Illustration created for this project.

Benjamin

The youngest son of Jacob, and the only one born in Canaan. Rachel died bearing him and named him Ben-oni, 'son of my sorrow', but his father called him Benjamin, 'son of the right hand'. Jacob would not let him travel to Egypt until famine forced it, and Judah offered himself as a hostage for the boy's safe return. The tribe was nearly destroyed in the civil war that followed the outrage at Gibeah, yet it gave Israel its first king in Saul, held Jerusalem on its border, and produced the apostle Paul, who described himself as of the tribe of Benjamin.

Lived: c. 1740 BC – ?

Belonged to: Israelites (Hebrews), Tribe of Benjamin

Tribe/lineage: Benjamin

What we know — and how we know it

Bible — stated in scripture (with verse) · 2 Scholarly — supported scholarly belief · 2

Family & lineage

BibleThe youngest son of Jacob, born to Rachel, and full brother of Joseph.

Genesis 35:18

↳ Jacob · Joseph · Rachel

ScholarlyThe 18th-century BCE archives from Mari repeatedly name a tribal confederation, the Binu-yamina ('sons of the right/south,' i.e. 'southerners'), a close linguistic counterpart to the name Benjamin. This is a name parallel that illuminates the naming pattern, not evidence for the biblical individual, since the Mari group predates him by centuries and is a distinct people.

The Mari tablets (Archives royales de Mari); the Binu-yamina/'Yaminites' parallel is widely discussed in Amorite onomastic scholarship. Offered strictly as a linguistic parallel.

Tribe & people

BibleFrom his tribe came Israel's first king, Saul, and the apostle Paul.

Philippians 3:5

↳ Paul the Apostle · Saul

Name & titles

ScholarlyThe name Binyamin means 'son of the right hand,' i.e. 'son of the south' (the right hand facing east). Genesis reports that the dying Rachel called him Ben-oni ('son of my sorrow') but that Jacob renamed him Binyamin.

Hebrew onomastics (yamin = 'right hand/south'); the double naming is explicit in the Masoretic text of Gen 35:18.