Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

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