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  • From: jimstinehart AT aol.com
  • To: George.Athas AT moore.edu.au, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Yamin -South (was: Names of Rachel's etc.)
  • Date: Sat, 1 Oct 2011 10:22:02 -0400 (EDT)


Prof. George Athas:

You wrote: “You're too rooted in modern cartography, Jim. Although
Mesopotamia is actually east of Israel-Palestine as we look at them on a map,
it was still considered in ancient times to be to the north because that is
the direction you headed in order to get there. To the east is the
Syrian-Arabian Desert, which is uncrossable. So, if the name Benjamin is
meant to be a reference to the birthplace of the youngest son in contrast to
the other sons, then 'Son of the South' is plausible. Whether this is
actually the case with Benjamin or not is another question. I'm merely trying
to show a false assumption in your previous post.”

What counts is how the concept of “east” is used in the Patriarchal
narratives. Your view of eastern Syria as being “north” of Canaan is logical
to modern Westerners, but that is not how the Hebrew author of the
Patriarchal narratives thought of geography.

The name BN-YMYN does not mean Jacob’s “Son of the South”. The two huge
problems with that analysis are that (i) Benjamin is not Jacob’s “son of the
south”, and (ii) the name “Ben-Jamin” does not mean or imply “son of the
south” [because YMYN/“right hand” does not mean “south” in the Patriarchal
narratives].

First and foremost, and of most direct relevance to your point, please note
that Jacob’s other 11 sons are born in the “east”. [“Then Jacob went on his
journey, and came into the land of the people of the east [QDM].” Genesis
29: 1] Jacob’s oldest 11 sons are born in Harran in Naharim/Mitanni, in
eastern Syria, a place that the Patriarchal narratives refer to as being the
“east”. [In an earlier generation, Abraham also referred to eastern Syria as
being “east”: “But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had,
Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet
lived, eastward [QDM-H], unto the east [QDM] country.” Genesis 25: 6] Thus
if Jacob were thinking geographically in naming his 12th son (which he
isn’t), Benjamin’s birth in Canaan would make him a “son of the west”, not a
“son of the south”.

Secondly, in the two places in the Patriarchal narratives where the idiom of
“right hand” and “left hand” is used with a geographical meaning, the meaning
is “whatever direction”, not “south” and “north”. Thus at Genesis 13: 9
Abram uses that expression to tell Lot to go “whatever direction” Lot chooses
to go from Bethel, and then Abram will go the opposite direction in leaving
Bethel. At Genesis 13: 11 Lot then leaves Bethel going “east”/M-QDM.
Genesis 24: 49 has the same idiom, where a reference to “turn to the right
hand, or to the left” is a generic reference to Abraham’s servant
rhetorically wondering “whatever direction” he should go to find a bride for
Isaac, if perchance Rebekah alas may not agree to leave Harran and travel to
Canaan to marry Isaac. Neither at Genesis 24: 49 nor at Genesis 13: 9 does
this idiom, which involves going “to the right hand or to the left”, mean
literally going north or south; rather, in both cases it simply refers to
going “whatever direction”: any direction or the opposite thereof.

Accordingly, it does not make sense to think of the name “Ben-Jamin” at
Genesis 35: 18 as having a geographical meaning. “Jamin”/YMYN /“right hand”
does not mean “south” in the Patriarchal narratives, nor is Benjamin born in
the “south”. Compared to his half-brothers and full-brother, who were born
in the “east”, Rachel’s second-born son was born in the west. Rather,
BN-YMYN means “Son who is my Heir Apparent”, that is, the “son”/BN who, at
his birth and for 15 years thereafter, Jacob was planning to place his “right
hand”/YMYN upon [as Jacob explicitly does regarding Ephraim at Genesis 48:
14, 17, 18], to confer upon such son leadership of the next generation of the
Hebrews. Jacob wisely changed his mind about that later on, but at the time
of Benjamin’s birth, with the recent losses of both Joseph and Rachel being
fresh in his mind, Jacob was planning on favoring his only remaining link to
his favorite wife Rachel: her second-born son BN-YMYN. Benjamin’s two names
make perfect sense once we realize that chapter 37 of Genesis is told out of
normal chronological order as a flashback, so that Benjamin got those two
names shortly after formerly favorite son Joseph had disappeared.

The early Hebrew author did not think of Rachel’s second-born son as being
born in the “south”, but rather was conveying to us the information that for
the first 15 years of Benjamin’s life, Jacob unfortunately was planning on
naming Rachel’s second-born son as the leader of the next generation of
Hebrews, Jacob’s BN-YMYN/ “Son of my Right Hand”, out of Jacob’s love and
respect for Rachel and Joseph, who both had disappeared just before
Benjamin’s birth.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois







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