Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dave Washburn <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

?? I thought the "on" in this verse meant "sorrow," as in "son of my 
sorrow/distress," and Jacob chose to give him a less depressing name.

On Friday 02 July 2004 09:10, Yigal Levin wrote:
> At the risk of repeating some of the things already said in the thread on
> "Judah", certainly both meanings are used in different contexts. On one
> hand, Ben-Yamin was the most "southern-born" of all of Jacob's sons, since
> all the others were born in Haran. Assuming this story to be somewhat
> aetiological, the Benei Yamin were the southernmost of all the tribes of
> the origial "Israel" (that is, excluding Judah), sitting at the southern
> edge of Mount Ephraim (18th century Mari, by the way, supplies us with
> another tribe called "Benei Yamin", who lived south of the city). The
> "pre-monarchal" stories emphasize Benjamin's status as "Joseph's younger
> brother". And, as I said, at least some of the references to the
> Benjaminites' "left handedness" seem to me to be puns.
>
> On the other hand, the etymolgy given in Gen. 35:18 is quite clear: his
> mother called him Ben-oni and his father called him Ben-yamin. "On" means
> "strength", usually sexual: look at Jacob's blessing for Reuben: "you are
> my firstborn, my might (KoXiY) and the begining of my strength (ONi)".
>
> Yigal
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Stoney Breyer" <stoneyb AT touchwood.net>
> To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Friday, July 02, 2004 3:39 PM
> Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune --
> 1Chron
>
> > GFS:It does, however, refer to the south.
> >
> > SB: Does it? In light of their consistent characterization mightn't the
> > b'nei Yamin be banditti calling themselves something like 'Sons of the
> > Strongarm' - and denoting their elite as something like the Masonic
> > 'handfast'?
>
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-- 
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
Learning about Christianity from a non-Christian
is like getting a kiss over the telephone.