Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Isaac Fried, Ishinan Ishibashi, David Kolinsky:

Ben-Jamin is not the name that the mother, Rachel, gives her second-born son. 
 No, that’s the name that Jacob/“Israel” bestows on such newborn son, 
out-doing even Rachel in giving this son the grandest of all possible grand 
names:  Ben-Jamin/BN-YMYN -- “Son of my Right Hand”.

We must recall in this connection that “Jacob’s right hand” has a very 
specific meaning in the Patriarchal narratives, to which this name must 
relate.  The second half of the Patriarchal narratives is largely concerned 
with the question of on which son’s head will Jacob, literally or 
figuratively, place his right hand, denoting that such son will have the 
coveted role of ruling over all his full- and half-brothers.  That sequence 
occurs literally at Genesis 48: 14,17, 18, where it is Jacob’s “right hand” 
that determines, very importantly, which one “son” of Joseph’s two sons will 
get the finer inheritance:  Ephraim will be grander than Manasseh.  Joseph 
for his part is initially horrified that Jacob places Jacob’s “right hand” on 
Ephraim, Joseph’s younger son, because Joseph thought that Joseph’s firstborn 
son Manasseh should get the finer inheritance [and so Joseph had placed 
Manasseh near Jacob’s right hand]:  “And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, 
my father: for this [is] the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.”  
Genesis 48: 18.  What counts in the second half of the Patriarchal narratives 
is on which one “son” Jacob will place his “right hand”, because that one son 
will be the leader. 

The very best name in the whole world that Jacob could give to a newborn son 
is Ben-Jamin, because such name means that Jacob is planning that in due 
course, Jacob will place his “right hand” on such “son”, making such son 
Ben-Jamin/“Son of my Right Hand”, pursuant to which such son would become the 
leader of the next generation of Hebrews.

Note that if Joseph has already disappeared [with chapter 37 of Genesis being 
a flashback to the time period shortly before the bloody Shechem incident], 
then it makes perfect sense for Jacob to call Rachel’s second-born son “Son 
of my Right Hand”/Ben-Jamin.  Benjamin for years plays the role formerly 
played by Joseph:  Jacob’s favorite son who is Jacob’s heir-apparent.  [We 
know that because Jacob will not allow his favorite son Benjamin to go on the 
fairly dangerous journey to Egypt with his older half-brothers to buy grain 
for the starving Hebrews in Canaan.]

If Joseph is already gone, and presumed dead, by the time Rachel’s second son 
is born, then it would make all the sense in the world for Jacob/“Israel” to 
call Rachel’s second-born son [as vanished Joseph’s successor, as it were] 
“Son of my Right Hand”/Ben-Jamin.  The analysis is very straightforward, if 
and only if chapter 37 of Genesis has been placed out of normal chronological 
order, as a flashback.  Surely you must have wondered how Rachel can be alive 
at Genesis 37: 10, but dead at Genesis 35: 19.  And surely you must have 
wondered how it was safe for Jacob to have Joseph walk up to Shechem alone at 
Genesis 37: 14, whereas chapter 34 of Genesis features the bloody Shechem 
incident, and Genesis 35: 5 tells us that Jacob’s family escapes from Shechem 
with their lives only thanks to timely divine intervention:  “And they 
journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that [were] round about 
them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.” 

The answer to all these questions is that Jacob calls Rachel’s second-born 
son “Son of my Right Hand” because, Joseph having recently disappeared with 
Jacob thinking that Joseph had died, Jacob’s plan at that point was that 
Rachel’s newborn younger son would now be Jacob’s favorite, favored son.  
Jacob’s plan at that point was that in due course, Jacob would put his “right 
hand” on Rachel’s second-born “son” and name him to be the leader of the next 
generation of the Hebrews.  [The two reasons why that does not end up 
happening are first that Joseph turned out not be dead, but secondly and more 
importantly, that Jacob belatedly realizes that he must follow the 
Patriarchal succession rules of his father and grandfather, which require the 
next leader of the Hebrews to be a younger son who is not his father’s 
favorite son but whose birth mother was his father’s original main wife #1.  
Rachel’s two sons fail that last requirement, as Rachel did not marry Jacob 
until 7 days after Leah had first married Jacob.]

If we look at the name Ben-Jamin/BN-YMYN/“Son of my Right Hand”, we see that 
it could only have been bestowed on Rachel’s second-born son by Jacob if 
Joseph had already disappeared.  All of the problems noted above disappear 
entirely once we realize that chapter 37 of Genesis is told out of normal 
chronological order as a flashback, going back to the time period shortly 
before the bloody Shechem incident.  Then, and only then, both of the names 
given to Rachel’s second son -- BN-)WNY and BN-YMYN -- make perfect sense. 

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois