Who was Benjamin in the Bible?

The youngest son of Jacob by his beloved wife Rachel. She died at his birth and named him BEN-ONI, signifying 'son of my sorrow,' but his father named him BENJAMIN, 'son of the right hand.' Gen. 35:18, 24. Type of Christ both as exalted at God's right hand (Benjamin), and, as rejected, the occasion of Israel's tribulation in the last days (Ben-oni), Rachel being a type of Israel (Micah 5.). Very little is recorded of Benjamin personally: he was the father of ten sons. Gen. 46:21.

Benjamin was the smallest of the tribes except Manasseh in the numbering of Num. 1:37; Num. 2:22-23. In Ps. 68:27 it is called 'little Benjamin;' but in the numbering before entering the land Benjamin exceeded in number four of the other tribes. Num. 26:41. In Gen. 49:27 Jacob prophesied of the tribe that it should "ravin as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil;" typical of Christ in judgement on the earth in a future day. In Deut. 33:12, where Moses prophesied of the tribes, he said of Benjamin, "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders." So in the blessings of Ps. 68:27 Benjamin is the first named of the four tribes; and in Ps. 80:2, where God is called upon to save them, Benjamin is mentioned with Ephraim and Manasseh, being the three tribes which followed the ark. Num. 2:17-24; Num. 10:22-24.

She called his name Ben-oni, meaning “son of my sorrow,” but in doing so she was taken away in death. Jacob however gave him a totally different name, Benjamin, meaning “son of my right hand.”

In this history there is vitally important instruction for us. Rachel had been the foremost desire of Jacob's eyes, her name meaning “sheep.” We have seen that this is typical of what a believer often considers most important, a desired state of soul that is fully submissive and attractive, that will tend to make a believer satisfied with himself. Jacob struggled along these lines for years, but such an object has no power in it to enable Jacob to reach it. His eyes were in the wrong direction. After coming to God's house he must realize that God, not Jacob's spiritual experience, is the only Object in whom there is both satisfaction and power. Therefore, Rachel dies, that is typically, Jacob gives up his strong desires; but Rachel is replaced by Benjamin, a type of Christ as “the Man of God's right hand.” Only when the Lord Jesus, exalted now at the right hand of God, becomes the true Object of our hearts, do we give up the useless ambition to improve ourselves morally and spiritually.

As for the seed of Jacob and of the tribe of Benjamin, few places would be more deeply interesting to him than Bethel, and Rachel's sepulchre. That Jacob desired they should be kept in memory is evident from the fact that he set up a pillar in each. It is now said that Saul must have gone out of his way to reach Rachel's tomb. Be it so. It was the way Samuel directed him, and, we must think, purposely, however much out of his way. He was to learn his first lesson in the presence of the grave of one who, like himself, was beautiful and well favoured, yet, alas! who indulged a rebellious will as he did. Her passionate cry for children, without the smallest recognition of the will of God (Gen. 30:1), contrasts unfavourably with Hannah's subject spirit and humble prayer to the Lord, and prepares us for the despair that overwhelmed her when that which she fondly dreamed would be a spring of happiness proved a bitter and a fatal draught of sorrow. How profound, how absorbing must have been her grief when she sought to make her innocent babe carry the remembrance of it all through life! "It came to pass as her soul was in departing, for she died, that she called her child's name Ben-oni" (the son of my sorrow). But the child never bore the name. His father covered it at once and for ever with that of Benjamin (the son of my right hand).

He was the son of his mother’s sorrow, and she would therefore have called him Benoni; but although she died at his birth, and Jacob thus lost a treasure for which he had laboured long, and a wife and friend whom he dearly loved, yet, in a faith that surmounted his bereavement, he named him Benjamin, son of his right hand. Jacob’s weeping was thus to endure for a night, and his joy to come in the morning. He wept as though he wept not, and the son of sorrow became the son of power and of victory.

Jacob's mother's old nurse had gone up to Bethel with him, and she died there. They left Bethel, and when near to Bethlehem, Jacob's wife Rachel had a baby boy, named Benoni, "Son of my sorrow". And then she died. But Jacob called him Benjamin, "Son of my right hand."

For the Jews, the Lord Jesus is "The Son of their Sorrow," because when they crucified Him, God drove them from their land, and they were scattered. But for God His Father, the Lord Jesus is "The Son of His right hand."

Joseph and Benjamin were the only sons of Rachel, the wife Jacob had loved (29:18). Losing Benjamin would be the event that would be most comparable to loosing Joseph whom Jacob loved "more than all his sons" (37:3). Now Benjamin is the most beloved: ". and his father loves him" (v. 20) and "his life is bound up with his life" (v. 30). Judah is no longer occupied with how God may act in retribution but with Jacob's love for his son and his grief.

But not only was he from the race of Israel, he also was "of the Tribe of Benjamin." And Benjamin was a very favoured tribe. Benjamin was one of the two sons of Jacob's favourite wife. He was the only child of Jacob born in the Promised Land. The first king of Israel came from the Tribe of Benjamin, and Saul of Tarsus bore his name. The "holy City," Jerusalem, was in the land of Benjamin. And the Tribe of Benjamin was the only tribe to remain loyal to Judah and the House of David, when the other tribes revolted. So it was no small honour to belong to the Tribe of Benjamin.

The tribe did not drive out the Jebusites, but allowed them to dwell with them in Jerusalem, Judges 1:21; this may have led to their idolatry, for when, with Judah and Ephraim, they were attacked by the children of Ammon, they confessed they had forsaken God and served Baalim. Judges 10:9-10. It may also have led to the dreadful deed which resulted in the destruction of nearly the whole tribe. Judges 19 - 21. From this they in a measure recovered their strength. At the division of the kingdom they remained with Judah, but a large portion of their lot was seized by Israel. At times they appear to be lost sight of, for Ahijah said that God had reserved to the house of David one tribe (as if Benjamin was reckoned as cut off in judgement), 1 Kings 11:36. The two tribes were constantly spoken of as 'Judah,' whereas the ten tribes were called 'Israel.' On the return from the captivity, Benjamin had its share of blessing with Judah. Ezra 1:5; Ezra 10:9; Neh. 11:4-36. Paul relates twice that he was of the tribe of Benjamin. Rom. 11:1; Phil. 3:5. In the future, twelve thousand of this tribe will be sealed. Rev. 7:8.

We notice, first, his natural or external advantages, or those that could be readily discerned by those who judged after the flesh, by the "outward appearance." These were not inconsiderable; he was "of the tribe of Benjamin;" the apostle Paul speaks of it twice, as a thing to his natural advantage, that he was a descendant of this tribe (Rom. 11:1; Phil. 3:5). "Little Benjamin" (the diminutive of endearment rather than of numbers), in the blessing of Psalm 68:27, is mentioned first, before the three important tribes of Judah, Zebulon and Naphtali, and in Psalm 80:2, Benjamin is mentioned with Ephraim and Manasseh as those that followed the "Shepherd of Israel," as symbolized in the ark. They were descended from Rachel, Jacob's beloved wife. Benjamin (son of my right hand) was a type of Christ exalted to the right hand of God in glory; and his place, in the blessing of Moses, is one of special nearness and protection. He is there called "the beloved of the Lord" (Deut. 33:12). They were a tribe not lacking in valor, as witness their determined and heroic, though mistaken, defence of their brethren in guilty Gibeah (Judges 20:15-21). Their inheritance was small — only about 14 miles in breadth by 28 in length, in its widest parts; but what it lacked in size it made up in dignity, for it contained not only "the city of the Great King," Jerusalem, but also such notable places as Bethel, Mizpeh, and Ramah, the dwelling-place of Samuel.

"Benjamin was counted the least of the tribes (1 Samuel 9:21), and when, with other tribes, it was represented by its chief magistrate, it was rather disparagingly distinguished as 'little Benjamin with their ruler' (Psalm 68:27). Yet it was strong enough, on one occasion, to set at defiance for a time the combined forces of the other tribes (judges 20:12, etc.) It was distinguished for the singular skill of its slingers; seven hundred, who were left-handed, 'could every one sling stones at an hair-breadth and not miss' (Judges 20:16). The character of its territory, abounding in rocky mountains, and probably in game, for the capture of which the sling was adapted, might, in some degree, account for this peculiarity.