the Benjatnites resisted the sti gesl appeal of Saul
to betray the movements of David; and after those
1 tmenta bad I „ revealed by Doeg the Edomite
(worthy member ag |,.. „,,,., ha'v„ Beeme<] tl, them—
of an act uraed race!) they still firmly refused to lift a band against those who bad assisted him (sec Niemey- cr, Charaktt rift, iii, 565 sq, .
Several circumsl tnces may have conduced to the relative importance of this small tribe (see Plesken, jamin parvo, Wittenb. 1720). The Taberna- cle was at Shiloh, In Ephraim, during the time of the last judge, but tlio urk was near Benjamin, at Kir-
ibe of Benjamin.
jath-jearim. Ramah, the official residence of Samuel, and containing a sanctuary greatly frequented (1 Sam. ix, 12, etc.), Mizpeh, where the great assemblies of " all Israel" took place (1 Sam. vii, 5), Bethel, per- haps the most ancient of all the sanctuaries of Pales- tine, and Gibeon, specially noted as "the great high place" (2 Chron. i, 3), were all in the land of Benja- min. These must gradually have accustomed the people who resorted to these various places to as- sociate the tribe with power and sanctity, and they tend to elucidate the anomaly which struck Saul so forcibly, "that all the desire of Israel" should have been fixed on the house of the smallest of its tribes (1 Sam. ix, 21).
The struggles and contests that followed the death of Saul arose from the natural unwillingness of the tribe to relinquish its position at the head of the na- tion, especially in favor of Judah. Had it been Ephra- im, the case might have been different; but Judah had as yet no connection with the house of Joseph, and was, besides, the tribe of David, whom Saul had pur- sued with such unrelenting enmity. The tact and sound sense of Abner, however, succeeded in overcom- ing these difficulties, though he himself fell a victim in the very act of accomplishing his purpose; and the proposal that David should be "king over Israel" was one which "seemed good to the whole house of Benja- min," and of which the tribe testified its approval and evinced its good faith by sending to the distant capi- tal of Hebron a detachment of 3000 men of the "breth- ren of Saul" (1 Chron. xii, 29). Still, the insults of Sliimei and the insurrection of Sheba are indications that the soreness still existed, and we do not hear of any cordial co-operation or firm union between the two tribes until a cause of common quarrel arose at the disruption, when Rehoboam .assembled "all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, to light against the bouse of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to the son of Solomon" (1 Kings xii, 21 ; 2 Chr. xi, 1). Pos- sibly the seal may have been set to this bj' the fact of Jeroboam having just taken possession of Bethel, a city of Benjamin, for the calf-worship of the northern kingdom (1 Kings xii, 29). Bethel, however, was on the very boundary-line, and centuries before this date was inhabited by both Ephraimites and Benjatnites
BENJAMITE
755
BENOIT
(Judg. xix, 16). On the other hand, Rehoboam forti- fied and garrisoned several cities of Benjamin, and wisely dispersed the members of his own family through them (2 Chron. xi, 10-12). The alliance was farther strengthened by a covenant solemnly undertaken (2 Chron. xv, 9), and by the employment of Benjamites in high positions in the army of Judah (2 Chron. xvi, 17). But what, above all, must have contributed to strengthen the alliance, was the fact that the Temple was the common property of both tribes. True, it was founded, erected, and endowed by princes of " the bouse of Judah," but the city of "the Jebusite" (Josh, xviii, 28), and the whole of the ground north of the Valley of Hinnom, was in the lot of Benjamin. In this latter fact is literally fulfilled the prophecy of Moses (Deut. xxxiii, 12): Benjamin "dwelt between" the "shoul- ders" of the ravines which encompass the Holy City on the west, south, and east (see a good treatment of this point in Blunt's Uncles. Coincidences, pt. ii, § xvii).
Although thereafter the history of Benjamin becomes merged in that of the southern kingdom, yet that the tribe still retained its individuality is plain from the constant mention of it in the various censuses taken of the two tribes, and on other occasions, and also from the lists of the men of Benjamin who returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii ; Xeh. vii), and took possession of their old towns (Xeh. xi, 31-35). At Jerusalem the name must have been always kept alive, if by nothing else, by the name of " the high gate of Benja- min" (Jer. xx, 2). (See below.) That the ancient memories of their house were not allowed to fade from the recollections of the Benjamites, is clear also from several subsequent notices. The genealogy of Saul, to a late date, is carefully preserved in the lists of 1 Chr. (viii, 33-40 ; ix, 39-44) ; the name of Kish recurs as the father of Mordecai (Esth. ii, 5), the honored de- liverer of the nation from miseries worse than those threatened by Nabash the Ammonite. The royal name once more appears, and "Saul, who also is call- ed Paul," has left on record under his own hand that he was " of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benja- min." It is perhaps more than a mere fancy to note how remarkably the chief characteristics of the tribe are gathered up in his one person. There was the fierceness in his persecution of the Christians, and there were the obstinacy and persistence which made him proof against the tears and prayefs of his converts, and "ready not to be bound only, but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts xxi, 12, 13). There were the force and vigor to which natural difficulties and confined circumstances formed no impediment; and, lastly, thsre was the keen sense of the greatness of his house in his proud reference to his forefather "Saul, the son of Cis, of the tribe of Benjamin." — Smith.