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  • From: jimstinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Names of Rachel's Second-Born Son
  • Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:29:42 -0400 (EDT)



Names of Rachel’s Second-Born Son

Each of Rachel and Jacob gives Rachel’s second-born son a name. [In English,
this son is called Benjamin.] Rachel dies in childbirth after giving this
child the name BN-)WNY. Genesis 35: 16-19

This post will focus primarily [but not exclusively] on Rachel’s name for her
second-born son: BN-)WNY. Scholars split as to the intended meaning of this
name. Robert Alter comments at p. 199 of “Genesis”: “Ben-oni. The name can
be construed to mean either ‘son of my vigor’ or, on somewhat more tenuous
philological grounds, ‘son of my sorrow’.”

I myself see Rachel’s name for her second-born son as meaning “Son of My
Strength”. In my view, )WNY at Genesis 35: 18 has the same meaning as )WNY
at Genesis 49: 3: “my vigor” or “my strength”. It’s the same word, with the
same spelling, and the same meaning. Rachel’s intended meaning, in giving
her second-born son the fine name BN-)WNY, “Son of My Strength”, is: even
though I’m dying in childbirth, nevertheless I have the “strength” to bear
the “son” who will inevitably become my husband’s favorite son, whom my
husband Jacob/“Israel” in due course surely will designate to rule over all
my husband’s other sons by his other wives, now that my firstborn son Joseph
[who had previously been my husband’s favorite, favored son] is gone.

It’s true that Rachel was sad that her firstborn son Joseph had disappeared
and was presumed dead [as reported later, as a flashback, in chapter 37 of
Genesis], and of course she was also sad to be dying in childbirth. But
rather than being a defeatist and calling her second son “Son of My Sorrow”
[as the case is often viewed to be], in my view Rachel by contrast is
triumphant in death. Rachel logically figures that her second-born son will
surely become Jacob’s favorite son now that Joseph is gone [which indeed does
happen], and as such Jacob could be expected to name Rachel’s son as the
leader of the next generation of Hebrews [which, however, manifestly does not
happen]. No, things did not end up turning out the way that Rachel had hoped
they would. But at the moment of this second son’s birth, that was a very
reasonable way for Rachel to adjudge the situation. In fact, Rachel’s
judgment seems to be initially confirmed by Jacob himself, when
Jacob/“Israel” as a great Patriarch immediately gives this son the grandest
of all possible grand names for a son of Jacob [as all sons are hoping that
Jacob will place his “right hand” on the head of such “son” as a sign of
leadership, as Jacob/“Israel” literally does for Joseph’s younger son Ephraim
at Genesis 48: 14, 17, 18]: “Son of my Right Hand” -- Ben-Jamin.

On the foregoing view, and o-n-l-y on the foregoing view, both names make
sense for Rachel’s second-born son: (i) Ben-Oni/“Son of My Strength”, and
(ii) Ben-Jamin/“Son of my Right Hand”. It’s not just the question of whether
Rachel is alive or dead [Genesis 37: 10 vs. Genesis 35: 19], or whether it’s
safe for Jacob to have Joseph walk up to Shechem alone [in view of the bloody
Shechem incident] [Genesis 37: 14 vs. Genesis 35: 5], or the fact that it can
be mathematically computed that Joseph is the equivalent of stated age 20 in
chapter 35 of Genesis, whereas Genesis 37: 2 shows that chapter 37 of Genesis
is a flashback by starting out by expressly saying that Joseph is stated age
17. No, beyond all that, the very names BN-)WNY and BN-YMYN, in and of
themselves, require us to view chapter 37 of Genesis as being told out of
normal chronological order, as a flashback to the time shortly before the
bloody Shechem incident occurred. Those two grand names could be given to
Rachel’s second-born son if and only if Joseph was already gone and presumed
dead.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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