G. Walker.
BEN (13 ' son ').— A Levite, 1 Ch 15'*, omitted in parallel list in v.» in both MT and LXX. The latter omits it also in the first-named passage.
BEN-ABINADAB (3-;r5>n?. AV 'son of Abina- dab'). — One of Solomon's commissariat officers (1 K 4").
BENAIAH ("TJ3, n;j? 'J" hath built up').— 1. Son of Jehoiada, a priest (see Jehoiada) of Kabzeel, a town in the S. of Judah (Jos 15^). B. is an example of the silent faithful soldier. A ' mighty man ' rather than a general, he is not specially men- tioned in the historj- of Da\nd's campaigns, but was captain of the bodyguard of Cherethites (Carites, 2 S 2U^, Kethibh, cf. 2 K 11*) and Pelethites (2 S 8'"). The RVm 'council' for 'guard' in 2 S 23^ is supported by the LXX and Vulg., and by I Ch 27", if we read with Bertheau and Graf ' after Ahithophel was Benaiah, son of Jehoiada' (instead of 'J. son of B.'), as ' king's counsellor.' He was captain of the host for the third month, his lieutenant being his son Ammizabad (1 Ch 27 '•').
His special exploits indicate a man of extra- ordinary activity. They are detailed in 2 S 2,3*"'- (copied 1 Ch 11**). (a) ' He slew the two [sons of] Ariel [of] Moab,' which probably means two cham- pions of Moabitish sanctuaries (Sayce, HCM^ pp. 349, 370. But see Budde ad loc. in Haupt's OT). (b) A lion having been, in winter time, driven by hunger near human habitations, and fallen into a pit or dry well, Benaiah descended into it and killed the wild "beast, (c) He encountered an Egyptian cham- pion (5 cubits high, Ch) whose sjiear was like the side of a ladder, cis {uXof 5io/3<19pa5(EwaId, the beam of a bridge, EV ' like a weaver's beam '). Benaiah, who was armed only with a staff, grappled with his cumbrously armed antagonist, and slew him with his own spear. These feats gave him a place abovp
BEN-A^ilMI
BE.N-HADAD
• the thirty,' and last of the second three mighty men ; the others being Abisliai, and probably Joab. It is implied (2 S 15'°) that he accompanied David in his Higlit from Absalom, and he remained faith- ful during Adonijah's rebellion (1 K l»- '"■»). At David's reiiuest he assiHted Zadok and Nathan in the coronation of Solomon (vv.*^ >«•"). On this occasion be makes a speech to David, which is re-echoed by the king's ser^-ants (v."). As chief of the bodyguard he executed Adonijah (1 K 2-*), Joab (v.""*), and Shimei (v."). He succeeded Joab as captain of the host under Solomon (1X2*° 4*. 2. (2 S 23^, 1 Ch II") One of David's mighty men, of I'irathon in Ephraim (Jg 12'^- "). He was captain of the host for the eleventh month (1 Ch 27"). 3. (1 Ch 4*') A prince of Simeon. 4. (1 Ch 15"- " 16°) A Levite smger, in David's time, 'of the second degree,' who played ' with psalteries set to Alamoth.' S. (1 Ch 15" 16«) A priest, in David's time, who ' did blow with the trumpets before the ark.' 6. (2 Ch 2U") An Asapliite Levite, ancestor of Jahaziel. 7. (2 Ch 31") A Levite, in Hezekiah's time, one of the overseers of the dedi- cated things. 8, 9, 10, 11. (Ezr lu'.*- ». »- *>) Four of those who ' had taken strange wives.' In I Es 9*- "• **• ", Banneas, Naidus, Mamdai, Banaias respectively. 12. (Ezk lli-") Father of Pelatiah, one of the ' princes of the people.'
N. J. D. White. BEN-AHMI (ijin? ' son of my people ') the son of Lot's younger daughter. According to the popular Heb. tradition, preserved in Gn 19"", he was the ancestor of the Ammonite nation, the father of the fey ■:?. But the explanation in this narrative, that ' Amnion ' is equivalent to Benammi, rest.s on DO scientillc foundation, and, like the derivation given of Moab in the same context, is based on the resemblance in the sound of the two words. The name 'Ammi,' which is found in the cunei- form inscriptions as part of the title of Ammonite sovereigns, e.g. Ammi-nadab, has-been identi- fied with a deity (Derenbourg, Bev. Etudes Juives, 1881, p. 123 f.; Hnlivy, J A vii. 19, r^ 480 f. ; but see Gray, Heb. Prop. Names, 49 f.). Traces of this deity are perhaps to be found in the Heb. names Ammiel, Amminadab, Ammihud, Ammi- shaddai. According to Sayce (Pair. Pal. p. 22), Ammi or Ammo was the name of the god who gave his name to the nation ; and the same scholar conjectures that 'even the name of Balaam, the Arama-an seer, may be compounded with that of the god' (p. 64). We find it (Ammi) in the proper namns both of S. and of N.-W. Arabia. The early Min.Tan inscriptions of S. Arabia con- tain names like Ammi-karib, Ammi-zadika, and Animi-zjiduk (p. 63). Sayce mentions also the Babylonian king Ammi-satana, and the Edoniite Ammianshu. Tliis gives a more probable origin for the name Ammon than the one recorded in Gn 19*''', which has been said to emanate from racial hostility. The Hebrew legend has probably attributed the foulness of Ammonite religious rites to hereditary taint, for which a ]jlay on the names Moab anl Amnion otl'ered an explanation.