BENJAMIN. This occurs both as a proper name and as a Gentile ; in the former case it is always written as one word, )IV:: (Sept. BEptaislp, BernauElv).
The first who bore this name was the youngest son of Jacob, by his beloved Rachel. The mother, dying in giving birth to her son, called him Benoni, a name expressive of calamity [BENONI]; but Jacob changed this for Benjamin (Gen. xxxv. 16 '8). This word (from in and rin+) signifies son of the right hand, an expression which some explain as denoting felicity, success in the sense of good for tune, so that Benjamin = son of luck or felicity (Gesenius, films fortzemr; Furst, Gliickssahn); others as meaning power, and success as the result of effort (Lee). In either case the name was in tended to convey Jacob's desire or prophetic anti cipation that, notwithstanding the unpropitious circumstances of his birth, the future career of his son should be prosperous and happy. The Sama ritan version and text have viv instead of thus making the name mean `son of days,' e., of his father's old age; but this cannot be regarded as the true interpretation, be6use the context evi dently requires that the one name should be in antithesis to the other.* The notices of Benjamin's personal history pre served by Moses, are few, and throw little light on his character or conduct. That he was the cherished favourite of his father, especially after the loss of his brother Joseph, and that his gentle and amiable qualities gained the affections even of his elder brothers, appears very clearly on the sur face of the narrative. The impression left on one's mind in regard to him is, that he wanted force of character ; that he was one of those quiet and somewhat apathetic spirits who give little offence, and take kindness from others very much as a matter of course ; who submit to strong outbursts of affection on the part of their more susceptible friends and relatives, but are never moved to such themselves. So much is this the impression left on the mind by what is recorded of him, especially of his experiences in Egypt, his interviews with his brother Joseph, and his whole conduct on that occasion, that people generally have carried away the idea that he was at this time still a child, a mere lad, who could not be expected to act any very decided or demonstrative part ; whereas he was a man approaching at least to midlife, and the father of a large family.
When Jacob and his posterity went down to Egypt, Benjamin's household consisted of ten persons (Gen. xlvi. 21), of whom some were sons and some grandsons (comp. Num. xxvi. 3S ; I Chron. viii. 1) [BECHER]. From this time his history merges in that of his tribe.
This appears in Scripture sometimes under the simple designation of Benjamin ' (Judg. xx. 39, 40) ; sometimes as the children of Benjamin' B'nei Bizzyanzin, Num. i. 36) ; some times as `the tribe of Benjamin' cz ;Inn, Mallen B., Josh. xxi. 4, 17); and sometimes in the form of Benjamite ' Ben-yenzini, or i+ 4::, B'nei-yem., Ish-yem.), which are not `as if the patriarch's name had been originally Yamin' (Smith's Dia. of the Bible, s. v.), but are either the Gentile form of the word (see Gescn. ifeb. Gr., sec. 85, 6 ; Lee, Ile& Cr, art. 166), or an abbreviated form, t=1 ti+1.t. being for is 1: Gesenius compares the Arabic _(„j Bakri, for Li Abztbeker).
From the first this tribe was smaller and of less importance than the rest. On the numbering of the people by Moses, in the second year of their deliverance from Egypt, the tribe of Benjamin numbered 35,40o capable of going to war (Num. i. 37), and before their entrance into Canaan this had grown to 45,600 (Num. xxvi. 41). During the journey through the wilderness the tribe of Benjamin appears as subordinated to that of Eph raim in the arrangements of the camp (Num. ii. IS, 22); they had, however, their own captain (No'ci:, or chief, in this case phylarch), whose name was Abidan. In the division of Canaan the portion allotted to Benjamin was in proportion to the size of the tribe ; its boundaries are accurately defined (Josh. xviii. II-28). Though of limited extent, and in many parts rocky, it had many rich valleys, and on the whole was a fertile, well-watered territory (see Robinson, ii. pl. loce. ; Stanley, ch. iv.) ; it contained twenty-six towns, with their dependent villages. This territory lay between that of Ephraim and that of Judah, which in part accounts for the vacillating course between these two pursued by the Benjamites. At first they sided with Ephraim on the separation of the tribes, after the death of Saul (2 Sam. u. 9); and
the bitterest enemies of David came from this tribe; but when David made Jerusalem his capital, the affections of the Benjamites seem to have been gradually drawn towards Judah ; and though, on the revolt of the ten tribes, part of Benjamin (1 Kings xii. 29; xvi. 34) joined the Ephraimite confederacy, the greater part of the tribe adhered to the house of David (i Kings xii. 24 After the captivity Judah and Benjamin became one people (Ezra i. 5; iv. i; x. 9; comp. Ezek. xxxvii. 15, ff.) Mild and gentle as the founder of the tribe may have been, his father saw with prophetic eye that this would not be the characteristic of his descen dants; and therefore he said of him, as represented by them, 'Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil' (Gen. xlix. 27). The cha racter implied by this description the tribe seems fully to have borne out. We hear little of them except in connection with war or bloodshed. In the time of the Judges they involved themselves in a war with the rest of Israel, in consequence of their refusing to execute justice on a portion of their tribe who had violated the rights of hospi tality in the case of a Levite, and the rights of humanity by abusing his concubine until she died (Judg. xix., xx.) For a season they sustained alone and successfully the attacks of the combined forces of Israel, but ultimately they were overcome and almost extirpated. Six hundred men alone escaped, who took refuge in the rocky fortresses of their country. Peace was at length restored, and the Benjamites being supplied with wives, partly from the sack of Jabesh Gilead, partly through an ex pedient like that by which the early settlers at Rome found wives from among the Sabines (Judg. xxi. 8-24), the strength of the tribe was speedily recovered. In the time of Asa it numbered 2So,000 men that bore shields and drew bows (2 Chron. xiv. S). The men of this tribe were famous as slingers (Judg. xx. ,6) and as bowmen, and in general as mighty men of valour' (i Chron. viii. 40; xii. 2; 2 Chron. xiv. 8); their superiority in the use of the sling and the bow arose from their being ambidextrous. It is probable also that they availed themselves of the facilities which the phy sical peculiarities of their district afforded for marauding expeditions (2 Sam. iv. 2). In his mountain passes—the ancient haunts of beasts of prey—Benjamin ravined as a wolf in the morn ing,' descended into the rich plains of Philistia on the one side, and of Jordan on the other, and re turned in the evening to divide the spoil " (Stan ley, Sin. and Pal., p. 200).
In the course of its history several honourable distinctions fell to the lot of this tribe ; as if little Benjamin' still occupied the place of the favourite child among the tribes of Israel. During the march through the desert, this tribe seems to have held the place of honour next to the ark of the Lord (Dent. xxxiii. 12; comp. Von Lengerke, Kenaan, P. 477); from them came forth the first deliverer of Israel in the time of the Judges, Ehud, the son of Gera, who destroyed their Moabitish oppressors, and presided over Israel for a lengthened period, distinguished by unusual prosperity (Judg. iii. 13-30); and to them belonged the honour of giving the first king to Israel in the person of Saul, the son of Kish, an honour which, as Mr. Stanley observes, to the latest times they could never for get ' (p. 201). But to its the most eminent and memorable distinction of this tribe is, that out of it came the great Apostle of the Gentiles, who, even after he had renounced Judaism for Christ, could not repress the feeling of satisfaction with which he contemplated himself as of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews' (Phil. iii. 5).
Two other persons are mentioned in Scripture bearing this name, one a near descendant of the patriarch (t Chron. vii. to); the other one of the Israelites who, in the time of Ezra, had married strange women (Ezra x. 32).—W. L A.
BEN-ONI )p). The name given by the dying Rachel to her child (Gen. xxxv. IS). The LXX. render it viJI 681) vns /eou, and this is the meaning commonly given in the Onomastica and Lexicons. Knobel (Exeg. Hdb. in loc.) takes in its proper sense of nothingness or nought, and renders son of my nothingness,' i. e., whose birth brings me death. Delitzsch (Gen. in loc.) prefers son of my misfortune' with the same meaning. Hiller's derivation from MA, strength, as if Ben-oni my expiring effort (Onom. 300), is wholly un tenable.—W. L A.