Meaning of the Name Benjamin
From the Hebrew name Binyamin, usually explained as 'son of the right hand': ben means 'son' and yamin 'right hand'. The right hand is a sign of favor and strength; because 'right' can also mean 'south' in Hebrew, 'son of the south' has been proposed as well. The Turkish form Bünyamin came through Arabic, while Turkish Bible translations spell the name Benyamin.
Origin
The name Benjamin is of Hebrew origin.
Who is Benjamin in the Bible?
Benjamin is the second son of Jacob and Rachel and the youngest of Jacob's twelve sons. His mother dies giving birth to him; in the Joseph story he stands at the center of the family's reconciliation, and he becomes the ancestor of Israel's tribe of Benjamin. King Saul and the apostle Paul both came from this tribe.
The story of Benjamin in the Bible
In the Bible, Benjamin's story begins with a birth and a death. As Jacob's family travels south from Bethel, Rachel goes through a hard labor; as she is dying she names her son Ben-Oni, usually understood as son of my sorrow. Jacob instead calls him Benjamin, son of the right hand, choosing a name of hope rather than grief. Having lost Rachel, and believing Joseph dead, Jacob clings to his youngest son. During the famine, when the brothers who went to Egypt for grain learn that they must bring Benjamin on their next journey, their aged father is filled with dread. When Joseph sees his full brother, he cannot hold back his feelings and weeps in private; the test of the silver cup then reveals whether the brothers will abandon Benjamin. Judah's offer to become a slave in his place marks the turning point of the family's reconciliation. Benjamin's descendants become one of Israel's smaller yet influential tribes: Saul, Israel's first king, came from it, and centuries later the apostle Paul introduced himself as a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
Is Benjamin mentioned in the Quran?
The name Benjamin does not appear in the Quran, although Joseph's full brother is mentioned without a name in the story of Joseph, and Islamic tradition knows this brother as Binyamin. In the Bible, Benjamin is the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel and the ancestor of one of Israel's tribes.
Verses where Benjamin appears
- Genesis 35:18 —
As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.
- Genesis 43:29 —
He lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” He said, “God be gracious to you, my son.”
- Philippians 3:5 —
circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;