Read Genesis 49:27-50:26 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph division
Gen 49:27-50:26 {p} Benjamin’s blessing + death, burial of Jacob + death of Joseph
Benjamin’s blessing
Benjamin is ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, and at even he divides the spoil. Gen 49:27
Back in February we were in this exact passage for the Sabbath triennial Torah portion. (You can see the complete chiastic structure there.) Then I wrote:
The first puzzle with Benjamin’s blessing, is that it is separated from the blessings of the other 11 sons by a Hebrew paragraph division, and put with the final paragraph of Genesis. This defies human logic, and is one of the reasons, I believe, the English translators of the Scriptures discarded the Hebrew paragraph divisions in the first place. So this puzzle shines the first spotlight on Benjamin.
The second puzzle with Benjamin’s blessing, is that in the blessing of all 11 other sons, Jacob repeats the meaning of the name within the blessing: Judah [praise] shall be praised by his bothers; Dan [judge] shall judge in Israel, and so on, as we saw last week. But Benjamin means, son of my right hand, which is not the meaning of wolf, devouring, prey, dividing, spoil, or any of the other words in Benjamin’s blessing.
I did find a curious translation puzzle with “wolf:” in Gen 30:20, the same Hebrew word is translated, “to bestow a gift.” My sense is that there is a double entendre in the Hebrew of this verse, which Hebrew is so famous for, and more investigation into the original Hebrew here will reveal it.
Here we go! Original Hebrew:
Benjamin is Strong’s H1121, ben + Strong’s H3225, yamiyn:
Ben is a concrete noun meaning “son,” from Strong’s H1129 בנה, banah, a primitive root meaning “to build.” The ancient pictographs are: bet + nun + hey:
bet ב = the house, thus house, household, family, in, within
nun נ = the seed, thus continue, heir, son
hey ה = the man with upraised arms, thus look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath
During the era of the patriarchs, the women of the family made a new tent panel every year, that would be attached to the existing structure, replacing an older, worn tent panel. Thus over the course of several years the entire tent was renewed. This action of building the tent is depicted as the house (bet) continues (nun) to breathe (to live, hey). In the same way that the physical structure of the house continues by the addition of new tent panels, the biological household or family is renewed by the addition of sons.
Yamiyn is a concrete noun meaning “the right hand, right side;” from Strong’s H3231 ימן, yaman, a primitive root meaning “to choose right.” The ancient pictographs are yud + mem + nun:
yud י = the closed hand, thus work, throw, worship
mem מ = the water, thus chaos, mighty, blood
nun ן = the seed, thus continue, heir, son
The story the pictographs are telling is of blood (mem) which passes the strength of one generation to the next in procreation (nun); thus the right hand (yud) is that which is firm, strong, and stable (mem + nun).
Ravenous is Strong’s H2963 טרף, taraph, a primitive root meaning “to tear or rend.” The ancient pictographs are tet + resh + pey. The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon indicates the tet was transposed from an original tsadey:
tsadey צ = the trail, thus a man concealed, journey, chase, hunt
resh ר = the head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man
pey ף = the mouth, thus open, blow, scatter, edge
The story the pictographs are telling is of a hunter (tsadey) who catches or entraps a man (resh) to devour (pey) him. The daughter words from this root help us see the meaning more clearly: enemy, trouble, dire straights, oppression, even belt and waistband, as that which tightly entraps the waist. I wondered, if the meaning was meant to be tear or rend, why the shin, the two front teeth, was not used. But the pey as the open mouth is a better picture of ravenous consumption.
Wolf is Strong’s H2061 זאב, ze’ev, a concrete noun, from an unnamed unused root meaning, “to be yellow.” Strong’s says the yellow meaning comes because of the wolf’s tawny coat. Gesenius says it comes because the wolf frightens the flock. (So this is where the slang “to be yellow,” meaning “to be a coward,” comes from!) The ancient pictographs are zayin + aleph + bet:
zayin ז = the mattock, thus tool, food, cut, nourish
aleph א = the ox head, thus strength, power, leader
bet ב = the house, thus house, household, family, in, within
The mattock (i.e., an agricultural tool, zayin) combined with the strength of the ox (aleph) provides the food for the house (bet). In the ancient Near East, the main food staple was a yellow grain. The many daughter words from this root have a yellow component; such as, the color yellow, hyssop, wolf (apparently an animal with tawny fur), gold, even pus as an infected discharge. (Ewww!)
However, in Gen 30:20 the exact same word is rendered, “to bestow a gift.”
Devour is Strong’s H398 אכל, akal, a primitive root meaning, “to eat, to devour.” The ancient pictographs are aleph + kaph + lamed:
aleph א = the ox head, thus strength, power, leader
kaph כ = the open palm, thus bend, open, allow, tame
lamed ל = the shepherd’s staff, thus teach, yoke, to, bind
The story the pictographs are telling is the ox (aleph) tamed (kaph) to the yoke (lamed) as the agency which provides man his food.
Prey is Strong’s H5706, ad, a concrete noun, from Strong’s H5710 עדה, adah, a primitive root meaning “to continue on, to pass on, to put on (to adorn), to advance on, to remove.” The ancient pictographs are ayin + dalet + hey:
ayin ע = the eye, thus watch, know, shade
dalet ד = the door, thus enter, move, hang
hey ה = the man with upraised arms, thus look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath
The story the pictographs are telling is of watching (ayin) at the door (dalet) of worship (hey), in the sense of coming to a place, time, or event that is repeated again and again, such as the feast cycle, the tabernacle of meeting, or memorial days or landmarks. Thus daughter words have the sense of continuing on, passing on, putting on, or advancing on, as in prey, which is advanced on by the hunter.
Divides is Strong’s H2505 חלק, chalaq, a primitive root meaning “to be smooth,” i.e. to divide by lot (for the smooth stones used to cast lots). The ancient pictographs are chet + lamed + quph:
chet ח = the wall, thus outside, divide, half
lamed ל = the shepherd’s staff, thus teach, yoke, to, bind
quph ק = the sun on the horizon, thus condense, circle, time
The story the pictographs are telling is of the shepherd (lamed) gathering the flock together at day’s end (quph); the sons use smooth stones to cast lots dividing (chet) what has been gathered up (lamed + quph) by the father for their inheritance.
That is where my study ended, and I am no further along to solving the puzzle of Benjamin’s blessing than when I started! But all of this is in my notes for the next time I am in Genesis. We will see then … ♥
Wow. I am living this . Four years ago the Lord told me I was under the Benjamin blessing. Would love to meet with you
One thing that I thought interesting about your comment Theresa: Judah made himself surety for Benjamin to his father. And Benjamin and Judah stayed together all through the history of Judea. Even today, in Israel, the Jews are primarily descendants of the tribes of Judah, and Benjamin (and Levites, and immigrants from the Northern Kingdom before their captivity).