BENJAMIN
752
BENJxVMIN
and Hapham [Huppim], enumerated as the sons of the latter, although they do not appear in the list of Be- cher's sons, must be Buch under other names, but — like Bela's in the same list — undistinguishable, as Jediael had but one son. and the restare otherwise identified), and finally Kapha (who vnn then be no other than Bosh). See all the names in their alphabetical place.
Tribe of Benjamin. — The history of Benjamin to the time of the entrance into the Promised Land is as meagre as it is afterward full and interesting. We hnow indeed that shortly after the departure from Egypt it was the smallest tribe but one (Num. i, 36; comp. verse 1) ; that during the march its position was on the west of the tabernacle, with its brother tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (Num. ii, 18-24). In the desert it counted 35,400 warriors, all above twenty years of age (Num. i, 36; ii, 22), and, at the entrance of Israel into Canaan, even as many as 45,600. We have the names of the "captain" of the tribe when it set forth <m its long march (Num. ii, 22); of the "ruler" who went up with his fellows to spy out the land (xiii, 9); of the families of which the tribe consisted when it was marshalled at the great halt in the plains of Moab by Jordan-Jericho (Num. xxvi, 38-41, 63), and of the " prince" who was chosen to assist in the dividing of the land (xxxiv, 21). But there is nothing to indicate what were the characteristics and behavior of the tribe which sprang from the orphan darling of his father and brothers. No touches of personal biography like those with which we are favored concerning Ephraim (1 Chr. vii, 20-23); no record of zeal for Jehovah like Levi (Exod. xxxii, 26) ; no evidence of special bent as in the case of Reuben and Gad (Num. xxxii). The only fore- shadowing of the tendencies of the tribe which was to produce Ehud, Saul, and the perpetrators of the deed of Gibeah, is to be found in the prophetic gleam which lighted up the dying Jacob, " Benjamin shall raven as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil" (Gen. xlix, 27). From this passage some have inferred that the figure of a wolf was the emblem on the tribal standard.
1. Geography. — The proximity of Benjamin to Ephra- im during the march to the Promised Land was main- tained in the territories allotted to each. Benjamin lay immediately to the south of Ephraim, and between him and Judah. The situation of this territory was highly favorable. It formed almost a parallelogram, of about 26 miles in length by 12 in breadth. Its eastern hound ary was the Jordan, and from thence it mainly ex tended to the wooded district of Kirjath-jearim, about six miles west of Jerusalem, while in the other direc- tion it stretched from the valley of Hinnom, under the " Shoulder of the Jebusite" on the south, to Bethel on the north. Thus Dan intervened between this tribe and the Philistines, while the communications with the valley of the Jordan were in its own power. On the south the territory ended abruptly with the steep slopes of the hill of Jerusalem; on the north it almost melted into the possessions of the friendly Ephraim. See Tribe. In Josh, xviii, from verse 12 to 14, is Bketched the northern boundary-line (mostlv repeated in chap. xvi. 1-5), and from 15 to 20 the southern (re- peat.-d in chap, xv, i; 9, in a reverse direction). With- in llio boundaries described in these few verses lava district rather small, but highly cultivated and natu- rally fertile (Josephus, Am. v, 1, 22; Reland, p. 637), containing twenty-six chief towns (with their villages,
in tWO main Bections), which are named in Josh, xviii,
-1 28; and the principal of which were Jericho, Beth- hogla, Bethel, Gibeon, Ramab, and Jebus or Jerusalem. This latter place subsequently became the capital of the whole Jewish empire, but was, after die division
Of the land, still in possession of the Jebusites. The Benjamitea had indeed beencharged to dispossess them, and occupy that important town ; but(Judg. i, 21) the Benjamitea are reproached with having neglected to
drive them from thence, that is, from the vpper, well-
fortified part of the place Zion, since the loicer and less fortified part had already been taken by Judah (Judg. i, 8), who in this matter had almost a common inter- est with Benjamin. The Jebusite citadel was finally taken by David (2 Sam. v, 6 sq.). A trace of the pas- ture-lands may be found in the mention of the " herd" (1 Sam. xi, 5) ; and possibly others in the names of some of the towns of Benjamin, as hap-Parah, "the cow;" Zela-ha-eleph, "the ox-rib'' (Josh, xviii, 23, 28). In the degenerate state of modern Palestine few evidences of the fertility of this tract survive. But other and more enduring natural peculiarities re- main, and claim our recognition, rendering this posses- sion one of the most remarkable among those of the tribes.
(1.) The general level of this part of Palestine is very high, not less than 2000 feet above the maritime plain of the Mediterranean on the one side, or than 3000 feet above the deep valley of the Jordan on the other, besides which this general level or plateau is surmounted, in the district now under consideration, by a large number of eminerices — defined, rounded hills — almost every one of which has borne some part in the history of the tribe. Many of these hills carry the fact of their existence in their names. Gibeon, Gibeah, Geba or Gaba, all mean "hill;" Eamah and Ramathaim, "eminence;" Mizpeh, "Watch-tower;" while the "ascentof Beth-horon," the " cliff Rimmon," the "pass of Michmash" with its two "teeth of rock," all testify to a country eminently broken and hilly. The special associations which belong to each of these eminences, whether as sanctuary or fortress, many of them arising from the most stirring incidents in the history of the nation, will be best examined under the various separate heads.