LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF JACOB #88 : BENJAMIN #10
written by Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3589
LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF JACOB #88
JACOB'S PROPHECIES ABOUT THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL #23
BENJAMIN #10
THE MINISTERIAL PARTNERSHIP OF BENJAMIN AND JUDAH #2
Let us recap the history of Benjamin and Judah.
After the dissolution of the United Kingdom of Israel in circa 930 BCE, the Tribe of
Benjamin joined the Tribe of Judah as a junior partner in the Kingdom of Judah or Southern Kingdom.
The Davidic dynasty, which had roots in Judah, continued to reign in this Southern Kingdom of Judah.
Then the ten tribes of Northern Israel were conquered and scattered by the Assyrians. It signaled the end of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. And these 10 tribes became known as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
Later the Southern Kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Babylonians and the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah were taken as captives to Babylon for 70 years.
When they returned, where did they settle?
Historians differ on this point. But they generally agree that the Benjamites went north to Galilee while the middle part of Samaria was occupied by the Samaritans, a mixed breed of Israelites and other ethnic groups who stayed on in Israel under the Assyrians and later during the Babylonian rule.
Until the time of Jesus, there would be these three entities:
1. Benjamites in Galilee in the north.
2 Samaritans in Samaria.
3. The tribe of Judah in the south inclusive of the former Benjamite territory around Jerusalem.
What is our lesson today?
Benjamin, according to biblical tradition, was one of the 12 tribes that constituted the people of Israel, and one of the two tribes (along with Judah) that later became the Jewish people.
God's mandate that Benjamin remains a ministerial partner of Judah will be evident in biblical history even until the time of Jesus.
Thus the prophet Amos' tantalizing question
still reverberates throughout the ages:
Amos 3:3
(New Living Translation)
3 Can two people walk together
without agreeing on the direction?
