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Benjamin — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Israelites in Egypt

The Torah's Joseph narrative, at a stage when Joseph is unrecognised by his brothers, 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 goes on to state that when Judah (on behalf of the other brothers) begged Joseph not to enslave Benjamin and instead enslave him, since 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 honour. These sources go on to 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 really the Jahwist's account of the reunion after Joseph identifies himself, and the account of the threat to enslave Benjamin is just the Elohist's version of the same event, with the Elohist being more terse about Joseph's emotions towards Benjamin, merely mentioning that Benjamin was given five times as many gifts as the others.

Modern scholars often view these narrative variations as evidence of distinct source traditions that emphasize Benjamin's symbolic and theological significance within the broader Joseph cycle.

Benjamin's sons

According to Genesis 46:21, Benjamin had ten sons: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. The name of his wife/wives are not given, but the Book of Jubilees calls his wife Ijasaka and the Book of Jasher mentions two wives, Mechalia the daughter of Aram and Aribath the daughter of Shomron. The classical rabbinical tradition adds that each son's name honors Joseph:

Belah (meaning swallow), in reference to Joseph disappearing (being swallowed up)

Becher (meaning first born), in reference to Joseph being the first child of Rachel

Ashbel (meaning capture), in reference to Joseph having suffered captivity

Gera (meaning grain), in reference to Joseph living in a foreign land (Egypt)

Naaman (meaning grace), in reference to Joseph having graceful speech

Ehi (meaning my brother), in reference to Joseph being Benjamin's only full-brother (as opposed to half-brothers)

Rosh (meaning elder), in reference to Joseph being older than Benjamin

Muppim (meaning double mouth), in reference to Joseph passing on what he had been taught by Jacob

Huppim (meaning marriage canopies), in reference to Joseph being married in Egypt, while Benjamin was not there

Ard (meaning wanderer/fugitive), in reference to Joseph being like a rose

There is a disparity between the list given in Genesis 46 and that in Numbers 26, where the sons of Benjamin are listed along with the tribes they are the progenitors of.

Belah, progenitor of the Belaites, is in both lists

Ashbel, progenitor of the Ashbelites, is in both lists

Ahiram, progenitor of the Ahiramites, appears in this list but not the first

Shupham, progenitor of the Shuphamites, corresponds to Muppim from the first list

Hupham, progenitor of the Huphamites, corresponds to Huppim from the first list

Becher, Gera, Ehi, and Rosh are omitted from the second list. Ard and Naaman, who are the sons of Benjamin according to Numbers 26, are listed as the sons of Belah and are the progenitors of the Ardites and the Naamites respectively.