Introduction
Benjamin is a son of Jacob, one of the twelve sons who become the eponymous ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. He is the twelfth and youngest son of Jacob, born to Rachel in labour that caused her death, originally named Ben-oni by his dying mother before Jacob renamed him.
This article follows the biblical account in Genesis. Where later Jewish, Christian or Islamic tradition adds detail not found in the text itself, the article identifies it as such.
Family
- Father: Jacob
- Mother: Rachel
- Siblings: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Dinah
Birth and name
Genesis 35:16-18 records Benjamin's birth and the reasoning given, in the text's own etiological style, for his name.
Later significance
As one of Jacob's twelve sons, Benjamin becomes the ancestral eponym of one of the tribes of Israel in the later biblical narrative, a status the Genesis text itself anticipates but does not fully develop, since the tribal territories and identities are elaborated more fully in later books such as Numbers, Joshua and Judges.