JOSEPH #67 | JOSEPH IN EGYPT #49 | LAST WORDS OF JACOB #38
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3663
JOSEPH #67
JOSEPH IN EGYPT #49
LAST WORDS OF JACOB #38
12. BENJAMIN#1
Benjamin, according to biblical tradition, is 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.
The tribe was named after the younger of two children born to Jacob (also called Israel) and his second wife, Rachel.
Benjamin, as the youngest of Jacob's 12 sons, receives his father’s blessing last: “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil” (Genesis 49:27). The warlike nature of the small tribe of Benjamin became well known, as exhibited in their swordsmen (Judges 20:15–16; 1 Chronicles 8:40, 12:2; 2 Chronicles 14:8, 17:17) and in the ungodly defense of their extreme wickedness in Gibeah (Judges 19—20).
Benjamin’s blessing has two parts with an Endtime reference in the Book of Revelation.
1. Compared to a wolf, his blessing has two-time frames, morning and evening; it has two actions, devouring and dividing; and two outcomes, prey and spoil. This sets up a type of “before and after” experience for Benjamin and his offspring.
Scripture shows that at least four great people came from Benjamin’s tribe, even though it was the smallest of the twelve tribes (1 Samuel 9:21). First, Ehud, a great warrior who delivered Israel from Moab (Judges 3:12–30). Next, Saul becomes the first king of Israel (1 Samuel 9:15–27). In later Jewish history, many Jews lived in Persia, God used Mordecai and Esther, from the tribe of Benjamin, to deliver the Jews from death (Esther 2:5–7).
Finally, in the New Testament, the apostle Paul affirms he, too, came from Benjamin. “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin” (Romans 11:1). Paul repeats this affirmation in Philippians 3:4–5.
2. But Benjamin’s “dividing of the spoil” has another fulfillment yet future. In Revelation 7:8, during the tribulation period, 12,000 men from Benjamin, along with 12,000 from each of the other tribes of Israel, will reach the world’s population with the gospel. The result will be a multitude of the saved “that no man could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands” (Revelation 7:9).
The second dividing of the spoil for Benjamin comes in the Millennial kingdom when they will have a place in the land of Israel, along with a gate that has their name on it in the city of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 48:32). They, along with the other tribes of Israel, will find the ultimate dividing of the spoils in the New Jerusalem as each gate has the name of one of the tribes, Benjamin included (Revelation 21:12–13).
What a glorious finish! What grace is this!
N.B. Tomorrow we shall discuss two outstanding characteristics of this tribe of Benjamin.
