firmly refused to lift a hand against those who had assisted him (see Niemeyer, Charakterist. 3, 565 sq.).
Several circumstances may have conduced to the relative importance of this small tribe (see Plesken, De Benjamin parvo, Wittenb. 1720). The Tabernacle was at Shiloh, in Ephraim, during the time of the last judge, but the ark was near Benjamin, at Kirjath-jearim. Ramah, the official residence of Samuel, and containing a sanctuary greatly frequented (1Sa_9:12, etc.), Mizpeh, where the great assemblies of all Israel took place (1Sa_7:5), Bethel, perhaps the most ancient of all the sanctuaries of Palestine, and Gibeon, specially noted as the great high place (2Ch_1:3), were all in the land of Benjamin. These must gradually have accustomed the people who resorted to these various places to associate the tribe with power and sanctity, and they tend to elucidate the anomaly which struck Saul so forcibly, that all the desire of Israel should have been fixed on the house of the smallest of its tribes (1Sa_9:21).
The struggles and contests that followed the death of Saul arose from the natural unwillingness of the tribe to relinquish its position at the head of the nation, especially in favor of Judah. Had it been Ephraim, the case might have been different; but Judah had as yet no connection with the house of Joseph, and was, besides, the tribe of David, whom Saul had pursued with such unrelenting enmity. The tact and sound sense of Abner, however, succeeded in overcoming these difficulties, though he himself fell a victim in the very act of accomplishing his purpose; and the proposal that David should be king over Israel was one which seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin, and of which the tribe testified its approval and evinced its good faith by sending to the distant capital of Hebron a detachment of 3000 men of the brethren of Saul (1Ch_12:29). Still, the insults of Shimei and the insurrection of Sheba are indications that the soreness still existed, and we do not hear of any cordial co-operation or firm union between the two tribes until a cause of common quarrel arose at the disruption, when Rehoboam assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to the son of Solomon (1Ki_12:21; 2Ch_11:1). Possibly the seal may have been set to this by the fact of Jeroboam having just taken possession of Bethel, a city of Benjamin, for the calf- worship of the northern kingdom (1Ki_12:29). Bethel, however, was on the very boundary-line, and centuries before this date was inhabited by both Ephraimites and Benjamites (Jdg_19:16). On the other hand, Rehoboam fortified and garrisoned several cities of Benjamin, and wisely dispersed the members of his own family through them (2Ch_11:10-12). The alliance was farther strengthened by a covenant solemnly undertaken (2Ch_15:9), and by the employment of Benjamites in high positions in the army of Judah (2 Chronicles 16:17). But what, above all, must have contributed to strengthen the alliance, was the fact that the Temple was the common property of both tribes. True, it was founded, erected, and endowed by princes of the house of Judah, but the city of the Jebusite (Jos_18:28), and the whole of the ground north of the Valley of Hinnom, was in the lot of Benjamin. In this latter fact is literally fulfilled the prophecy of Moses (Deu_33:12): Benjamin dwelt between the shoulders of the ravines which encompass the Holy City on the west, south, and east (see a good treatment of this point in Blunt's Undes. Coincidences, pt. 2, § 17).
Although thereafter the history of Benjamin becomes merged in that of the southern kingdom, yet that the tribe still retained its individuality is plain from the constant mention of it in the various censuses taken of the two tribes, and on other occasions, and also from the lists of the men of Benjamin who returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2; Nehemiah 7), and took possession of their old towns (Neh_11:31-35). At Jerusalem the name must have been always kept alive, if by nothing else, by the name of the high gate of Benjamin (Jer_20:2). (See below.) That the ancient memories of their house were not allowed to fade from the recollections of the Benjamites, is clear also from several subsequent notices. The genealogy of Saul, to a late date, is carefully preserved in the lists of 1 Chronicles (1Ch_8:33-40; 1Ch_9:39-44); the name of Kish recurs as the father of Mordecai (Est_2:5), the honored deliverer of the nation from miseries worse than those threatened by Nabash the Ammonite. The royal name once more appears, and Saul, who also is called Paul, has left on record under his own hand that he was of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. It is perhaps more than a mere fancy to note how remarkably the chief characteristics of the tribe are gathered up in his one person. There was the fierceness in his persecution of the Christians, and there were the obstinacy and persistence which made him proof against the tears and prayers of his converts, and ready not to be bound only, but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus (Act_21:12-13). There were the force and vigor to which natural difficulties and confined circumstances formed no impediment; and, lastly, there was the keen sense of the greatness of his house in his proud reference to his forefather Saul, the son of Cis, of the tribe of Benjamin.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary
BENJAMIN.1. The youngest son of Jacob by Rachel, and the only full brother of Joseph (Gen_30:22 f. [JE [Note: Jewish Encyclopedia.] ] Gen_35:17 [J [Note: Jahwist.] ] Gen_35:24 [P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ]). He alone of Jacobs sons was native-born. J [Note: Jahwist.] (Gen_35:16) puts his birth near Ephrath in Benjamin. A later interpolation identifies Ephrath with Bethlehem, but cf. 1Sa_10:2. P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] , however (Gen_35:22-26), gives Paddan-aram as the birth-place of all Jacobs children. His mother, dying soon after he was born, named him Ben-oni (son of my sorrow). Jacob changed this ill-omened name to the more auspicious one Benjamin, which is usually interpreted son of my right hand, the right hand being the place of honour as the right side was apparently the lucky side (cf. Gen_48:14). Pressed by a famine, his ten brothers went down to Egypt, and Jacob, solicitous for his welfare, did not allow Benjamin to accompany them; but Joseph made it a condition of his giving them corn that they should bring him on their return. When Judah (Gen_43:9 J [Note: Jahwist.] ) or Reuben (Gen_42:37 E [Note: Elohist.] ) gave surety for his safe return, Jacob yielded. Throughout the earlier documents Benjamin is a tender youth, the idol of his father and brothers. A late editor of P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] (Gen_46:21) makes him, when he entered Egypt, the father of ten sons, that is more than twice as many as Jacobs other sons except Dan, who had seven.
The question is, What is the historical significance of these conflicting traditions? Yâmin, right hand, appears to have been used geographically for south, and Ben-yâmin may mean son (s) of the south, i.e. the southern portion of Ephraim. Ben-oni may be connected with On in the tribe of Benjamin. The two names may point to the union of two related tribes, and the persistence of the traditions that Benjamin was the full brother of Joseph, whereas the other Joseph tribes (Manasseh and Ephraim) are called sons, would indicate not only a close relationship to Joseph, but also a comparatively early development into an independent tribe. On the other hand, J [Note: Jahwist.] E [Note: Elohist.] P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] all make Benjamin the youngest son, and P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] gives Canaan as his native land. This points to a traditional belief that the tribe was the last to develop. This and the fact that Shimei, a Benjamitc, claims (2Sa_19:20) to be of the house of Joseph, suggest that the tribe was an offshoot of the latter.
The limits of the tribal territory are given by P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] in Jos_18:11-28. Within it lay Bethel (elsewhere assigned to Ephraim), Ophrah, Geba, Gibeon, Ramab, Mizpeh, Gibeah, all primitive seats of Canaanitish worship and important centres in the cultus of Israel (cf., e.g., Bethel, Amo_7:10 ff.). Jericho, where in early times there may have been a cult of the moon-god (jârçach = moon), and Jerusalem are also assigned to Benjamin. Deu_33:12, as commonly but not universally interpreted, also assigns Jerusalem to Benjamin, though later it belonged to Judah. Anathoth, the birth-place of Jeremiah, also lay in Benjamin (Jos_21:18 [P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ]). In the Blessing of Jacob (Gen_49:27) a fierce and warlike character is ascribed to Benjamin. The statement is all the more important, since in this Blessing we have certainly to deal with vaticinia post eventum. The rugged and unfriendly nature of the tribal territory doubtless contributed to martial hardihood. The tribe participated in the war against Sisera (Jdg_5:14). A late and composite story is found in Jdg_19:1-30; Jdg_20:1-48; Jdg_21:1-25 of an almost complete annihilation of the tribe by the rest of the Israelites. Later the tribe gave to united Israel its first king, Saul of Gibeah. It had in Asas army, according to 2Ch_14:8, 280,000 picked warriorsan exaggeration of course, but a very significant one in this connexion. Benjamin, under Sheba, a kinsman of Saul, led in the revolt against David when the quarrel provoked by Davids partisanship broke out between Judah and the northern tribes (2Sa_20:1 ff.). From the first the tribe was loyal to the house of Saul and violently opposed to David (cf. 2Sa_16:5; 2Sa_20:2). In the revolt against the oppressions of Rehoboam it joined with the North (1Ki_12:20). A variant account joins it with Judah (1Ki_12:21 f.), but this is only a reflexion of later times. The history of the tribe is unimportant after David. Besides Saul and Jeremiah, St. Paul also traced descent to this tribe (Php_3:5). See also Tribes. 2. A great-grandson of Benjamin (1Ch_7:10). 3. One of those who had married a foreign wife (Ezr_10:32; prob. also Neh_3:23; Neh_12:34).
James A. Craig.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
("son of my right hand"), as Jacob named him; first called by his dying mother Rachel Benoni, son of my sorrow (compare Jer_31:15; Mat_2:17-18). Jesus the antitype was first "a man of sorrows" (Isa_53:3), the mother's sorrows attending tits birth also at Bethlehem; afterward "the man of God's right hand," on whom God's hand was laid strengthening Him (Rev_1:17; Psa_80:17; Psa_89:21; Act_5:31).
1. Rachel's second son, the only son of Jacob born in Palestine (Gen_35:16-19), on the road between Betheland Bethlehem Ephrath, near the latter (Gen_48:7) (probably "the fertile", from parah, corresponding to the town's other name, Bethlehem, "bread-house.") The Arabic jamin means "fortunate". And in the expression "sons of Benjamin" or a "man of Benjamin, ... land of Benjamin," the first syllable is suppressed Benee Ha-Jemini, Ish Jemini, Erets Jemini, compare Gen_46:10. Benjamin was his father's favorite after Joseph's supposed death (Gen_44:30); as the youngest, the child of his old age, and the child of his beloved Rachel. Joseph's gifts to him exceeded far those to each of his elder brothers (Gen_43:34; Gen_45:22).
Benjamin was only 23 or 24 years old when Jacob went down to Egypt. He clearly could not then have had ten sons already (Gen_46:6-21), or eight sons and two grandsons (Num_26:38-40). It is plain that the list in Genesis 46 includes those grandsons and great grandsons of Jacob born afterward in Egypt, and who in the Israelite mode of thought came into Egypt "in the loins" of their fathers (compare Heb_7:9-10). Hence, arises the correspondence in the main between the list given in connection with Jacob's descent to Egypt in Genesis 46, and the list taken by Moses ages afterward in Numbers 26. Benjamin's sons, Becher, Gera, Rosh, are missing in Moses' list, because they either died childless, or did not leave a sufficient number of children to form independent families.
After the Exodus the tribe was the smallest but one (Num_1:1; Num_1:36-37; 1Sa_9:21; Psa_68:27). On march it held the post between Manasseh and Ephraim, its brother tribes, W. of the tabernacle, which it followed (Psa_80:2) under its captain Abidan, son of Gideoni (Num_2:18-24). Palti, son of Raphu, was the spy representing it (Num_13:9). In the division of the land Elidad, son of Chislon, represented it (Num_34:21). Its predominant characteristic of warlike tastes is foretold by Jacob (Gen_49:27); "Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf, in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night shall divide the spoil." How truly is attested by the war waged them alone (and victoriously at against all the tribes, rather give up the wicked men of Gibeah (Judges 19; 20; compare Mat_26:52). Their number was reduced thereby to 600, who took refuge in the cliff Rimmon, and were provided with wives partly from Jabesh, partly from Shiloh (Judges 21).
The period of the judges must have been a long one to admit of the increase to Benjamin's subsequent large numbers (1Ch_7:6-12; 1Ch_7:8; 1Ch_12:1-8). The same determined spirit, but in a better cause, appears in their resisting Saul, their own kinsman's, appeal to them to betray David's movements (1Sa_22:7-18). Moreover Ehud, judge and deliverer of Israel from Eglon of Moab, was of Benjamin; also Saul and Jonathan, whose prowess was famed (2Sa_1:18-19; 2Sa_1:23). Also Baanah and Rechab, captains of marauding bands and murderers of Ishbosheth (2 Samuel 4). Archers and slingers, generally left handed (as also Ehud was), were the chief force of the "sons of Jacob's right hand" (Jdg_3:15, etc.; Jdg_20:16; 1Ch_12:2; 2Ch_14:8; 2Ch_17:17).
The "morning" and "night" in Jacob's prophecy mark that Benjamin, as he was in the beginning, so he should continue to the end of the Jewish state. Similarly in Moses' prophecy (Deu_33:12), "Benjamin, the beloved of the Lord (attached to David = beloved after Saul's dynasty fell), shall dwell in safety by Him; the Lord shall cover him all the day long;" implying a longer continuance to Benjamin than to the other tribes. So Benjamin alone survived with Judah, after the deportation of the ten tribes to Assyria, arid accompanied Judah to and front the Babylonian captivity, and lasted until Shiloh came and until Jerusalem was destroyed. As on the march, so in the promised land, Benjamin's position was near that of Ephraim, between it on the N. and Judah on the S., a small but rich territory, advantageously placed in commanding the approach to the valley of the Jordan, and having Dan between it and the Philistines (Jos_18:11, etc.); a parallelogram, 26 miles long, 12 broad, extending from the Jordan to the region of Kirjath Jearim eight miles W. of Jerusalem, and from the valley of Hinnom S. to Bethel N.
When the Lord rejected the tabernacle of Joseph at Shiloh He chose mount Zion, Jerusalem which chiefly belonged to Benjamin (the of the Jebusite, "Jebusi, which Jerusalem" (Jos_18:28), and all the land N. of the valley of Hinnom), and only in part to Judah, God's chosen tribe (Psa_78:60; Psa_78:67-68). In this sense Benjamin fulfilled Moses' prophecy in "dwelling between" Judah's (the Lord's representative) "shoulders," or ridges of the ravines which on the W., S., and E. environ the holy city. Primarily, however, the idea is, Benjamin as "the beloved of Jehovah shall dwell in safety with Him (literally, founded upon Him), and he (Benjamin) shall dwell between His (Jehovah's) shoulders," as a son borne upon his father's back (Deu_1:31; Deu_32:11; Exo_19:4; Isa_46:3-4; Isa_63:9).
This choice of Jerusalem as the seat of the ark and David's place of residence formed a strong He between Judah and Benjamin, though Saul's connection with the latter had previously made the Benjamites, as a tribe, slow to recognize David as king (1Ch_12:29; 2Sa_2:8-9). Hence at the severance of the ten tribes Benjamin remained with Judah (1Ki_12:23; 2Ch_11:1). The two coalesced into one, under the common name Jews, whence they are called "one tribe" (1Ki_11:13; 1Ki_11:32; 1Ki_12:20-21). Moreover, a part of Benjamin including Bethel, the seat of Jeroboam's calf worship, went with the ten tribes. Possibly Jeroboam's having appropriated it for the calf worship may have helped to alienate Benjamin from him and attach Benjamin to Judah. They two alone were the royal tribes.
David was connected with Saul of Benjamin by marriage with his daughter, and therefore, feeling the political importance of the connection, made it a preliminary of his league with Abner that Michal should be restored to him, though Phaltiel had her heart (2Sa_3:13-16). Above all, what knit together Benjamin and Judah most was the position fixed by God for the great national temple, which deprived Ephraim of its former glory (Psa_78:60-68); not in Judah only, or in Benjamin only, but on part of the confines of both, so that one text places it in Judah and the parallel text in Benjamin; compare Jos_15:63 with Jos_18:28. These elements of union between Benjamin and Judah are not obviously put forward in the sacred writings, but are found in them on close observation, just such seeds as would produce the ultimate union which the history records.
Such undesigned coincidences agree best with the belief that the narrative is minutely true, not forged. Benjamin occupied a plateau generally about 2,000 feet above the Mediterranean plain, and 3,000 feet above the valley of the Jordan. The hilly nature of the country is marked by the names Gibeon, Gibeah, Geba, Ramah, Mizpeh (watchtower), "the ascent of Bethhoron," the cliff Rimmon, the pass of Michmash. Torrent beds and ravines are the only avenues from the Philistian and Sharon plains on the W., and from the deep Jordan valley on the E. These ravines were frequented once by many wild beasts, as the names of places testify: Zeboim, "hyaenas" (1Sa_13:17-18); Shual and Shaalbim (Jdg_1:35), "foxes" or "jackals"; Ajalon, "gazelle." Up these western passes the Philistines advanced against Saul in the beginning of his reign, and drove him to Gilgal in the Arabah, occupying from Michmash to Ajalon. Down them they were driven again by Saul and Jonathan. Joshua chased the Canaanites down the long slopes of Bethhoron.
The regular road between Jericho and Jerusalem was another of these passes, the scene of the parable of the good Samaritan. Lod, Ono, Aijalon were westward extensions of Benjamin's bounds beyond the original limit (Neh_11:35). The presence of the ark at Kirjath Jearim in Benjamin, the prophet Samuel's residence in the sanctuary Ramah (1Sa_7:17; 1Sa_9:12), the great assemblies of "all Israel" at Mizpeh (1Sa_7:5), and the sanctity attached of old to Bethel, "the great high place" at Gibeon (1Ki_3:4; 2Ch_1:3), all tended to raise B. high in the nation, and to lead them to acquiesce in the choice of Saul as king, though belonging to "the smallest of the tribes of Israel" (1Sa_9:21). After Saul's and then Ishbosheth's death, Benjamin sent 3,000 men to Hebron to confirm the kingdom to David (1Ch_12:23; 1Ch_12:29; 2Sa_5:3), Abner having declared for him. But the Benjamite Shimei's curses and Sheba's rebel. lion indicate that Saul's party among the Benjamites, even after his dynasty had ceased, cherished the old grudge against David.
Besides the causes mentioned before, which finally united Benjamin and Judah, there was Jeroboam's setting up the calf worship in Bethel (a Benjamite city) in rivalry of the temple of Jehovah in the joint city of Benjamin and Judah, Jerusalem (1Ki_12:29); also Rehoboam's wise policy in dispersing his children through all Judah and Benjamin, into every" fenced city" (2Ch_11:12; 2Ch_11:23); also Asa's covenant with Jehovah, in which Benjamin took part (2 Chronicles 15); also the advancement of Benjamites to high posts in the army (2Ch_17:17). "The high gate of Benjamin" (Jer_20:2) marked the tribe's individuality even in the joint metropolis of Benjamin and Judah; compare Ezra 2; Ezr_10:9; Nehemiah 7; Neh_11:31-35 in proof of this individuality even after the return from Babylon. The genealogy of Kish and Saul, traced to a late date, brings us down to a Kish, father of Mordecai, the savior of the Jewish nation from Haman's intended destruction (
Est_2:5).
The royal name reappears in Saul of Tarsus, whose glory was that he belonged to "the tribe of Benjamin" (Rom_11:1; Php_3:5.) His full sense of that honor appears in his reference to his forefather," Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin" (Act_13:21.) In his own person he realized some of the prominent characteristics of his tribe: fierce obstinacy when be was "exceedingly mad against Christians, and persecuted them even unto strange cities" (Act_26:11), equally persistent firmness when he declares, in spite of friends' entreaties, "I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus" (Act_21:13). Thus Benjamin had the distinction of producing one of Israel's first judges, her first king, and the great apostle of the uncircumcision.
2. A Benjamite, head of a family of giant men; son of Bilhan (1Ch_7:10).
3. One who married a foreign wife (Ezr_10:32).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Ben'jamin. (son of the right hand, fortunate).
1. The youngest of the children of Jacob. His birth took place on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, near the latter, B.C. 1729. His mother, Rachel, died in the act of giving him birth, naming him with her last breath, Ben-oni (son of my sorrow). This was, by Jacob, changed into Benjamin. Gen_35:16; Gen_35:18. Until the journeys of Jacob's sons and Jacob himself into Egypt, we hear nothing of Benjamin. Nothing personal is known of him. Henceforward, the history of Benjamin is the history of the tribe.
2. A man of the tribe of Benjamin, son of Bilhan, and the head of a family of warriors. 1Ch_7:10.
3. One of the "sons of Harim," an Israelite, in the time of Ezra who had married a foreign wife. Ezr_10:32.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel, who was born, A.M. 2272. Jacob, being on his journey from Mesopotamia, as he was proceeding southward with Rachel in the company, Gen_35:16-17, &c, the pains of child-bearing came upon her, about a quarter of a league from Bethlehem, and she died after the delivery of a son, whom, with her last breath, she named Benoni, that is, the son of my sorrow; but soon afterward Jacob changed his name, and called him Benjamin, that is, the son of my right hand. See JOSEPH.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.
Of all Jacobs sons, the two born to Rachel were his favourites, Joseph and Benjamin. In giving his prophetic blessing on the future tribes of Israel, Jacob knew that the descendants of Joseph would be far more dominant than those of Benjamin (Gen_49:22-27).
Protected son
Since Rachel died while giving birth to Benjamin (Gen_35:16-19), Jacob had a special concern for Benjamin. To protect Benjamin from any possible harm, Jacob would not allow him to go to Egypt the first time his sons went to buy grain (Gen_42:4). He allowed Benjamin to go on the second journey only because he had no alternative (Gen_42:38; Gen_43:13-15). Joseph, though delighted at seeing his younger brother again (Gen_43:16; Gen_43:29-34), used Benjamin to test the sincerity of his brothers before inviting the whole of Jacobs family to come and live in Egypt (Gen_44:2; Gen_44:12; Genesis 45).
Aggressive tribe
Little is recorded concerning Benjamins character, but Jacob had sufficient insight to see that the tribe to be descended from him would be fiercely aggressive (Gen_49:27). Perhaps this characteristic developed in the tribe when, after the division of Canaan, it found itself squeezed into a narrow strip of land between Israels two most powerful tribes, Ephraim to the north and Judah to the south (Jos_18:11-28). As a result Benjamin soon lost towns on its northern border to Ephraim (see BETHEL; GILGAL; JERICHO), and towns on its southern border to Judah (see JERUSALEM; KIRIATH-JEARIM). For other important Benjaminite towns see GIBEAH; GIBEON; MIZPAH.
The tribe of Benjamin soon became famous for its skilled fighters, many of whom were left-handed (Gen_49:27; Jdg_3:15; Jdg_20:15-16; 1Ch_8:40). On one occasion, when the men of Gibeah had committed a terrible crime that brought shame on all Israel, Benjamin chose to fight against the other tribes rather than punish its guilty citizens. As a result of the war that followed, Benjamin was almost wiped out (Judges 19; Judges 20; Judges 21).
Yet Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel, produced Israels first king, Saul (1Sa_9:21; 1Sa_10:20-24). When Saul became jealous of David, the leading men of Benjamin encouraged Saul to kill him, no doubt because they saw David, and Davids tribe Judah, as a threat to their own position (1Sa_18:22-26; 1Sa_22:7; 1Sa_24:9; 1Sa_26:19; Psalms 7). When David later became king, some of the leading Benjaminites maintained their hostility to him (2Sa_16:5-8; 2Sa_20:1-2).
Jerusalem, on the border between Benjamin and Judah, was still under enemy control when David became king. Davids conquest of Jerusalem and his decision to make it his capital probably helped to win the allegiance of the Benjaminites (Jdg_1:21; 2Sa_5:6-7). The blessing that Moses promised the tribe of Benjamin was possibly fulfilled when Israels temple was built in Jerusalem, which was officially in Benjamins territory (Deu_33:12; Jer_20:2). When, after the death of Solomon, the northern tribes broke away from Judah, Benjamin was the only tribe in Israel to remain loyal to Judah and the Davidic throne (1Ki_11:11-13; 1Ki_11:31-32; 1Ki_12:21; 1Ch_8:1; 1Ch_8:28).
Benjamin went into captivity in Babylon with Judah, and later returned from captivity with Judah (Ezr_4:1). Mordecai and Esther, who feature in a story of post-captivity Jews in a foreign land, were from the tribe of Benjamin (Est_2:5-7). The apostle Paul also was from the tribe of Benjamin (Rom_11:1; Php_3:5).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.
ben?ja-min (בּנימין, binyāmı̄n, or בּנימן, binyāmin; Βενιαείν, Beniaeı́n, Βενιαμίν, Beniamı́n):
1. The Patriarch
The youngest of Jacob's sons. His mother Rachel died in giving him birth. As she felt death approaching she called him Benoni, ?son of my sorrow.? Fearing, probably, that this might bode evil for the child - for names have always preserved a peculiar significance in the East - Jacob called him Benjamin, ?son of the fight hand? (Gen_35:17). He alone of Jacob's sons was born in Palestine, between Bethel and Ephrath. Later in the chapter, in the general enumeration of the children born in Paddan-ar am, the writer fails to except Benjamin (Gen_35:24). Joseph was his full brother. In the history where Benjamin appears as an object of solicitude to his father and brothers, we must not forget that he was already a grown man. At the time of the descent of Israel to Egypt Joseph was about 40 years of age. Benjamin was not much younger, and was himself the father of a family. The phrase in Gen_44:20, ?a little one,? only describes in oriental fashion one much younger than the speaker. And as the youngest of the family no doubt he was made much of. Remorse over their heartless treatment of his brother Joseph may have made the other brothers especially tender toward Benjamin. The conduct of his brethren all through the trying experiences in Egypt places them in a more attractive light than we should have expected; and it must have been a gratification to their father (Gen 42ff). Ten sons of Benjamin are named at the time of their settlement in Egypt (Gen_46:21).
2. The Tribe
At the Exodus the number of men of war in the tribe is given as 35,400. At the second census it is 45,600 (Num_1:37; Num_26:41). Their place in the host was with the standard of the camp of Ephraim on the west of the tabernacle, their prince being Abidan the son of Gideoni (Num_2:22 f). Benjamin was represented among the spies by Palti the son of Raphu; and at the division of the land the prince of Benjamin was Elidad the son of Chislon (Num_13:9; Num_34:21).
3. Territory
The boundaries of the lot that fell to Benjamin are pretty clearly indicated (Jos_18:11). It lay between Ephraim on the North and Judah on the South. The northern frontier started from the Jordan over against Jericho, and ran to the north of that town up through the mountain westward past Bethaven, taking in Bethel. It then went down by Ataroth-addar to Beth-horon the nether. From this point the western frontier ran southward to Kiriath-jearim. The southern boundary ran from Kiriath-jearim eas tward to the fountain of the waters of Netophah, swept round by the south of Jerrus and passed down through the wilderness northern by shore of the Dead Sea at the mouth of the Jordan. The river formed the eastern boundary. The lot was comparatively small. This, according to Josephus, was owing to ?the goodness of the land? (Ant., V, i, 22); a description that would apply mainly to the plans of Jericho. The uplands are stony, mountainous, and poor in water; but there is much good land on the western slopes.
4. Importance of Position
It will be seen from the above that Benjamin held the main avenues of approach to the highlands from both East and West: that by which Joshua led Israel past Ai from Gilgal, and the longer and easier ascents from the West, notably that along which the tides of battle so often rolled, the Valley of Aijalon, by way of the Beth-horons. Benjamin also sat astride the great highway connecting North and South, which ran along the ridge of the western range, in the district where it was easiest of defense. It was a position calling for occupation by a brave and warlike tribe such as Benjamin proved to be. His warriors were skillful archers and slingers, and they seem to have cultivated the use of both hands, which gave them a great advantage in battle (Jdg_20:16; 1Ch_8:40; 1Ch_12:2, etc.). These characteristics are reflected in the Blessing of Jacob (Gen_49:27). The second deliverer of Israel in the period of the Judges was Ehud, the left-handed Benjamite (Jdg_3:15).
5. History
The Benjamites fought against Sisera under Deborah and Barak (Jdg_5:14). The story told in Jdg_20:21 presents many difficulties which cannot be discussed here. It is valuable as preserving certain features of life in these lawless times when there was no details in Israel. Whatever may be said of the details, it certainly reflects the memory of some atrocity in which the Benjamites were involved and for which they suffered terrible punishment. The election of Saul as first king over united Israel naturally lent a certain prestige to the tribe. After the death of Saul they formed the backbone of Ish-bosheth's party, and most unwillingly conceded precedence to Judah in the person of David (2Sa_2:15, 2Sa_2:25; 2Sa_3:17). It was a Benjamite who heaped curses upon David in the hour of his deep humiliation (2Sa_16:5); and the jealousy of Benjamin led to the revolt on David's return, which was so effectually stamped out by Joab (2 Sam 19 f). Part of the tribe, probably the larger part, went against Judah at the disruption of the kingdom, taking Bethel with them. 1Ki_12:20 says that none followed the house of David but the house of Judah only. But the next verse tells us that Rehoboam gathered the men of Judah and Benjamin to fight against Jeroboam. It seems probable that as Jerusalem had now become the royal city of the house of David, the adjoining parts of Benjamin proved loyal, while the more distant joined the Northern Kingdom. After the downfall of Samaria Judah assumed control of practically the whole territory of Benjamin (2Ki_23:15, 2Ki_23:19, etc.). Nehemiah gives the Valley of Hinnom as the south boundary of Benjamin in his time (Neh_11:30), while westward it extended to include Lod and Ono. Saul of Tarsus was a member of this tribe (Phi_3:5).
(4) A great-grandson of Benjamin, son of Jacob (1Ch_7:10).
(5) One of those who had married a foreign wife (Ezr_10:32, and probably also Neh_3:23; Neh_12:34).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Ben?jamin, youngest son of Jacob, by Rachel (Gen_35:18). His mother died immediately after he was born, and with her last breath named him Ben-Oni, 'Son of my pain,' which the father changed into Benjamin, a word of nearly the same sound, but portending comfort and consolation, 'Son of my right hand,' probably alluding to the support and protection he promised himself from this, his last child, in his old age.
The tribe of Benjamin, though the least numerous of Israel, became nevertheless a considerable race in process of time. In the desert it counted 35,400 warriors, all above twenty years of age (Num_1:36; Num_2:22); and, at the entrance of Israel into Canaan, even as many as 45,600. The portion allotted to this tribe was in proportion to its small number, and was encompassed by the districts of Ephraim, Dan and Judah, in central Palestine. The territory, though rather small, was highly-cultivated and naturally fertile, and contained thirty-six towns (with the villages appertaining to them), which are named in Jos_18:21-28; and the principal of which were Jericho, Bethagla, Bethel, Gibeon, Ramah, and Jebus or Jerusalem. This latter place subsequently became the capital of the whole Jewish empire; but was, after the division of the land, still in possession of the Jebusites. The lower or less fortified part had been taken by Judah (Jdg_1:8), who in this matter had almost a common interest with Benjamin; but Zion, the upper part, was not finally wrested from the Jebusites till the time of David (2Sa_5:6, sq.). In the time of the Judges, the tribe of Benjamin became involved in a civil war with the other eleven tribes, for having refused to give up to justice the miscreants of Gibeon who had publicly violated and caused the death of a concubine of a man of Ephraim, who had passed with her through Gibeon. This war terminated in the almost utter extinction of the tribe; leaving no hope for its regeneration from the circumstance, that, not only had nearly all the women of that tribe been previously slain by their foes, but the eleven other tribes had engaged themselves by a solemn oath not to marry their daughters to any man belonging to Benjamin. When the thirst of revenge, however, had abated, they found means to evade the letter of the oath, and to revive the tribe again by an alliance with them (Jdg_21:20-21). This revival was so rapid, that in the time of David it already numbered 59,434 able warriors (1Ch_7:6-12); in that of Asa, 280,000 (2Ch_14:8); and in that of Jehoshaphat, 200,000 (2Ch_17:17).
This tribe had also the honor of giving the, first king to the Jews, Saul being a Benjamite (1Sa_9:1-2). After his death, the Benjamites, as might have been expected, declared themselves for his son Ishbosheth (2Sa_2:8, sq.); until, after the assassination of that prince, David became king of all Israel. David having at last expelled the Jebusites from Zion, and made it his own residence, the close alliance that seems previously to have existed between the tribes of Benjamin and Judah (Jdg_1:8) was cemented by the circumstance that, while Jerusalem actually belonged to the district of Benjamin, that of Judah was immediately contiguous to it. Thus it happened, that, at the division of the kingdom after the death of Solomon, Benjamin espoused the cause of Judah, and formed, together with it a kingdom by themselves. Indeed, the two tribes stood always in such a close connection, as often to be included under the single term Judah (1Ki_11:13; 1Ki_12:20). After the exile, also, these two tribes constituted the flower of the new Jewish colony in Palestine (comp. Ezr_4:1; Ezr_10:9).
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
Gen_43:5, Gen_43:13 (c) This person is a type of CHRIST in that his brothers could not see the face of Joseph unless he came with them. So it is with us; we cannot see GOD the Father unless CHRIST is with us. (See also Joh_14:6).
Deu_33:12 (a) Here is a beautiful picture of the trusting and confident Christian who dwells in the presence of his Lord, is covered by GOD's gracious, protecting care, and like the Indian's papoose, rests securely and happily between the shoulders of his wonderful Lord. The papoose does not care how long the journey is nor how rough the road is, neither does the "Benjamin Christian" who dwells between GOD's shoulders.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
Benjamin
(Heb. Binyamin', בַּנְיָמַין, i. q. Felix [see below]; Sept., Joseph., and New Test. Βενιαμίν), the name of three men.
1. The youngest son of Jacob by Rachel (Gen_35:18), and the only one of the thirteen (if indeed there were not more; comp. all his daughters, Gen_37:35; Gen_46:7) who was born in Palestine. His birth took place on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, a short distance-a length of earth from the latter. B.C. 1889. His mother died immediately after he was born, and with her last breath named him בֶּןאּעוֹנַי, BEN-ONI (son of my pain), which the father changed into BENJAMIN, a word of nearly the same sound, but portending comfort and consolation son of my right hand, probably alluding to the support and protection he promised himself from this, his last child, in his old age. SEE JAMIN. This supposition is strengthened when we reflect on the reluctance with which he consented to part with him in very trying circumstances, yielding only to the pressure of famine and the most urgent necessity (Genesis 42). This interpretation is inserted in the text of the Vulgate and the margin of the A.V., and has the support of Gesenius (Thes. p. 219). On the other hand, the Samaritan Codex gives the name in an altered form as בנימים, son of days, i.e. son of my old age (comp. Gen_44:20), which is adopted by Philo, Aben-ezra, and others. Both these interpretations are of comparatively late date, and it is notorious that such explanatory glosses are not only often invented long subsequently to the original record, but are as often at variance with the real meaning of that record. The meaning given by Josephus (διὰ τὴν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ γενομένην ὀδύνην τῇ μητρί, Ant. 1, 21, 3) has reference only to the name Ben-Oni. However, the name is not so pointed as to agree with the usual signification, son of, being בַּנְאּ, and not בֶּןאּ. But the first vowel has here probably supervened (for בְּנְאּ) merely because of the perfect coalescence of the two elements into a single word. Moreover, in the adjectival forms of the word the first syllable is generally suppressed, as בְּנֵיאּיְמַינַיor הִיְּמַינַי, i.e. sons of Yemini for sons of Benjamin; אַישׁ יְמַינַי, man of Yemini for man of Benjamin (1Sa_9:1; Est_2:5); יְמַינַי אֶרֶוֹ, land of Yemini for land of Benjamin (1Sa_9:4);as if the patriarch's name had been originally יָמַיןYamin (comp. Gen_46:10), and that of the tribe Yeminites. These adjectival forms are carefully preserved in the Sept. The prefix Ben seems to be merely omitted in them for brevity, as being immaterial to the reference. Usually, however, the posterity of Benjamin are called BENJAMITES (Gen_35:18; Gen_49:27; Deu_33:12; Jos_18:21-28; 1Ki_12:16-24; Jdg_3:15; Jdg_19:16, etc.). SEE BEN-; SEE JEMINI.
Until the journeys of Jacob's sons and of Jacob himself into Egypt we hear nothing of Benjamin, and, so far as he is concerned, those well-known narratives disclose nothing beyond the very strong affection entertained toward him by his father and his whole-brother Joseph, and the relation of fond endearment in which he stood, as if a mere darling child (comp. Gen_44:20), to the whole of his family. Even the harsh natures of the elder patriarchs relaxed toward him.
In Gen_46:21 sq., the immediate descendants of Benjamin are given to the number of ten, whereas in Num_26:38-40, only seven are enumerated, and some even under different names. This difference may probably be owing to the circumstance that some of the direct descendants of Benjamin had died either at an early period or at least childless. Considerable difficulty occurs in the several Biblical lists of the sons and grandsons of Benjamin (Gen_46:21; Num_26:38-40; 1Ch_7:6-12; 1Ch_8:1-7), which may be removed by the following explanations. As Benjamin was quite a youth at the time of the migration to Canaan (Gen_44:20; Gen_44:22), the list in Genesis 56 cannot be merely of Jacob's descendants at that time, since it contains Benjamin's children (comp. the children of Pharez, Genesis 56:12, who was at that time a mere child, see Gen_38:1), but rather at the period of his death, seventeen years later (Gen_47:28). SEE JACOB.
Yet the list could not have been made up to a much later period, since it does not contain the grandchildren of Benjamin subsequently born (1Ch_8:3 sq.). The sons of Benjamin are expressly given in 1Ch_8:1-2, as being five, in the following order: Bela (the same in the other accounts), Ashbel (otherwise perhaps Jediael), Aharah (evidently the same with Ahiran of Numbers, and probably the Aher of 1Ch_7:12, since this name and Ir are given apparently in addition to the three of 1Ch_7:6, and probably also the Ehi of Genesis), Nohah (who is therefore possibly the same with Becher, and probably also with Ir, since Shupham [Shuppim or Muppim of the other] and Hupham [Huppim], enumerated as the sons of the latter, although they do not appear in the list of Becher's sons, must be such under other names, but-like Bela's in the same list-undistinguishable, as Jediael had but one son, and the rest are otherwise identified), and finally Rapha (who can then be no other than Rosh). See all the names in their alphabetical place.
TRIBE OF BENJAMIN. The history of Benjamin to the time of the entrance into the Promised Land is as meagre as it is afterward full and interesting. We know indeed that shortly after the departure from Egypt it was the smallest tribe but one (Num_1:36; comp. Num_1:1); that during the march its position was on the west of the tabernacle, with its brother tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (Num_2:18-24). In the desert it counted 35,400 warriors, all above twenty years of age (Num_1:36; Num_2:22), and, at the entrance of Israel into Canaan, even as many as 45,600. We have the names of the captain of the tribe when it set forth on its long march (Num_2:22); of the ruler who went up with his fellows to spy out the land (Num_13:9); of the families of which the tribe consisted when it was marshalled at the great halt in the plains of Moab by Jordan-Jericho (Num_26:38-41; Num_26:63), and of the prince who was chosen to assist in the dividing of the land (Num_34:21). But there is nothing to indicate what were the characteristics and behavior of the tribe which sprang from the orphan darling of his father and brothers. No touches of personal biography like those with which we are favored concerning Ephraim (1Ch_7:20-23); no record of zeal for Jehovah like Levi (Exo_32:26); no evidence of special bent as in the case of Reuben and Gad (Numbers 32). The only foreshadowing of the tendencies of the tribe which was to produce Ehud, Saul, and the perpetrators of the deed of Gibeah, is to be found in the prophetic gleam which lighted up the dying Jacob, Benjamin shall raven as a wolf;:in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil (Gen_49:27). From this passage some have inferred that the figure of a wolf was the emblem on the tribal standard.
1. Geography. The proximity of Benjamin to Ephraim during the march to the Promised Land was maintained in the territories allotted to each. Benjamin lay immediately to the south of Ephraim, and between him and Judah. The situation of this territory was highly favorable. It formed almost a parallelogram, of about 26 miles in length by 12 in breadth. Its eastern boundary was the Jordan, and from thence it mainly extended to the wooded district of Kirjath-jearim, about six miles west of Jerusalem, while in the other direction it stretched from the valley of Hinnom, under the Shoulder of the Jebusite on the south, to Bethel on the north. Thus Dan intervened between this tribe and the Philistines, while the communications with the valley of the Jordan were in its own power. On the .south the territory ended abruptly with the steep slopes of the hill of Jerusalem; on the north it almost melted into the possessions of the friendly Ephraim. SEE TRIBE.
In Joshua 18, from Jos_18:12-14, is sketched the northern boundary-line (mostly repeated in chap. 16:1-5), and from 15 to 20 the southern (repeated in chap. Jos_15:6-9, in a reverse direction). Within the boundaries described in these few verses lay a district rather small, but highly cultivated and naturally fertile (Josephus, Ant. 5, 1, 22; Reland, p. 637), containing twenty-six chief towns (with their villages, in two main sections), which are named in Jos_18:21-28; and the principal of which were Jericho, Bethhogla, Bethel, Gibeon, Ramah, and Jebus or Jerusalem. This latter place subsequently became the capital of the whole Jewish empire, but was, after the division of the land, still in possession of the Jebusites. The Benjamites had indeed been charged to dispossess them, and occupy that important town; but (Jdg_1:21) the Benjamites are reproached with having neglected to drive them from thence, that is, from the upper, well-fortified part of the place Zion, since the lower and less fortified part had already been taken by Judah (Jdg_1:8), who in this matter had almost a common interest with Benjamin. The Jebusite citadel was finally taken by David (2Sa_5:6 sq.). A trace of the pasture- lands may be found in the mention of the herd (1Sa_11:5); and possibly others in the names of some of the towns of Benjamin, as hap- Parah, the cow; Zela-ha-eleph, the ox-rib (Jos_18:23; Jos_18:28). In the degenerate state of modern Palestine few evidences of the fertility of this tract survive. But other and more enduring natural peculiarities remain, and claim our recognition, rendering this possession one of the most remarkable among those of the tribes.
(1.) The general level of this part of Palestine is very high, not less than 2000 feet above the maritime plain of the Mediterranean on the one side, or than 3000 feet above the deep valley of the Jordan on the other, besides which this general level or plateau is surmounted, in the district now under consideration, by a large number of eminences defined, rounded hills almost every one of which has borne some part in the history of the tribe. Many of these hills carry the fact of their existence in their names. Gibeon, Gibeah, Geba or Gaba, all mean hill; Ramah and Ramathaim, eminence; Mizpeh, Watch-tower; while the ascent of Beth-horon, the cliff Rimmon, the pass of Michmash with its two teeth of rock, all testify to a country eminently broken and hilly. The special associations which belong to each of these eminences, whether as sanctuary or fortress, many of them arising from the most stirring incidents in the history of the nation, will be best examined under the various separate heads.
(2.) No less important than these eminences are the torrent beds and ravines by which the upper country breaks down into the deep tracts on each side of it. They formed then, as they do still, the only mode of access from either the plains of Philistia and of Sharon on the west, or the deep valley of the Jordan on the east the latter steep and precipitous in the extreme, the former more gradual in their declivity. Up these western passes swarmed the Philistines on their incursions during the time of Samuel and of Saul, driving the first king of Israel right over the higher district of his own tribe, to Gilgal, in the hot recesses of the Arabah, and establishing themselves over the face of the country from Michmash to Ajalon. Down these same defiles they were driven by Saul after Jonathan's victorious exploit, just as in earlier times Joshua had chased the Canaanites down the long hill of Bethhoron, and as, centuries after, the forces of Syria were chased by Judas Maccabaeus (1Ma_3:16-24). It is perhaps hardly fanciful to ask if we may not account in this way for the curious prevalence among the names of the towns of Benjamin of the titles of tribes. Ha-Avvim, the Avites Zemaraim, the Zemarites; ha-Ophni, the Ophnite; Chephar ha-Ammonai, the village of the Ammonites; ha-Jebusi, the Jebusite, are all among the names of places in Benjamin; and we can hardly doubt that in these names is preserved the memory of many an ascent of the wild tribes of the desert from the sultry and open plains of the low level to the fresh air and secure fastnesses of the upper district.
The passes on the eastern side are of a much more difficult and intricate character than those on the western. The principal one, which, now unfrequented, was doubtless in ancient times the main ascent to the interior, leaves the Ghor behind the site of Jericho, and, breaking through the barren hills with many a wild bend and steep slope, extends to and indeed beyond the very central ridge of the table-land of Benjamin, to the foot of the eminence on which stand the ruins of the ancient Beeroth. At its lower part this valley bears the name of Wady Fuwar, but for the greater part of its length it is called Wady Suweinit. It is the main access, and from its central ravine branch out side valleys, conducting to Bethel, Michmash, Gibeah, Anathoth, and other towns. After the fall of Jericho this ravine must have stood open to the victorious Israelites, as their natural inlet to the country. At its lower end must have taken place the repulse and subsequent victory of Ai, with the conviction and stoning of Achan, and through it Joshua doubtless hastened to the relief of the Gibeonites, and to his memorable pursuit of the Canaanites down the pass of Beth-horon, on the other side of the territory of Benjamin. Another of these passes is that which since the time of our Savior has been the regular road between Jericho and Jerusalem, the scene of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Others lie farther north, by the mountain which bears the traditional name of Quarantania; first up the face of the cliff, afterward less steep, and finally leading to Bethel or Taiyibeh, the ancient Ophrah. These intricate ravines may well have harbored the wild beasts which, if the derivation of the names of several places in this locality are to be trusted, originally haunted the district-zeboim, hyenas (1Sa_13:18), shual and shaalbim, foxes or jackals (Jdg_1:35; 1Sa_13:17), ajalon, gazelles. (See Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, ch. 4.)
Such were the limits and such the character of the possession of Benjamin as fixed by those who originally divided the land. But it could not have been long before they extended their limits, since in the early lists of 1 Chronicles 8 we find mention made of Benjamites who built Lod and Ono, and of others who were founders of Aijalon (12, 13), all which towns were beyond the spot named above as the westernmost point in their boundary. These places, too, were in their possession after the return from the captivity (Neh_11:35).
The following is a list of all the Scriptural localities in the tribe of Benjamin, with their probable modern representatives, except those connected with the topography of Jerusalem (q.v.).
Abel-mizraim. Village. SEE BETH-HOGLAH.
Ai. Town. Tel el-Hajar.
Ajephim. Village. [W. of Wady Sidr]?
Alemeth. Town. Almit.
Allon-bachuth. Oak. SEE BAAL-TAMAR.
Ammah. Hill. [Spring N.E. of el-Jib]?
Ananiah. Town. Beit-Hanina?
Anathoth. do. Anata.
Arabah. do. SEE BETH-ARABAH.
Atad. Threshing-floor: SEE ABEL-MIZRAIM.
Aven. Town. SEE BETH-AVEN.
Avim. do. See Ai.
Azmaveth. do. [Hizmeh]? Baal-hazor. do. SEE HAZOR.
Baal-perazim. Hill. [Jebel Aly]?
Baal-tamar. Town. [Erhah]?
Bahurim. do. Deir es-Sid?
Beeroth. do. El-Bireh.
Beth-arabah. do. [Kusr-Hajlo]?
Beth-aven. do. Burj-Beitin?
Beth-azmaveth. do. SEE AZMAVETH.
Beth-car. Hill. SEE EBENEZER.
Beth-el. Town. Beitin.
Beth-hoglah. do. Ain Hajla.
Bozez. Cliff. In Wady Suweinit.
Chephar-haammonai. Town. [Ain-Yebrud]?
Chephirah. do. Kefir. Cherith. Brook. Wady Kelt?
Chidon. Threshing-floor. [Khurbet el-Bistun]?
Ebenezer. Stone. . [Biddu]?
El-Bethel. Town. SEE BETHEL.
Eleph. do. [Katamon]?
Emmaus. do. El- Kubeibeh?
En-shemesh. Spring. Bir el-Khot?
Ephraim, or Ephron. Town. SEE OPHRAH.
Gaba. do. SEE GEBA.
Gallim. do. [Khurbet Haiyeh?
Geba. do. Jiba. Gebim. do. [El-Isawiyeh]?
Geliloth. do. SEE GILGAL.
Giah. Village. [Bir-Nebala]?
Gibeah. Town. Tuleil el-Ful.
Gibeon. do. El-Jib.
Gidom. Plain. [N.E. of Michmash]?
Gilgal. Town. Moharfer?
Hai. do. See Ai.
Hazor. Town. Tell Azur?
Helkath-hazzurim. Plain. E. of El-Jib?
Irpeel. Town. [Kustul]? (Town. W. of er-Riha. Jericho. Waters. Ain es-Sultan.
Plain. [El- Wadiyeh.]
Jerusalem. City. El-Khuds.
Keziz. Valley. Wady el-Kaziz.
Menukah. Town. [Hill E. of Gibeah]?
Michmash. do. Mukmas. Migron. do. [Ruins S. of Deir Diwan]?
Mizpeh. do. Neby Samwil? Moza. do. Kulonich?
Naarath, or Naaran. do. [E-Nejemeh]?
Naioth. do. SEE RAMAH.
Nob. do. [Kurazeh]?
Ophni. do. Jifna. Ophrah. do. Tayibeh?
Parah. do. Farah. Ramah. do. Er-Ram. Rekem. do. [Deir Yesin]l?
Rephaim. Valley. Plain S.W. of Jerusalem.
Rimmon. Rock. Rummon.
Sechu. Well. SEE RAMAH.
Seneh. Cliff. In Wady Suweinit?
Shalim. Region. SEE SHUAL.
Shen. Rock. [Beit Enan]?
Shual. Region. [El-Aliya]?
Taralah. Town. [Beit Tirsa]?
Zelah or Zelzah. do. Beit Jala.
Zemaraim. City and Hill. Es-Sumrah?
2. History. In the time of the Judges the tribe of Benjamin became involved in a civil war with the other eleven tribes for having refused to give up to justice the miscreants of. Gibeon that had publicly violated and caused the death of a concubine of a man of Ephraim, who had passed with her through Gibeon. This war terminated in the almost utter extinction of the tribe, leaving no hope for its regeneration from the circumstance that not only had nearly all the women of that tribe been previously slain by their foes, but the eleven other tribes had engaged themselves by a solemn oath not to marry their daughters to any man belonging to Benjamin. When the thirst of revenge, however, had abated, they found means to evade the letter of the oath, and to revive the tribe again by an alliance with them (Jdg_19:20-21). That frightful transaction was indeed a crisis in the history of the tribe; the narrative undoubtedly is intended to convey that the six hundred who took refuge in the cliff Rimmon, and who were afterward provided with wives partly from Jabesh-gilead (Jdg_21:10), partly from Shiloh (Jdg_21:21), were the only survivors. The revival of the tribe, however, was so rapid that, in the time of David, it already numbered 59,434 able warriors (1Ch_7:6-12); in that of Asa, 280,000 (2Ch_14:8); and in that of Jehoshaphat, 200,000 (2Ch_17:17). SEE CHENAANAH.
This tribe had also the honor of giving the first king to the Jews, Saul being a Benjamite (1Sa_9:1-2). After the death of Saul, the Benjamites, as might have been expected, declared themselves for his son Ishbosheth (2Sa_2:8 sq.), until, after the assassination of that prince, David became king of all Israel. David having at last expelled the Jebusites from Zion, and made it his own residence, the close alliance that seems previously to have existed between the tribes of Benjamin and Judah (Jdg_1:8) was cemented by the circumstance that, while Jerusalem actually belonged to the district of Benjamin, that of Judah was immediately contiguous to it. Thus it happened that, at the division of the kingdom after the death of Solomon, Benjamin espoused the cause of Judah, and formed, together with it, a kingdom by themselves. Indeed, the two tribes stood always in such a close connection as often to be included under the single term Judah (1Ki_11:13; 1Ki_12:20). After the exile, also, these two tribes constituted the flower of the new Jewish colony in Palestine (comp. Ezra 11:1; Ezr_10:9).
3. Characteristics. The contrast between the warlike character of the tribe and the peaceful image of its progenitor has been already noticed. That fierce ness and power are not less out of proportion to the smallness of its numbers and of its territory. This comes out in many scattered notices.
(a) Benjamin was the only tribe that seems to have pursued archery to any purpose, and their skill in the bow (1Sa_20:20; 1Sa_20:36; 2Sa_1:22; 1Ch_8:40; 1Ch_12:2; 2Ch_17:17) and the sling (Jdg_20:16) are celebrated.
(b) When, after the first conquest of the country, the nation began to groan under the miseries of a foreign yoke, it is to a man of Benjamin, Ehud, the son of Gera, that they turn for deliverance. The story seems to imply that he accomplished his purpose on Eglon with less risk, owing to his proficiency in the peculiar practice of using his left hand a practice apparently confined to Benjamites, and by them greatly employed (Jdg_3:15, and see 20:16; 1Ch_12:2).
(c) Baanah and Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin, are the only Israelites west of the Jordan named in the whole history as captains of marauding predatory bands (גְּדוּדַים); and the act of which they were guilty the murder of the head of their house hardly needed the summary vengeance inflicted on them by David to testify the abhorrence in which it must have been held by all Orientals, however warlike.
(d) The dreadful deed recorded in Judges 19, though repelled by the whole country, was unhesitatingly adopted and defended by Benjamin with an obstinacy and spirit truly extraordinary. Of their obstinacy there is a remarkable trait in 1Sa_22:7-18. Though Saul was not only the king of the nation, but the head of the tribe, and David a member of a family which had as yet no claims on the friendship of Benjamin, yet the Benjamites resisted the strongest appeal of Saul to betray the movements of David; and after those movements had been revealed by Doeg the Edomite (worthy member as he must have seemed to them of an accursed race!) they still firmly refused to lift a hand against those who had assisted him (see Niemeyer, Charakterist. 3, 565 sq.).
Several circumstances may have conduced to the relative importance of this small tribe (see Plesken, De Benjamin parvo, Wittenb. 1720). The Tabernacle was at Shiloh, in Ephraim, during the time of the last judge, but the ark was near Benjamin, at Kirjath-jearim. Ramah, the official residence of Samuel, and containing a sanctuary greatly frequented (1Sa_9:12, etc.), Mizpeh, where the great assemblies of all Israel took place (1Sa_7:5), Bethel, perhaps the most ancient of all the sanctuaries of Palestine, and Gibeon, specially noted as the great high place (2Ch_1:3), were all in the land of Benjamin. These must gradually have accustomed the people who resorted to these various places to associate the tribe with power and sanctity, and they tend to elucidate the anomaly which struck Saul so forcibly, that all the desire of Israel should have been fixed on the house of the smallest of its tribes (1Sa_9:21).
The struggles and contests that followed the death of Saul arose from the natural unwillingness of the tribe to relinquish its position at the head of the nation, especially in favor of Judah. Had it been Ephraim, the case might have been different; but Judah had as yet no connection with the house of Joseph, and was, besides, the tribe of David, whom Saul had pursued with such unrelenting enmity. The tact and sound sense of Abner, however, succeeded in overcoming these difficulties, though he himself fell a victim in the very act of accomplishing his purpose; and the proposal that David should be king over Israel was one which seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin, and of which the tribe testified its approval and evinced its good faith by sending to the distant capital of Hebron a detachment of 3000 men of the brethren of Saul (1Ch_12:29). Still, the insults of Shimei and the insurrection of Sheba are indications that the soreness still existed, and we do not hear of any cordial co-operation or firm union between the two tribes until a cause of common quarrel arose at the disruption, when Rehoboam assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to the son of Solomon (1Ki_12:21; 2Ch_11:1). Possibly the seal may have been set to this by the fact of Jeroboam having just taken possession of Bethel, a city of Benjamin, for the calf- worship of the northern kingdom (1Ki_12:29). Bethel, however, was on the very boundary-line, and centuries before this date was inhabited by both Ephraimites and Benjamites (Jdg_19:16). On the other hand, Rehoboam fortified and garrisoned several cities of Benjamin, and wisely dispersed the members of his own family through them (2Ch_11:10-12). The alliance was farther strengthened by a covenant solemnly undertaken (2Ch_15:9), and by the employment of Benjamites in high positions in the army of Judah (2 Chronicles 16:17). But what, above all, must have contributed to strengthen the alliance, was the fact that the Temple was the common property of both tribes. True, it was founded, erected, and endowed by princes of the house of Judah, but the city of the Jebusite (Jos_18:28), and the whole of the ground north of the Valley of Hinnom, was in the lot of Benjamin. In this latter fact is literally fulfilled the prophecy of Moses (Deu_33:12): Benjamin dwelt between the shoulders of the ravines which encompass the Holy City on the west, south, and east (see a good treatment of this point in Blunt's Undes. Coincidences, pt. 2, § 17).
Although thereafter the history of Benjamin becomes merged in that of the southern kingdom, yet that the tribe still retained its individuality is plain from the constant mention of it in the various censuses taken of the two tribes, and on other occasions, and also from the lists of the men of Benjamin who returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2; Nehemiah 7), and took possession of their old towns (Neh_11:31-35). At Jerusalem the name must have been always kept alive, if by nothing else, by the name of the high gate of Benjamin (Jer_20:2). (See below.) That the ancient memories of their house were not allowed to fade from the recollections of the Benjamites, is clear also from several subsequent notices. The genealogy of Saul, to a late date, is carefully preserved in the lists of 1 Chronicles (1Ch_8:33-40; 1Ch_9:39-44); the name of Kish recurs as the father of Mordecai (Est_2:5), the honored deliverer of the nation from miseries worse than those threatened by Nabash the Ammonite. The royal name once more appears, and Saul, who also is called Paul, has left on record under his own hand that he was of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. It is perhaps more than a mere fancy to note how remarkably the chief characteristics of the tribe are gathered up in his one person. There was the fierceness in his persecution of the Christians, and there were the obstinacy and persistence which made him proof against the tears and prayers of his converts, and ready not to be bound only, but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus (Act_21:12-13). There were the force and vigor to which natural difficulties and confined circumstances formed no impediment; and, lastly, there was the keen sense of the greatness of his house in his proud reference to his forefather Saul, the son of Cis, of the tribe of Benjamin.
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