Five years later Dad-idri was again defeated by Shalmaneser, and in B.C. 845 Shalmaneser entered Syria with 120,000 men and overthrew the com- bmed forces of Dad-idri, Irkhulini, and ' the twelve kings of the coast of the upper and lower sea.' Professor Schrader is doubtless right in thinking that by the latter expression are meant the Phce- nician and north Syrian portions of the Mediter- ranean. Four years later Shalmaneser's opponent in Damascus was Hazael, so that Dad-idn (Ben- hadad-ezer) most have died between B.c. 845 and 841. A H. Sayce.
BEN-HAIL ('':iTH ' son of might '). — A prince sent by Jehoshaphat to teach in the cities of Judah (2 Ch 17'). (But see Gray, Seb. Pr. Names, 65, 231. )
BEN-HANAN (utII ' son of a gracious one '). — A man of Judah (1 Ch 4»).
BEN-HESED (nprri?, AV 'Son of Hesed' [= 'kindness']). — Patronymic of one of Solomon's twelve commissariat officers who had charge of a district in Judah (1 K 4>»). C. F. BiniNEY.
BEHIND («•;?, perhaps ' our son '). — One of those who sealed the covenant (Neh 10^).
BENJAMIN (p5;}3, or more usually p?;}? bin- ydmtn, ' son of the right-hand,' Bevia/uiv). — 1, The oungest of the sons of Jacob. He was bom between tethel and Ephrath, and Rachel died in giving him birth. As she was at the point of death she named him Ben-oni ("J'ik"!? 'son of my sorrow,' LXX vlit dSvvTjt liov), but Jacob changed it to Benjamin, probably to avoid the evil omen of the name Benoni (Gn 35"). He and Joseph were full brothers, they being the only sons of Jacou by Rachel, and he was the only son of Jacob bom in Canaan. That he is enumerated by P among the sons bom in Paddan-aram (Gn 35*''*)need not be pressed. At the time of the famine (Gn 42 tf.) Joseph insisted that he should come down with his brethren on their second visit to Egypt to buy com. Jacob is most reluctant to send him, but Judah (according to J, Reuben according to E) answers for his safety, and he goes. On his arrival, according to E, Joseph makes bimseli known to his brethren, and gives B.
I
300 pieces of silver and five changes of raiment. According to J, he gives B. a mess five times aa large as that given to the others ; then brings them back after their departure, and threatens to keep B. as his slave because the silver cup is found in his sack ; and, moved by the eloquent appeal of Judah, declares who he is. At this time B. is represented as quite young, ' a little one,' and the pet of the family (Gn 44**). But in Gn 46'" he La spoken of as the father of ten sons, who are un- questionably regarded as going down to Egypt with Jacob (Gn 46^°). There is no need to reconcile these incompatible views, as the latter belongs to one of the latest strata in the Hex., being probably due to R.
It is held by many modem critics that B. is not a hist, character, but the eponymous ancestor of the tribe. If so, the account in Gn will throw light on the early history of the tribe. The tribal system, as we have it in the biblical history, is probably not earlier than the conquest of Canaan. Originally there were Leah tribes and Rachel tribes. To the latter belonged the tribes grouped under the name of Bilhah, and the tribe of Joseph. To the tribe of Joseph it would seem that B. originally belonged, but became a distinct tribe earlier than Manasseh and Ephraim, which were always recog- nised as belonging to Joseph, while B. was regarded as, like Joseph, a son of Jacob. But we find a trace of the earlier view in 2 S 19", where Shimei, a Benjamite, speaks of himself as belonging to the house of Josepn. It is also probable that B. was the latest formed of the tribes, except Ephraim and Manasseh ; and the record of the birth in Canaan (Gn 35"*) is a reminiscence of this formation after the conquest.
The territory of the tribe adjoined that of Ephraim. Its limits and the towns in it are given in Jos 18''"**, a passage which belongs to the latfl document P. According to this, it was bounded on the E. by the Jordan, on the N. by a line passing from Jordan by Jericho on the N. to Bethel, and thence to Beth-horon ; on the W. by a line passing from Beth-horon to Kiriath-jearim ; and on the S. by a line reaching from Beth-horon to the N. bay at the Salt Sea, keeping Jerus. on the N. Twenty- six towns are mentioned, the chief of which are Jericho, Bethel, Geba, Gibeon, Ramah, Mizpeh, Jerusalem, Gibeath, and Kiriath. It is not certain, however, whether all these towns properly belonged to B. Bethel is regarded by Jg V" as belonging to ' the house of Joseph,' and it certainly belonged to the N. kingdom, though this does not preclude the view that it was in the territory of B. The case of Jerus. is somewhat similar. It stood near the border line that divided B. from Judah, and the Jews spoke of the temple itself as in B., while its courts were in Judah. TOl the time of David it was in the hands of the Jebusites. There are some indications that before the Exile Jerus. was reckoned to Judah. Thus (Jer 37") 'Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of B.' On the other hand, in the blessing of Moses, the temple is certainly regarded as in B. : ' Of B. he said, The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him ; he covereth him all the day long, and he dwelleth between his shoulders' (Dt 33"). Jer 6" Flee for safety, ye children of B., out of the midst of Jerus.,' has little bearing on the point.