Who
Rachel’s second son and Jacob’s youngest. “As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin” (Genesis 35:18), “son of the right hand”. Joseph tested his brothers through him, hiding his cup in Benjamin’s sack, until Judah offered himself in his place (Genesis 44). From his tribe came Saul, the first king, and Paul, “of the tribe of Benjamin” (Philippians 3:5; Romans 11:1). Tertullian read Jacob’s word, “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he will devour the prey. At evening he will divide the plunder” (Genesis 49:27), of Paul: first a persecutor of the Church, then its teacher.
Key verses
- Genesis 35:18
As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.
- Genesis 35:24
The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
- Genesis 49:27
“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he will devour the prey. At evening he will divide the plunder.”
- 1 Chronicles 2:2
Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
- Romans 11:1
I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
- Philippians 3:5
circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
Where the Bible names him
Family
Discussed by
Comments on the verses that name him (8 of 17).
- Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on New Testament Lessons Sermon 1
Of the agreement of the evangelists Matthew and Luke in the generations of the Lord. 1. May He, beloved, fulfil your expectation who hath awakened it: for though I feel confident that what I have to say is not my…
- Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Chapter 1
Introduction. While I was going about one morning in the walks of the Xystus, a certain man, with others in his company, having met me, and said, “Hail, O philosopher!” And immediately after saying this, he turned…
- Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews Chapter 1
Occasion of Writing. Relative Position of Jews and Gentiles Illustrated. VII. It happened very recently a dispute was held between a Christian and a Jewish proselyte. Alternately with contentious cable they each spun…
- Hippolytus of Rome, Exegetical Fragments §2
On Genesis. Gen. i. 5 And it was evening, and it was morning, one day. Hippolytus. He did not say “night and day,” but “one day,” with reference to the name of the light. He did not say the “first day;” for if he had…
- Tertullian, The Five Books Against Marcion V.19
Chapter XX.—The Epistle to the Philippians. The Variances Amongst the Preachers of Christ No Argument that There Was More Than One Only Christ. St. Paul’s Phrases—Form of a Servant, Likeness, and Fashion of a Man—No…
- Jerome, Letters Letter 38
To Marcella. Blæsilla, the daughter of Paula and sister of Eustochium, had lost her husband seven months after her marriage. A dangerous illness had then led to her conversion, and she was now famous throughout Rome…
- Jerome, Letters Letter 60
To Heliodorus. One of Jerome’s finest letters, written to console his old friend, Heliodorus, now Bp. of Altinum, for the loss of his nephew Nepotian who had died of fever a short time previously. Jerome tries to…
- Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms Psalm 68
1. Of this Psalm, the title seemeth not to need operose discussion: for simple and easy it appeareth. For thus it standeth: “For the end, for David himself a Psalm of a Song.” But in many Psalms already we have…