Benjamin Series

tom lowe

1/27/2022

Benjamin

*tom lowe

1/27/2022

Benjamin

*Benjamin is Jacob's twelfth son and a full brother to Joseph. Rachel names him Benoni with her dying breath, which means "son of my misfortune" or "son of my sorrow." After her death, Jacob changes his name to Benjamin, meaning "son of my good fortune" or "son of my right hand." Some scholars think the reference to "my right hand" is a metaphor for strength. Others think it means "south," referring either to his birth or the future location of the Tribe of Benjamin as one of the southern tribes. Jacob changes the unfavorable nature of the name to a more favorable one. Nothing more is heard about Benjamin until the time of the famine.

Benjamin Facts (Truths)

Description

Benjamin was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. He was also the ancestor of the Israelite Tribe of Benjamin. According to the biblical narrative, unlike Rachel's first son, Joseph, Benjamin was born in Canaan.

Born: 1553 BC, Canaan

Children: Abihud, Muppim, Huppim, Bela, Beker, Rosh, Naaman, Ashbel, Ard, Ehi, Gera

Siblings: Joseph, Judah, Levi, Simeon, Reuben, Zebulun, Issachar, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Dan, Dinah

Parents: Jacob, Rachel

Grandchildren: Ard, Naaman

The Torah is Joseph's narrative. When Joseph is unrecognized by his brothers, he describes Joseph as testing whether his brothers have reformed by secretly planting a silver cup in Benjamin's bag. Then, publicly searching the bags for it, and after finding it in Benjamin's possession, demanding that Benjamin become his slave as a punishment.

The narrative states that Judah (on behalf of the other brothers) begged Joseph not to enslave Benjamin and instead enslave him since the enslavement of Benjamin would break Jacob's heart. This caused Joseph to recant and reveal his identity. The midrashic book of Jasher argues that prior to revealing his identity, Joseph asked Benjamin to find his missing brother (i.e., Joseph) via astrology, using an astrolabe-like tool. It continues by stating that Benjamin divined that the man on the throne was Joseph, so Joseph identified himself to Benjamin (but not the other brothers) and revealed his scheme (as in the Torah) to test how fraternal the other brothers were.

Some classical rabbinical sources argue that Joseph identified himself for other reasons. In these sources, Benjamin swore an oath, on the memory of Joseph, that he was innocent of theft and, when challenged about how believable the oath would be, explained that remembering Joseph was so important to him that he had named his sons in Joseph's honor. These sources state that Benjamin's oath touched Joseph so deeply that Joseph was no longer able to pretend to be a stranger.

In the narrative, just prior to this test, when Joseph had first met all of his brothers (but not identified himself to them), he had held a feast for them; the narrative heavily implies that Benjamin was Joseph's favorite brother since he is overcome with tears when he first meets Benjamin in particular, and he gives Benjamin five times as much food as he apportions to the others. According to textual scholars, this is the *Jahwist's account of the reunion after Joseph identifies himself. The account of the threat to enslave Benjamin is just the Elohist's version of the same event, with the *Elohist being terser about Joseph's emotions towards Benjamin, merely mentioning that Benjamin was given five times as many gifts as the others.

*Jahwist. The Jahwist, or Yahwist, often abbreviated J, is one of the most widely recognized sources of the Pentateuch (Torah), together with the Deuteronomist, the Priestly source, and the *Elohist. The Jahwist is so named because of its characteristic use of the term Yahweh (German: Jahwe; Hebrew: ????) for God. The existence of the Jahwist is somewhat controversial, with a few scholars, especially in Europe, denying that it ever existed as a coherent independent document. Nevertheless, many scholars do assume its existence, and date its composition to the period of the Babylonian captivity (597–539 BCE) or perhaps somewhat later.

* Elohist:

1. Elohist: an author of an Elohistic document

2. archaic: a priestly writer

An exterior view of a *Mamluk caravanserai complex, including the mausoleum of Nabi Yamin, traditionally believed to be the tomb of Benjamin, located outside Kfar Saba, Israel.

*Mamluk translated as "one who is owned," meaning "slave."

Origin

Biblical scholars believe, due to their geographic overlap (connection) and their treatment in older passages, that Ephraim and Manasseh were initially considered one tribe, that is, the tribe of Joseph. According to several biblical scholars, Benjamin was also originally part of this single tribe, but the biblical account of Joseph, like his father, became lost.

The description of Benjamin being born after the arrival in Canaan is thought by some scholars to refer to the tribe of Benjamin coming into existence by branching from the Joseph group after the tribe had settled in Canaan. Several biblical scholars suspect that the distinction of the Joseph tribes (including Benjamin) is that they were the only Israelites who went to Egypt and returned. In contrast, the main Israelite tribes emerged as a subculture from the Canaanites and had remained in Canaan throughout.