do.
Beth-car.
Hill.
Beth-eL
Town.
Beth-hoglah.
do.
Bozez.
Cliff.
Chephar-haammonai.
Town.
Cliephirah.
do.
Cherith.
Brook.
Cliidon.
Threshh
Ebenezer.
Stone.
El-Bethel.
Town.
Eleph.
do.
Emmaus.
do.
En-shemesh.
Spring.
Ephraim, or Ephron.
Town.
Gaba.
do.
Gallim.
do.
Geba.
do.
Gebim.
do.
Geliloth.
do.
Giah.
Village.
Gjbeah.
Town.
Gibeon.
do.
Gidom.
Plain.
Gilgal.
Town.
Hai.
do.
Bb b
Ilnzor.
Town.
TellAzur?
Helkath-hazzurim.
Plain.
E. of El-Jib?
Irpeel.
Town.
IKustulJ ?
(Town.
W. of er-lUha.
Jericho.
■{ Waters.
Ain es- Sultan.
(Plain.
lEl-Wadiyeh]
Jerusalem.
City.
El-Khuds.
Keziz.
Valley.
Wady el-Kaziz.
Menukah.
Town.
[Hill K. ot'Gibeah]?
Michmash.
do.
Mukmax.
Migron.
do.
[Ruin* S. of Deir D\- wan] ?
Mizpeh.
do.
X<''"l S'iniiril f
Moza.
do.
Kulcnieh?
Naarath, or Naaran.
do.
lEl-NejanehJi
Xaiufli.
do.
See Ramaii.
Nob.
do.
[Kurazeh]?
Ophni.
do.
Jifna.
Ophrah.
do.
Tayibeh t
Parah.
do.
Farah.
Ramah.
do.
Er-Iiam.
Rekeni.
do.
\Deir Yesiri] ?
Rephaim.
Valley.
Plain S.W. of Jertraw
Eimmon.
Rock.
Rummon.
Sechu.
Well.
See Ramaii.
Sench.
Cliff.
In Wady Suweinit?
Shalim.
Region.
Pee Shual.
Shen.
Rock.
[Btit Enaiql
Shual.
Region.
[El-Aliiay;
Taralah. .
Town.
[licit Krs«]?
Zelah or Zelzah.
do.
Beit Jala.
Zsmaraim.
City and Hill.
Es-Sumrah ?
2. History. — In the time of the Judges the tribe of Benjamin became involved in a civil war with the other eleven tribes for having refused to give up to justice the miscreants of Gibeon that had publicly vio- lated and caused the death of a concubine of a man of Ephraim, who had passed with her through Gibeon. This war terminated in the almost utter extinction of the tribe, leaving no hope for its regeneration from the circumstance that not only had nearly all the women of that tribe been previously slain by their foes, but the eleven other tribes had engaged them- selves by a solemn oath not to marry their daughters to any man belonging to Benjamin. When the thirst of revenge, however, had abated, they found means to cvads the letter of the oath, and to revive the tribe again by an alliance with them (Judg. xix, 20, 21). That frightful transaction was indeed a crisis in the history of the tribe; the narrative undoubtedly is in- tended to convey that the six hundred who took refuge in the cliff Eimmon, and who were afterward provided with wives partly from Jabesh-gilead (Judg. xxi, 10), partly from Shiloh (xxi, 21), were the only survivors. The revival of the tribe, however, was so rapid that, in the time of David, it already numbered 59,434 able warriors (1 Chron. vii, G-12) ; in that of Asa, 280,000 (2 Chron. xiv, 8) ; and in that of Jehoshaphat, 200,000 (2 Chron. xvii, 17). See under < 'iii.naaxaii.
This tribe had also the honor of giving the first king to the Jews, Saul being a Benjamite (1 Sam. ix, 1, 2). After the death of Saul, the Benjamites, as might have been expected, declared themselves for his son Ish- bosheth (2 Sam. ii, 8 sq.), until, after the assassination of that prince, David became king of all Israel. David having at last expelled the Jebusites from Zion, and made it his own residence, the close alliance that seems previously to have existed between the tribes of Ben- jamin and Judah (Judg. i, 8) was cemented by the circumstance that, while Jerusalem actually belonged to the district of Benjamin, that of Judah was imme- diately contiguous to it. Thus it happened that, at the division of the kingdom after the deatli of Solomon, Benjamin espoused the cause of Judah, and formed, to- gether with it. a kingdom by themselves. Indeed, the two tribes stood always in such a close connection as often to be included under the single term Judah (1 Kings xi, 13; xii, 20). After the exile, also, these two tribes constituted the flower of the new Jewish colony in Palestine (comp. Ezra xi, 1 ; x, 9).— Kitto.
3. Characteristics. — The contrast between the war- like character of the tribe and the peaceful image of its progenitor has been already noticed. That lierce-
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ness and power are not less out of proportion to the smallness of its numbers and of its territory. This comes out in many scattered notices, (rt) Benjamin wis the only tribe that seems to have pursued arch- cry to any purpose, and their skill in the how (1 Sam. xx, 20, 36; 2 Sam. i, 22; 1 Chron. viii, 40; xii, 2; 2 Chron. xvii, 17) and the sling (Judg. xx, 16) are cele- brated. (6) When, after the first conquest of the country, the nation began to groan under the miseries of a foreign yoke, it is to a man of Benjamin, Ehud, the son of Gera, that they turn for deliverance. The Btory seems to imply that he accomplished his purpose on Eglon with less risk, owing to his proficiency in the peculiar practice of using his left hand — a practice apparently confined to Benjatnites, and by them great- ly employed (Judg. iii, 15, and see xx, 10; 1 Chron. xii, •_•). (r) Baa in h and Rechab, ''the sons of Rim- mon th • Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin," are the only Israelites west of the Jordan named in the whole history as captains of marauding predatory "bands" (Q'HVia) ; and the act of which they were gnilty — the murder of the head of their house — hardly need sd the summary vengeance inflicted on them by David to testify the abhorrence in which it must have been held by all Orientals, however warlike, (d) The dreadful deed recorded in Judg. xix, though repelled by the whole country, was unhesitatingly adopted and defended by Benjamin with an obstinacy and spirit truly extraordinary, ( >l' their obstinacy there is a re- markable trail in 1 Sam. xxii, 7 18. ' Though Saul was not only the king of the nation, but the head of the tribe, and David a member of a family which had M vet no claims on the friendship of Benjamin, yet