Friday, May 11, 2018

The House of Israel

59- “The House of Israel”

In proclaiming the truths of the everlasting gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, God’s church on earth today is fulfilling the ancient prophecy, “Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.” Isaiah 27:6. The followers of Jesus, in co-operation with heavenly intelligences, are rapidly occupying the waste places of the earth; and, as the result of their labors, an abundant fruitage of precious souls is developing. Today, as never before, the dissemination of Bible truth by means of a consecrated church is bringing to the sons of men the benefits foreshadowed centuries ago in the promise to Abraham and to all Israel,—to God’s church on earth in every age,—“I will bless thee, ... and thou shalt be a blessing.” Genesis 12:2.

This promise of blessing should have met fulfillment in large measure during the centuries following the return of the Israelites from the lands of their captivity. It was God’s design that the whole earth be prepared for the first advent of Christ, even as today the way is preparing for His second coming. At the end of the years of humiliating exile, God graciously gave to His people Israel, through Zechariah, the assurance: “I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain.” And of His people He said, “Behold, ... I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.” Zechariah 8:3, 7, 8.

These promises were conditional on obedience. The sins that had characterized the Israelites prior to the captivity, were not to be repeated. “Execute true judgment,” the Lord exhorted those who were engaged in rebuilding; “and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother: and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother.” “Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates.” Zechariah 7:9, 10; 8:16.

Rich were the rewards, both temporal and spiritual, promised those who should put into practice these principles of righteousness. “The seed shall be prosperous,” the Lord declared; “the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so I will save you, and ye shall be a blessing.” Zechariah 8:12, 13.

By the Babylonish captivity the Israelites were effectually cured of the worship of graven images. After their return, they gave much attention to religious instruction and to the study of that which had been written in the book of the law and in the prophets concerning the worship of the true God. The restoration of the temple enabled them to carry out fully the ritual services of the sanctuary. Under the leadership of Zerubbabel, of Ezra, and of Nehemiah they repeatedly covenanted to keep all the commandments and ordinances of Jehovah. The seasons of prosperity that followed gave ample evidence of God’s willingness to accept and forgive, and yet with fatal shortsightedness they turned again and again from their glorious destiny and selfishly appropriated to themselves that which would have brought healing and spiritual life to countless multitudes.

This failure to fulfill the divine purpose was very apparent in Malachi’s day. Sternly the Lord’s messenger dealt with the evils that were robbing Israel of temporal prosperity and spiritual power. In his rebuke against transgressors the prophet spared neither priests nor people. “The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel” through Malachi was that the lessons of the past be not forgotten and that the covenant made by Jehovah with the house of Israel be kept with fidelity. Only by heartfelt repentance could the blessing of God be realized. “I pray you,” the prophet pleaded, “beseech God that He will be gracious unto us.” Malachi 1:1, 9.

Not by any temporary failure of Israel, however, was the plan of the ages for the redemption of mankind to be frustrated. Those to whom the prophet was speaking might not heed the message given, but the purposes of Jehovah were nevertheless to move steadily forward to their complete fulfillment. “From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same,” the Lord declared through His messenger, “My name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering: for My name shall be great among the heathen.” Malachi 1:11.

The covenant of “life and peace” God had made with the sons of Levi—the covenant which, if kept, would have brought untold blessing—the Lord now offered to renew with those who once had been spiritual leaders, but who through transgression had become “contemptible and base before all the people.” Malachi 2:5, 9.

Solemnly evildoers were warned of the day of judgment to come and of Jehovah’s purpose to visit with swift destruction every transgressor. Yet none were left without hope; Malachi’s prophecies of judgment were accompanied by invitations to the impenitent to make their peace with God. “Return unto Me,” the Lord urged; “and I will return unto you.” Malachi 3:7.

It seems as if every heart must respond to such an invitation. The God of heaven is pleading with His erring children to return to Him, that they may again co-operate with Him in carrying forward His work in the earth. The Lord holds out His hand to take the hand of Israel and to help them to the narrow path of self-denial and self-sacrifice, to share with Him the heirship as sons of God. Will they be entreated? Will they discern their only hope?

How sad the record, that in Malachi’s day the Israelites hesitated to yield their proud hearts in prompt and loving obedience and hearty co-operation! Self-vindication is apparent in their response, “Wherein shall we return?”

The Lord reveals to His people one of their special sins. “Will a man rob God?” He asks. “Yet ye have robbed Me.” Still unconvicted of sin, the disobedient inquire, “Wherein have we robbed Thee?”

Definite indeed is the Lord’s answer: “In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” Verses 7-12.

God blesses the work of men’s hands, that they may return to Him His portion. He gives them the sunshine and the rain; He causes vegetation to flourish; He gives health and ability to acquire means. Every blessing comes from His bountiful hand, and He desires men and women to show their gratitude by returning Him a portion in tithes and offerings—in thank offerings, in freewill offerings, in trespass offerings. They are to devote their means to His service, that His vineyard may not remain a barren waste. They are to study what the Lord would do were He in their place. They are to take all difficult matters to Him in prayer. They are to reveal an unselfish interest in the building up of His work in all parts of the world.

Through messages such as those borne by Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets, as well as through oppression from heathen foes, the Israelites finally learned the lesson that true prosperity depends upon obedience to the law of God. But with many of the people, obedience was not the outflow of faith and love. Their motives were selfish. Outward service was rendered as a means of attaining to national greatness. The chosen people did not become the light of the world, but shut themselves away from the world as a safeguard against being seduced into idolatry. The restrictions which God had given, forbidding intermarriage between His people and the heathen, and prohibiting Israel from joining in the idolatrous practices of surrounding nations, were so perverted as to build up a wall of partition between the Israelites and all other peoples, thus shutting from others the very blessings which God had commissioned Israel to give to the world.

At the same time the Jews were, by their sins, separating themselves from God. They were unable to discern the deep spiritual significance of their symbolic service. In their self-righteousness they trusted to their own works, to the sacrifices and ordinances themselves, instead of relying upon the merits of Him to whom all these things pointed. Thus “going about to establish their own righteousness” (Romans 10:3), they built themselves up in a self-sufficient formalism. Wanting the Spirit and grace of God, they tried to make up for the lack by a rigorous observance of religious ceremonies and rites. Not content with the ordinances which God Himself had appointed, they encumbered the divine commands with countless exactions of their own devising. The greater their distance from God, the more rigorous they were in the observance of these forms.

With all these minute and burdensome exactions it was a practical impossibility for the people to keep the law. The great principles of righteousness set forth in the Decalogue, and the glorious truths shadowed in the symbolic service, were alike obscured, buried under a mass of human tradition and enactment. Those who were really desirous of serving God, and who tried to observe the whole law as enjoined by the priests and rulers, groaned under a heavy burden.

As a nation, the people of Israel, while desiring the advent of the Messiah, were so far separated from God in heart and life that they could have no true conception of the character or mission of the promised Redeemer. Instead of desiring redemption from sin, and the glory and peace of holiness, their hearts were fixed upon deliverance from their national foes, and restoration to worldly power. They looked for Messiah to come as a conqueror, to break every yoke, and exalt Israel to dominion over all nations. Thus Satan had succeeded in preparing the hearts of the people to reject the Saviour when He should appear. Their own pride of heart, and their false conceptions of His character and mission, would prevent them from honestly weighing the evidences of His Messiahship.

For more than a thousand years the Jewish people had waited the coming of the promised Saviour. Their brightest hopes had rested upon this event. For a thousand years, in song and prophecy, in temple rite and household prayer, His name had been enshrined; and yet when He came, they did not recognize Him as the Messiah for whom they had so long waited. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” John 1:11. To their world-loving hearts the Beloved of heaven was “as a root out of a dry ground.” In their eyes He had “no form nor comeliness;” they discerned in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. Isaiah 53:2.

The whole life of Jesus of Nazareth among the Jewish people was a reproof to their selfishness, as revealed in their unwillingness to recognize the just claims of the Owner of the vineyard over which they had been placed as husbandmen. They hated His example of truthfulness and piety; and when the final test came, the test which meant obedience unto eternal life or disobedience unto eternal death, they rejected the Holy One of Israel and became responsible for His crucifixion on Calvary’s cross.

In the parable of the vineyard, Christ near the close of His earthly ministry called the attention of the Jewish teachers to the rich blessings bestowed upon Israel, and in these showed God’s claim to their obedience. Plainly He set before them the glory of God’s purpose, which through obedience they might have fulfilled. Withdrawing the veil from the future, He showed how, by failure to fulfill His purpose, the whole nation was forfeiting His blessing and bringing ruin upon itself.

“There was a certain householder,” Christ said, “which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.” Matthew 21:33.

Thus the Saviour referred to “the vineyard of the Lord of hosts,” which the prophet Isaiah centuries before had declared to be “the house of Israel.” Isaiah 5:7.

“And when the time of the fruit drew near,” Christ continued, the owner of the vineyard “sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.”

Having portrayed before the priests their crowning act of wickedness, Christ now put to them the question, “When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?” The priests had been following the narrative with deep interest; and without considering the relation of the subject to themselves, they joined with the people in answering, “He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.”

Unwittingly they had pronounced their own doom. Jesus looked upon them, and under His searching gaze they knew that He read the secrets of their hearts. His divinity flashed out before them with unmistakable power. They saw in the husbandmen a picture of themselves, and they involuntarily exclaimed, “God forbid!”

Solemnly and regretfully Christ asked: “Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” Matthew 21:34-44.

Christ would have averted the doom of the Jewish nation if the people had received Him. But envy and jealousy made them implacable. They determined that they would not receive Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. They rejected the Light of the world, and henceforth their lives were surrounded with darkness as the darkness of midnight. The doom foretold came upon the Jewish nation. Their own fierce passions, uncontrolled, wrought their ruin. In their blind rage they destroyed one another. Their rebellious, stubborn pride brought upon them the wrath of their Roman conquerors. Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple laid in ruins, and its site plowed like a field. The children of Judah perished by the most horrible forms of death. Millions were sold to serve as bondmen in heathen lands.

That which God purposed to do for the world through Israel, the chosen nation, He will finally accomplish through His church on earth today. He has “let out His vineyard unto other husbandmen,” even to His covenant-keeping people, who faithfully “render Him the fruits in their seasons.” Never has the Lord been without true representatives on this earth who have made His interests their own. These witnesses for God are numbered among the spiritual Israel, and to them will be fulfilled all the covenant promises made by Jehovah to His ancient people.

Today the church of God is free to carry forward to completion the divine plan for the salvation of a lost race. For many centuries God’s people suffered a restriction of their liberties. The preaching of the gospel in its purity was prohibited, and the severest of penalties were visited upon those who dared disobey the mandates of men. As a consequence, the Lord’s great moral vineyard was almost wholly unoccupied. The people were deprived of the light of God’s word. The darkness of error and superstition threatened to blot out a knowledge of true religion. God’s church on earth was as verily in captivity during this long period of relentless persecution as were the children of Israel held captive in Babylon during the period of the exile.

But, thank God, His church is no longer in bondage. To spiritual Israel have been restored the privileges accorded the people of God at the time of their deliverance from Babylon. In every part of the earth, men and women are responding to the Heaven-sent message which John the revelator prophesied would be proclaimed prior to the second coming of Christ: “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.” Revelation 14:7.

No longer have the hosts of evil power to keep the church captive; for “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city,” which hath “made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication;” and to spiritual Israel is given the message, “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Verse 8; 18:4. As the captive exiles heeded the message, “Flee out of the midst of Babylon” (Jeremiah 51:6), and were restored to the Land of Promise, so those who fear God today are heeding the message to withdraw from spiritual Babylon, and soon they are to stand as trophies of divine grace in the earth made new, the heavenly Canaan.

In Malachi’s day the mocking inquiry of the impenitent, “Where is the God of judgment?” met with the solemn response: “The Lord ... shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant.... But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.” Malachi 2:17; 3:1-4.

When the promised Messiah was about to appear, the message of the forerunner of Christ was: Repent, publicans and sinners; repent, Pharisees and Sadducees; “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:2.

Today, in the spirit and power of Elias and of John the Baptist, messengers of God’s appointment are calling the attention of a judgment-bound world to the solemn events soon to take place in connection with the closing hours of probation and the appearance of Christ Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords. Soon every man is to be judged for the deeds done in the body. The hour of God’s judgment has come, and upon the members of His church on earth rests the solemn responsibility of giving warning to those who are standing as it were on the very brink of eternal ruin. To every human being in the wide world who will give heed must be made plain the principles at stake in the great controversy being waged, principles upon which hang the destinies of all mankind.

In these final hours of probation for the sons of men, when the fate of every soul is so soon to be decided forever, the Lord of heaven and earth expects His church to arouse to action as never before. Those who have been made free in Christ through a knowledge of precious truth, are regarded by the Lord Jesus as His chosen ones, favored above all other people on the face of the earth; and He is counting on them to show forth the praises of Him who hath called them out of darkness into marvelous light. The blessings which are so liberally bestowed are to be communicated to others. The good news of salvation is to go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

In the visions of the prophets of old the Lord of glory was represented as bestowing special light upon His church in the days of darkness and unbelief preceding His second coming. As the Sun of Righteousness, He was to arise upon His church, “with healing in His wings.” Malachi 4:2. And from every true disciple was to be diffused an influence for life, courage, helpfulness, and true healing.

The coming of Christ will take place in the darkest period of this earth’s history. The days of Noah and of Lot picture the condition of the world just before the coming of the Son of man. The Scriptures, pointing forward to this time, declare that Satan will work with all power and “with all deceivableness of unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10. His working is plainly revealed by the rapidly increasing darkness, the multitudinous errors, heresies, and delusions of these last days. Not only is Satan leading the world captive, but his deceptions are leavening the professed churches of our Lord Jesus Christ. The great apostasy will develop into darkness deep as midnight. To God’s people it will be a night of trial, a night of weeping, a night of persecution for the truth’s sake. But out of that night of darkness God’s light will shine.

He causes “the light to shine out of darkness.” 2 Corinthians 4:6. When “the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep,” “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Genesis 1:2, 3. So in the night of spiritual darkness, God’s word goes forth, “Let there be light.” To His people He says, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” Isaiah 60:1.

“Behold,” says the Scripture, “the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.” Verse 2. Christ, the outshining of the Father’s glory, came to the world as its light. He came to represent God to men, and of Him it is written that He was anointed “with the Holy Ghost and with power,” and “went about doing good.” Acts 10:38. In the synagogue at Nazareth He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18, 19. This was the work He commissioned His disciples to do. “Ye are the light of the world,” He said. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14, 16.

This is the work which the prophet Isaiah describes when he says: “Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.” Isaiah 58:7, 8.

Thus in the night of spiritual darkness God’s glory is to shine forth through His church in lifting up the bowed down and comforting those that mourn.

All around us are heard the wails of a world’s sorrow. On every hand are the needy and distressed. It is ours to aid in relieving and softening life’s hardships and misery. The wants of the soul only the love of Christ can satisfy. If Christ is abiding in us, our hearts will be full of divine sympathy. The sealed fountains of earnest, Christlike love will be unsealed.

There are many from whom hope has departed. Bring back the sunshine to them. Many have lost their courage. Speak to them words of cheer. Pray for them. There are those who need the bread of life. Read to them from the word of God. Upon many is a soul sickness which no earthly balm can reach nor physician heal. Pray for these souls. Bring them to Jesus. Tell them that there is a balm in Gilead and a Physician there.

Light is a blessing, a universal blessing, pouring forth its treasures on a world unthankful, unholy, demoralized. So it is with the light of the Sun of Righteousness. The whole earth, wrapped as it is in the darkness of sin and sorrow and pain, is to be lighted with the knowledge of God’s love. From no sect, rank, or class of people is the light shining from heaven’s throne to be excluded.

The message of hope and mercy is to be carried to the ends of the earth. Whosoever will, may reach forth and take hold of God’s strength and make peace with Him, and he shall make peace. No longer are the heathen to be wrapped in midnight darkness. The gloom is to disappear before the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness.

Christ has made every provision that His church shall be a transformed body, illumined with the Light of the world, possessing the glory of Immanuel. It is His purpose that every Christian shall be surrounded with a spiritual atmosphere of light and peace. He desires that we shall reveal His own joy in our lives.

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” Isaiah 60:1. Christ is coming with power and great glory. He is coming with His own glory and with the glory of the Father. And the holy angels will attend Him on His way. While all the world is plunged in darkness, there will be light in every dwelling of the saints. They will catch the first light of His second appearing. The unsullied light will shine from His splendor, and Christ the Redeemer will be admired by all who have served Him. While the wicked flee, Christ’s followers will rejoice in His presence.

Then it is that the redeemed from among men will receive their promised inheritance. Thus God’s purpose for Israel will meet with literal fulfillment. That which God purposes, man is powerless to disannul. Even amid the working of evil, God’s purposes have been moving steadily forward to their accomplishment. It was thus with the house of Israel throughout the history of the divided monarchy; it is thus with spiritual Israel today.

The seer of Patmos, looking down through the ages to the time of this restoration of Israel in the earth made new, testified:

“I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

“And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts [“living creatures,” R.V.], and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever.”

“And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him.” “He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” Revelation 7:9-12; 19:6, 7; Revelation 17:14.


By Prophets and Kings

Romans 11:17

וכי נקפו מקצת הענפים ואתה זית היער הרכבת במקומם ונתחברת לשרש הזית ולדשנו׃ But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree; אל־הרומיים 11:17 Provided by Bible Factory - Hebrew World English Bible https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=hk.itchurch.hebrewwebbible

"I AM" in YHVH

"I'AM", The LORD God, The Everlasting God, The God of Eternity

Use in the Bible: 
In the Old Testament Yahweh occurs 6,519 times. This name is used more than any other name of God. Yahweh is first used in Gen 2:4

Variant spellings: YHWH, Yahweh

In the Septuagint: 
kurios - Lord, Master despotês - Lord, Master, denoting the omnipotence of God (TDNT), despot, absolute ruler

Meaning and Derivation: 
Yahweh is the promised name of God. This name of God which (by Jewish tradition) is too holy to voice, is actually spelled "YHWH" without vowels. YHWH is referred to as the Tetragrammaton (which simply means "the four letters"). YHWH comes from the Hebrew letters: Yud, Hay, Vav, Hay. While YHWH is first used in Genesis 2, God did not reveal Himself as YHWH until Exodus 3. The modern spelling as "Yahweh" includes vowels to assist in pronunciation. We no longer know for certain the exact pronunciation. During the third century A.D., the Jewish people stopped saying this name in fear of contravening the commandment "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain" (Exd 20:7). As a result of this, Adonai is occasionally a substitute for YHWH.

Further references : 
"Genesis 02:04 ; Genesis 02:05 ; Genesis 02:07 ; Genesis 02:08 ; Genesis 02:09 ; Genesis 02:15 ; Genesis 02:16 ; Genesis 02:18 ; Genesis 02:19 ; Genesis 02:21 ; Genesis 02:22 ; Genesis 03:01 ; Genesis 03:08 ; Genesis 03:09 ; Genesis 03:13 ; Genesis 03:14 ; Genesis 03:21 ; Genesis 03:22 ; Genesis 03:23 ; Genesis 04:01 ; Genesis 04:03 ; Genesis 04:04 ; Genesis 04:06 ; Genesis 04:09 ; Genesis 04:13 ; Genesis 04:15 ; Genesis 04:16 ; Genesis 04:26 ; Genesis 05:29 ; Genesis 06:03; Genesis 06:05 ; Genesis 06:06 ; Genesis 06:07 ; Genesis 06:08 ; Genesis 07:01 ; Genesis 07:05 ; Genesis 07:16 ; Gen 08:20 ; Genesis 08:21 ; Genesis 09:26 ; Genesis 10:09 ; Genesis 11:05 ; Genesis 11:06 ; Genesis 11:08 ; Genesis 11:09 ; Genesis 12:01 ; Genesis 12:04 ; Genesis 12:07 ; Genesis 12:08 ; Genesis 12:17 etc."

BenYamin

Daftar Isi:

HAAG: Benyamin ; TOKOH: Benyamin; PEDOMAN: Suku Benyamin ; BROWNING: BENYAMIN ; ENSIKLOPEDIA: BENYAMIN ; BIOTOKOH PL: BENYAMIN ; YUNANI: 958 βενιαμιν Beniamin ; STATISTIK: BENYAMIN ; LAIN: Dalam Versi-Versi Alkitab ;

Benyamin

Benyamin: tentang tangan kanan yaitu yang beruntung. Kej 35:18. (Kamus Gering)

Ke atas

Benyamin [Kamus Haag]

Benyamin.

(Bhs. Ibr.: Putera [tangan] kanan, artinya: putera selatan. Keterangan lain: anak laki-laki kebahagiaan).

--> Suku Isr. yang berasal dari anak bungsu Yakub dengan Rahel (Kej 35:16-19). Di dalam cerita nenek-moyang bangsa Isr., ia sering disebut-sebut bersama dengan Yusuf (Kej 42:4,36; 43:14). Keistimewaan suku ini disebutkan pada --> Berkat Yakub(Kej 49:27 serigala yang menerkam) dan pada --> Berkat Musa (Ul 33:12Kekasih Yahwe). Hak 20:16menyebutkan, bahwa para keturunan ~B adalah ahli-ahli mengumban yang terlatih. Berlawanan dengan 2Sam 19:21-22Yos 2:1-9:27mengandaikan, bahwa suku ~B merebut suatu daerah tersendiri baginya. Ikut-sertanya suku ~B pada pertempuran di dekat sungai --> Kison (Hak 5:14) dan inti sejarah cerita tentang peperangan antara semua suku Isr. melawan suku ~B (Hak 19-21) masih tidak jelas. Dengan adanya Saul menjadi raja pertama di Isr., jelaslah bahwa ~B mempunyai sebuah peran kepemimpinan. Setelah kematian Isbosyet, puteranya, ~B, meskipun tidak senang (bdk. kebencian Simei: 2Sam 16:5-14; pemberontakan Seba bin Bikri 2Sam 20:1-22) terpaksa menyerah kepada Daud (2Sam 5:1-5). Tradisi mengenai kedudukan ~B setelah pembedaan kerajaan, nampaknya tidak begitu jelas (bdk 1Raj 12:20 dan 1Raj 11:31-36 dan lain-lain). Para putera ~B pulang kembali ke Palestina setelah pembuangan (Ezr 1:5; 4:1 dan lain-lain). Paulus mengagungkan diri sebagai seorang keturunan suku ~B. (Rom 11:1Filip 3:5). Peta PL C6.

Ke atas

Benyamin [Kamus Tokoh]

Benyamin

Anak ke 12 dari Rahel (Kej 35:16-24; 46:19-211Taw 2:2).

Yakub menolak untuk mengirim dia ke Mesir; akhirnya mengirimnya (dalam Kej 42:1-45:28).

Suku diberkati (Kej 49:27Ul 33:12), dihitung (Bil 1:37; 26:41), diberikan tanah (Yos 18:11-28Yeh 48:23), tidak berhasil menduduki seluruh tanahnya (Hak 1:21), hampir dimusnahkan (dalam Hak 20:1-21:25), berpihak dengan Isyboset (dalam 2Sam 2:1-32), tetapi kembali ke Daud (1Taw 12:2,29).

12,000 dari (Wahy 7:8).

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Suku Benyamin [Kamus Pedoman]

1. Keturunan anak Yakub yang kedua belas.Kej 35:18
2. Nubuat-nubuat tentang - .Kej 49:27Ul 33:12
3. Orang-orang yang terpilih dari - :3.1 Untuk menghitung orang Israel.Bil 1:11
3.2 Untuk mengintai Kanaan.Bil 13:9
3.3 Untuk membagi tanah Kanaan.Bil 34:21
3.4 Kekuatan-pada waktu meninggalkan Mesir.Bil 1:36,37
3.5 Membentuk barisan penutup semua laskar bani Israel yang ketigadalam perjalanan mereka. Bil 10:22,24
3.6 Berkemah di sebelah barat Kemah Pertemuan di bawah panji-panjilaskar Efraim. Bil 2:18-22
3.7 Persembahan - pada waktu Kemah Pertemuan ditahbiskan.Bil 7:60-65
3.8 Bani - .Bil 26:38-40
3.9 Kekuatan - pada waktu masuk ke negeri Kanaan.Bil 26:41
3.10 Di atas gunung Gerizim telah memberi berkat.Ul 27:12
3.11 Daerah-daerah dan batas-batas milik pusaka - .Yos 18:11-28
3.12 Terkenal sebagai pemanah-pemanah dan sanggup melontarkanbatu. 1Taw 12:2
3.13 Membantu melawan Sisera.Hak 5:14
3.14 Ditindas oleh bani Amon.Hak 10:9
3.15 Hampir dibinasakan sebab melindungi orang Gibea.Hak 20:12-48
3.16 Sisa - mendapat isteri untuk memelihara kelangsungan suku.Hak 21:1-23
3.17 Raja pertama untuk bani Israel dari - .1Sam 9:1,2,15-17; 10:20,212Sam 2:8-10
3.18 Sebagian - telah menolong Daud.1Taw 12:1-7,16,29
3.19 Untuk sementara waktu mengikut keluarga Saul melawan Daud.2Sam 2:9,15,25,31
3.20 Mendurhaka kepada Saul.2Sam 3:19
3.21 Sebagian - hadir pada waktu Daud dinobatkan menjadi raja.1Taw 12:29
3.22 Seribu orang dari - bersama Simei datang menemui Daud padawaktu ia kembali ke Yerusalem. 2Sam 19:16,17
3.23 Sangat banyak pada zaman Daud.1Taw 7:6-12
3.24 Panglima tentara diangkat untuk - .1Raj 4:181Taw 27:12
3.25 Tetap setia kepada suku Yehuda.1Raj 12:21
3.26 Melengkapi suatu tentara untuk Yosafat.2Taw 17:17
3.27 Beberapa orang dari - pulang dari tawanan dan tinggaldi Yerusalem. Ezr 1:5Neh 11:4
4. Orang-orang yang terkenal:4.1 Abner.1Sam 14:51; 17:55
4.2 Ehud.Hak 3:15
4.3 Elhanan.2Sam 21:19
4.4 Kisy.1Sam 9:1
4.5 Paulus.Fili 3:5
4.6 Saul.1Sam 9:2; 10:1

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BENYAMIN [Kamus Browning]

Anak laki-laki --> Yakub dan --> Rahel yang termuda (Kej. 35:18), yang diakui oleh suku --> Benyaminsebagai leluhurnya. Disebutkan bahwa ia dekat dengan --> Yusuf, dan secara historis diduga suku Benyamin bersekutu dengan suku Utara ( --> Yusuf). Dapat dimengerti jikalau nama Benyamin berarti orang Selatan. Mereka menempati sebidang tanah yang merupakan penyangga antara --> Efraim dan --> Yehuda. Setelah kekejaman yang dilakukan, yang menyebabkan serangan gencar dari suku-suku lain (Hak. 20), Benyamin yang lemah menjadi bergantung pada Yehuda. --> Saul berasal dari suku ini, begitu pula Simei dan Seba, para penentang --> Daud (2Sam.16:5; 20:1). Setelah perpecahan Israel dan Yehuda menjadi dua kerajaan, Benyamin menjadi bagian dari kerajaan Selatan (Neh. 11:7), namun keturunan suku ini tetap ingat sejarah mereka, sebagaimana --> Yeremia(1:1) dan Paulus (Flp. 3:5).

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BENYAMIN [Ensiklopedia]

1. Putra bungsu dari Yakub. Ia disebut binyamin ('putra tangan kanan') oleh ayahnya, meskipun Rahel, ibunya, yg meninggal sewaktu melahirkan dia, menyebut dia ben-`oni ('putra kesusahanku', Kej 35:18, 24, 42 dab). Setelah Yusuf hilang, Benyamin mendapat tempat utama dalam cinta kasih ayahnya sebagai putra yg masih hidup dari Rahel; hal ini adalah penting dalam penyerahan saudara-saudaranya kepada saudara mereka, Yusuf (Kej 42:4, 38; 44).

2. Suku keturunan Benyamin, Ibrani binyamin, kata pengelompok, jamak bene binyamin, juga bene yemini (1 Sam 22:7Hak 19:16) dan tunggal ben yemini atau be, hayyemini (bnd 1 Sam 9:1, 'isy yemini; 9:4, 'erets yemini) Namanya yg mirip binu (atau maru) yamina mungkin berarti 'putra-putra orang-orang pengembara di Selatan' yg terdapat pada abad 18 sM dalam naskah-naskah Mari, dan beberapa ahli (mis Alt, Parrot) mengira ini asal-usul dari suku dalam Alkitab itu; tapi perbedaan dalam waktu dan asal menjadikan penyamaan itu kurang pasti.

Banyak perincian dari silsilah Benyamin dapat ditemukan, meskipun sumber-sumber itu tidaklah lengkap; dalam Kej 46:21 di bilang sepuluh keluarga, tapi dalam Taw hanya disebut tiga golongan (1 Taw 7:6 dab) dan dari yg tiga ini nama Yediel tidak terdapat dalam Pentateukh. Pencatatan kaum Benyamin terdapat dalam Bil 26:38 dab; lih juga 1 Taw 8untuk perincian yg sesuai dengan catatan pada zaman raja.

Suku ini tinggal di suatu daerah jalur lintas antara G Efraim dan bukit-bukit Yudea. Perbatasan dengan Yudea ditandai dengan tegas (Yos 18:15 dab, bnd 15:5 dab) dan melintas ke selatan Yerusalem, tapi kota ini tetap dalam kekuasaan orang Yebus sampai dikalahkan oleh Daud.

Perbatasan utara seperti terbaca dalam Yos 18:11 dab tidak begitu terang meskipun sesuai dengan perbatasan selatan dari Efraim (16:1-3). Batas itu melalui sebelah selatan Betel (bnd Hak 1:221 Raj 12:29), namun pada waktu-waktu tertentu yg termasuk daerah Benyamin bukan hanya Betel, tapi juga Ofra di timur laut (Yos 18:23; bnd 2 Taw 13:19Ezr 2:28). Dalam Yos 18:21 dab didaftarkan dua kelompok permukiman, timur dan tengah; pelebaran ke barat ditunjukkan dalam singgungan tentang Beerot (2 Sam 4:2dab) dan Ayalon (l Taw 8:13); Lod dan Ono diduduki setelah zaman pembuangan (Neh 11:35). Tidak terang apakah kota Het Kiryat-Yearim, 2 km di selatan Khephirah, diduduki lebih dulu atau lebih kemudian, Noth (Yosua, hlm 89) menganggap penyamaan dengan Ba'alah dari Yehuda sebagai keterangan yg keliru, tapi itu diulangi (Yos 15:9,60; 18:14; bnd Hak 18:121 Taw 2:52; 13:6).

'Benyamin adalah seperti serigala yg menerkam' -- demikian bunyi berkat Yakub (Kej 49:27). Suku ini sangat terkenal oleh keberanian dan ketrampilannya dalam perang, dan istimewa terkenal dalam hal keterampilan membandul dengan tangan kiri (Hak 3:15 dab; 20:16; bnd 1 Taw 8:40). Ehud, yg melepaskan Israel dari bangsa Moab, adalah keturunan Benyamin; demikian juga Saul, raja Israel pertama (1 Sam 9:1), ratu Ester (Est 2:5) dan rasul Paulus (Rm 11:1). Letak wilayah Benyamin tepat pada jalur perluasan orang Filistin, justru peran utama kepemimpinan suku ini dalam sejarah Israel adalah di bawah kepemimpinan Saul. Pada waktu itu umumnya suku Benyamin setia kepada Saul, kendati beberapa menyeberang kepada Daud dalam pembuangannya (1 Taw 12:2-7, 29). Memang lama sesudahnya kesumat ini masih di pendam (2 Sam 16:5; 20:1). Kesetiaan baru ini kepada suku jelas dalam tantangannya terhadap tuntutan bangsa akan keadilan dalam peristiwa gundik seorang Lewi (Hak 20:21), lama sebelum ada kerajaan (20:26 dab).

Setelah Yerusalem dijadikan ibukota, Benyamin ditarik kepada Yehuda (1 Taw 8:28), dan setelah perpecahan Rehabeam tetap mempertahankan kesetiaannya (1 Raj 12:212 Taw 11; perhatikan 1 Raj 11:32, 'oleh karena Yerusalem'). Di kota itu ada dua 'pintu gerbang Benyamin', satu di Bait Suci (Yer 20:2) yg lain mungkin sama dengan 'pintu gerbang domba-domba' di tembok utara kota (Yer 37:13Za 14:10). Meskipun beberapa kali timbul perang (1 Raj 15:16 dab; 2 Raj 14:11 dab) Benyamin tetap merupakan wilayah dad Yehuda (bnd 2 Raj 23:8, 'Geba'). Sesudah kembali dari Pembuangan, tiada lagi perbedaan Benyamin dan Yehuda kecuali dalam hal silsilah perseorangan (bnd Neh 7 dgn 12:7dab).

Dalam penglihatan Yehezkiel bagian wilayah Benyamin berada tepat di bagian selatan ibukota (Yeh 48:22dab).

3. Seorang Benyamin dari suku Yidael (1 Taw 7:10).

4. Seorang Benyamin dari masa pembangunan kembali yg mengambil perempuan asing (Ezr 10:32). Neh 3:23; 12: 34 mungkin menyebut orang itu juga.

KEPUSTAKAAN. Naskah Mari: M Noth, JSS 1, 1956, hlm 322-333; J Gibson, JSS 7 1962, hlm 57 dst; Ilmu bumi; Z Kallai, IEJ 6, 1956, hlm 180-187; GTT, hlm 164 dst, 170 dst. Umum: J Bright, History of Israelz,1972; H Gronbaek, VT 15, 1965, hlm 421-436; K-D. Schunck, ZAW Suppl 86, 1963, lih juga JBL 83, 1964, hlm 207; M Noth, History of Israeli, 1960. JPUL/RS

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BENYAMIN [Biotokoh Pl]

Arti nama:ANAK DARI TANGAN KANANKUAyah: Yakub - Kejadian 46:19Ibu: Rakhel - Kejadian 35:16-19, 46:19Anak laki-laki: Bela, Bekher, Asybel, Yera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosy, Muppim, Huppim dan And - Kejadian 46; 21Saudara laki-laki: Saudara kandung Yusuf - Kejadian 35:24Saudara perempuan: Saudara tiri Dina - Kejadian 30:21Keturunan: Saul dalam Perjanjian Lama dan Perjanjian Baru (1 Samuel 9:1-2Filipi 3:5)Disebut pertama: Kejadian 35:18Namanya disebut: 21 kaliKitab yang menyebut: 4 buku : Kejadian, Keluaran, Ulangan, 1 TawarikhTempat kematian: Dekat Betlehem - Kejadian 35:16-19Terakhir disebut: 1 Tawarikh 7:6Fakta penting: IA YANG BUNGSU DARI 12 ANAK YAKUB, IBUNYA MATI SETELAH MELAHIRKANNYA. IA SAUDARA KANDUNG YUSUF SATU-SATUNYA (KEJADIAN 42:13)

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Yunani

Strongs #958 βενιαμιν Beniamin

Βενιαμειν Beniamein:[maskulin] Benyamin (Kamus Barclay)

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Benyamin [Statistik]

Jumlah dalam TB : 180 dalam 173 ayat (dalam OT : 176 dalam 169 ayat) (dalam NT : 4 dalam 4 ayat)

Strong dalam PL : [<0376> איש ‎1x] [<01144> בנימין ‎165x] [<01145> בן-ימיני ‎9x] [<01387> גבע ‎3x] [<01992> חם ‎1x] [<03227> ימיני ‎3x] [<03228> ימיני ‎1x]

Strong dalam PB : [<958> βενιαμιν ‎4x]

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Dalam Versi-Versi Alkitab:

bani Benyamin: TB 
Benyamin: BIS TB 
kaum suku Benyamin: TB 
orang Benyamin: BIS TB 
orang-orang Benyamin: BIS TB 
seorang Benyamin: TB 
suku Benyamin: BIS TB 

Benjamin (English)

Benjamin - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

Son of my right hand. (1.) The younger son of Jacob by Rachel (Gen. 35:18). His birth took place at Ephrath, on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, at a short distance from the latter place. His mother died in giving him birth, and with her last breath named him Ben-oni, son of my pain, a name which was changed by his father into Benjamin. His posterity are called Benjamites (Gen. 49:27; Deut. 33:12; Josh. 18:21).

The tribe of Benjamin at the Exodus was the smallest but one (Num. 1:36, 37; Ps. 68:27). During the march its place was along with Manasseh and Ephraim on the west of the tabernacle. At the entrance into Canaan it counted 45,600 warriors. It has been inferred by some from the words of Jacob (Gen. 49:27) that the figure of a wolf was on the tribal standard. This tribe is mentioned in Rom. 11:1; Phil. 3:5.

The inheritance of this tribe lay immediately to the south of that of Ephraim, and was about 26 miles in length and 12 in breadth. Its eastern boundary was the Jordan. Dan intervened between it and the Philistines. Its chief towns are named in Josh. 18:21-28.

The history of the tribe contains a sad record of a desolating civil war in which they were engaged with the other eleven tribes. By it they were almost exterminated (Judg. 20:20, 21; 21:10). (See [60]GIBEAH.)

The first king of the Jews was Saul, a Benjamite. A close alliance was formed between this tribe and that of Judah in the time of David (2 Sam. 19:16, 17), which continued after his death (1 Kings 11:13; 12:20). After the Exile these two tribes formed the great body of the Jewish nation (Ezra 1:5; 10:9).

The tribe of Benjamin was famous for its archers (1 Sam. 20:20, 36; 2 Sam. 1:22; 1 Chr. 8:40; 12:2) and slingers (Judge. 20:6).

The gate of Benjamin, on the north side of Jerusalem (Jer. 37:13; 38:7; Zech. 14:10), was so called because it led in the direction of the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. It is called by Jeremiah (20:2) "the high gate of Benjamin;" also "the gate of the children of the people" (17:19). (Comp. 2 Kings 14:13.)

Benjamin - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

BEN'JAMIN, n. A tree, the Laurus Benzoin, a native of America, called also spicebush. It grows to the height of 15 or 20 feet, with a very branchy head.

1. A gum or resin, or rather a balsam. [See Benzoin.]

Benjamin & his Patriach

ben´ja -min ( בּנימין , binyāmı̄n , or בּנימן , binyāmin ; Βενιαείν , Beniaeı́n , Βενιαμίν , Beniamı́n ):

1. The Patriarch

The youngest of Jacob's sons. His mother Rachel died in giving him birth. As she felt death approaching she called him Benoni, "son of my sorrow." Fearing, probably, that this might bode evil for the child - for names have always preserved a peculiar significance in the East - J acob called him Benjamin, "son of the fight hand" (Genesis 35:17 ). He alone of Jacob's sons was born in Palestine, between Bethel and Ephrath. Later in the chapter, in the general enumeration of the children born in Paddan-ar am, the writer fails to except Benjamin (Genesis 35:24 ). Joseph was his full brother. In the history where Benjamin appears as an object of solicitude to his father and brothers, we must not forget that he was already a grown man. At the time of the descent of Israel to Egypt Joseph was about 40 years of age. Benjamin was not much younger, and was himself the father of a family. The phrase in Genesis 44:20 , "a little one," only describes in oriental fashion one much younger than the speaker. And as the youngest of the family no doubt he was made much of. Remorse over their heartless treatment of his brother Joseph may have made the other brothers especially tender toward Benjamin. The conduct of his brethren all through the trying experiences in Egypt places them in a more attractive light than we should have expected; and it must have been a gratification to their father (Gen 42ff). Ten sons of Benjamin are named at the time of their settlement in Egypt (Genesis 46:21 ).

2. The Tribe

At the Exodus the number of men of war in the tribe is given as 35,400. At the second census it is 45,600 (Numbers 1:37; Numbers 26:41 ). Their place in the host was with the standard of the camp of Ephraim on the west of the tabernacle, their prince being Abidan the son of Gideoni (Numbers 2:22 f). Benjamin was represented among the spies by Palti the son of Raphu; and at the division of the land the prince of Benjamin was Elidad the son of Chislon ( Numbers 13:9; Numbers 34:21 ).

3. Territory

The boundaries of the lot that fell to Benjamin are pretty clearly indicated (Joshua 18:11 ). It lay between Ephraim on the North and Judah on the South. The northern frontier started from the Jordan over against Jericho, and ran to the north of that town up through the mountain westward past Bethaven, taking in Bethel. It then went down by Ataroth-addar to Beth-horon the nether. From this point the western frontier ran southward to Kiriath-jearim. The southern boundary ran from Kiriath-jearim eas tward to the fountain of the waters of Netophah, swept round by the south of Jerrus and passed down through the wilderness northern by shore of the Dead Sea at the mouth of the Jordan. The river formed the eastern boundary. The lot was comparatively small. This, according to Josephus, was owing to "the goodness of the land" (Ant. , V, i, 22); a description that would apply mainly to the plans of Jericho. The uplands are stony, mountainous, and poor in water; but there is much good land on the western slopes.

4. Importance of Position

It will be seen from the above that Benjamin held the main avenues of approach to the highlands from both East and West: that by which Joshua led Israel past Ai from Gilgal, and the longer and easier ascents from the West, notably that along which the tides of battle so often rolled, the Valley of Aijalon, by way of the Beth-horons. Benjamin also sat astride the great highway connecting North and South, which ran along the ridge of the western range, in the district where it was easiest of defense. It was a position calling for occupation by a brave and warlike tribe such as Benjamin proved to be. His warriors were skillful archers and slingers, and they seem to have cultivated the use of both hands, which gave them a great advantage in battle (Judges 20:16; 1 Chronicles 8:40; 1 Chronicles 12:2 , etc.). These characteristics are reflected in the Blessing of Jacob (Genesis 49:27 ). The second deliverer of Israel in the period of the Judges was Ehud, the left-handed Benjamite (Judges 3:15 ).

5. History

The Benjamites fought against Sisera under Deborah and Barak (Judges 5:14 ). The story told in Judges 20:21 presents many difficulties which cannot be discussed here. It is valuable as preserving certain features of life in these lawless times when there was no details in Israel. Whatever may be said of the details, it certainly reflects the memory of some atrocity in which the Benjamites were involved and for which they suffered terrible punishment. The election of Saul as first king over united Israel naturally lent a certain prestige to the tribe. After the death of Saul they formed the backbone of Ish-bosheth's party, and most unwillingly conceded precedence to Judah in the person of David ( 2 Samuel 2:15 , 2 Samuel 2:25; 2 Samuel 3:17 ). It was a Benjamite who heaped curses upon David in the hour of his deep humiliation (2 Samuel 16:5 ); and the jealousy of Benjamin led to the revolt on David's return, which was so effectually stamped out by Joab (2 Sam 19 f). Part of the tribe, probably the larger part, went against Judah at the disruption of the kingdom, taking Bethel with them. 1 Kings 12:20 says that none followed the house of David but the house of Judah only. But the next verse tells us that Rehoboam gathered the men of Judah and Benjamin to fight against Jeroboam. It seems probable that as Jerusalem had now become the royal city of the house of David, the adjoining parts of Benjamin proved loyal, while the more distant joined the Northern Kingdom. After the downfall of Samaria Judah assumed control of practically the whole territory of Benjamin ( 2 Kings 23:15 , 2 Kings 23:19 , etc.). Nehemiah gives the Valley of Hinnom as the south boundary of Benjamin in his time (Nehemiah 11:30 ), while westward it extended to include Lod and Ono. Saul of Tarsus was a member of this tribe (Philippians 3:5 ).

(4) A great-grandson of Benjamin, son of Jacob (1 Chronicles 7:10 ).

(5) One of those who had married a foreign wife (Ezra 10:32 , and probably also Nehemiah 3:23; Nehemiah 12:34 ).

The Testament of Benjamin I:

The Twelfth Son of Jacob and Rachel.

CHAP. I. Benjamin,

the twelfth son of Jacob and Rachel, the baby of the family, turns philosopher and philanthropist.

THE copy of the words of Benjamin, which he commanded his sons to observe, after he had lived a hundred and twenty-five years

2 And he kissed them, and said: As Isaac was born to Abraham in his old age, so also was I to Jacob

3 And since Rachel my mother died in giving me birth, I had no milk; therefore I was suckled by Bilhah her handmaid

4 For Rachel remained barren for twelve years after she had borne Joseph; and she prayed the Lord with fasting twelve days, and she conceived and bare Me

5 For my father loved Rachel dearly, and prayed that he might see two sons born from her

6 Therefore was I called Benjamin, that is, a son of days

7 And when I went into Egypt, to Joseph, and my brother recognized me, he said unto me: What did they tell my father when they sold me?

8 And I said unto him, They dabbled thy coat with blood and sent it, and said: Know whether this be thy son's coat

9 And he said unto me: Even so, brother, when they had stripped me of my coat they gave me to the Ishmaelites, and they gave me a loin cloth, and scourged me, and bade me run

10 And as for one of them that had beaten me with a rod, a lion met him and slew him
11 And so his associates were affrighted

12 Do ye also, therefore, my children, love the Lord God of heaven and earth, and keep His commandments, following the example of the good and holy man Joseph

13 And let your mind be unto good, even as ye know me; for he that bath his mind right seeth all things rightly

14 Fear ye the Lord, and love your neighbour; and even though the spirits of Beliar claim you to afflict you with every evil, yet shall they not have dominion over you, even as they had not over Joseph my brother,

15 How many men wished to slay him, and God shielded him!

16 For he that feareth God and loveth his neighbour cannot be smitten by the spirit of Beliar, being shielded by the fear of God

17 Nor can he be ruled over by the device of men or beasts, for he is helped by the Lord through the love which he hath towards his neighbour

18 For Joseph also besought our father that he would pray for his brethren, that the Lord would not impute to them as sin whatever evil they had done unto him

19 And thus Jacob cried out: My good child, thou hast prevailed over the bowels of thy father Jacob

20 And he embraced him, and kissed him for two hours, saying:

21 In thee shall be fulfilled the prophecy of heaven concerning the Lamb of God, and Saviour of the world, and that a blameless one shall be delivered up for lawless men, and a sinless one shall die for ungodly men in the blood of the covenant, for the salvation of the Gentiles and of Israel, and shall destroy Beliar and his servants

22 See ye, therefore, my children, the end of the good man?

23 Be followers of his compassion, therefore, with a good mind, that ye also may wear crowns of glory

24 For the good man hath not a dark eye; for he showeth mercy to all men, even though they be sinners

25 And though they devise with evil intent concerning him, by doing good he overcometh evil, being shielded by God; and he loveth the righteous as his own soul

26 If any one is glorified, he envieth him not; if any one is enriched, he is not jealous; if any one is valiant, he praiseth him; the virtuous man he laudeth; on the poor man he hath mercy; on the weak he hath compassion; unto God he singeth praises

27 And him that hath the grace of a good spirit he loveth as his own soul

28 If therefore, ye also have a good mind, then will both wicked men be at peace with you, and the profligate will reverence you and turn unto good; and the covetous will not only cease from their inordinate desire, but even give the objects of their covetousness to them that are afflicted

29 If ye do well, even the unclean spirits will flee from you; and the beasts will dread you

30 For where there is reverence for good works and light in the mind, even darkness fleeth away from him

31 For if any one does violence to a holy man, he repenteth; for the holy man is merciful to his reviler, and holdeth his peace

32 And if any one betrayeth a righteous man, the righteous man prayeth: though for a little he be humbled, yet not long after he appeareth far more glorious, as was Joseph my brother

33 The inclination of the good man is not in the power of the deceit of the spirit of Beliar, for the angel of peace guideth his soul

34 And he gazeth not passionately upon corruptible things, nor gathereth together riches through a desire of pleasure

35 He delighteth not in pleasure, he grieveth not his neighbour, he sateth not himself with luxuries, he erreth not in the uplifting of the eyes, for the Lord is his portion

36 The good inclination receiveth not glory nor dishonour from men, and it knoweth not any guile, or lie, or fighting or reviling; for the Lord dwelleth in him and lighteth up his soul, and he rejoiceth towards all men always

37 The good mind hath not two tongues, of blessing and of cursing, of contumely and of honour, of sorrow and of joy, of quietness and of confusion, of hypocrisy and of truth, of poverty and of wealth; but it hath one disposition, uncorrupt and pure, concerning all men

38 It hath no double sight, nor double hearing; for in everything which he doeth, or speaketh, or seeth, he knoweth that the Lord looketh on his soul

39 And he cleanseth his mind that he may not be condemned by men as well as by God

40 And in like manner the works of Beliar are twofold, and there is no singleness in them

41 Therefore, my children, I tell you, flee the malice of Beliar; for he giveth a sword to them that obey him

42 And the sword is the mother of seven evils. First the mind conceiveth through Beliar, and first there is bloodshed; secondly ruin; thirdly, tribulation; fourthly, exile; fifthly, dearth; sixthly, panic; seventhly, destruction

43 'Therefore was Cain also delivered over to seven vengeances by God, for in every hundred years the Lord brought one plague upon him

44 And when he was two hundred years old he began to suffer, and in the nine-hundredth year he was destroyed

45 For on account of Abel, his brother, with -all the evils was he judged, but Lamech with seventy times seven

46 Because for ever those, who are like Cain in envy and hatred of brethren, shall be punished with the same judgement .

The Testament of Benjamin II

CHAP. II.

Verse 3 contains a striking example of the homeliness--yet vividness of the figures of speech of these ancient patriarchs. AND do ye, my children, flee evil-doing, envy, and hatred of brethren, and cleave to goodness and love

2 He that hath a pure mind in love, looketh not after a woman with a view to fornication; for he hath no defilement in his heart, because the Spirit of God resteth upon him

3 For as the sun is not defiled by shining on dung and mire, but rather drieth up both and driveth away the evil smell; so also the pure mind, though encompassed by the defilements of earth, rather cleanseth them and is not itself defiled

4 And I believe that there will be also evil-doings among you, from the words of Enoch the righteous: that ye shall commit fornication with the fornication of Sodom, and shall perish, all save a few, and shall renew wanton deeds with women; and the kingdom of the Lord shall not be among you, for straightway He shall take it away

5 Nevertheless the temple of God shall be in your portion, and the last temple shall be more glorious than the first

6 And the twelve tribes shall be gathered together there, and all the Gentiles, until the Most High shall send forth His salvation in the visitation of an only-begotten prophet

7 And He shall enter into the first temple, and there shall the Lord be treated with outrage, and He shall be lifted up upon a tree

8 And the veil of the temple shall be rent, and the Spirit of God shall pass on to the Gentiles as fire poured forth

9 And He shall ascend from Hades and shall pass from earth into heaven

10 And I know how lowly He shall be upon earth, and how glorious in heaven

11 Now when Joseph was in Egypt, I longed to see his figure and the form of his countenance; and through the prayers of Jacob my father I saw him, while awake in the daytime, even p 269 his entire figure exactly as he was

12 And when he had said these things, he said unto them: Know ye, therefore, my children, that I am dying

13 Do ye, therefore, truth each one to his neighbour, and keep the law of the Lord and His commandments

14 For these things do I leave you instead of inheritance

15 Do ye also, therefore, give them to your children for an everlasting possession; for so did both Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob

16 For all these things they gave us for an inheritance, saying: Keep the commandments of God, until the Lord shall reveal His salvation to all Gentiles

17 And then shall ye see Enoch, Noah, and Shem, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, rising on the right hand in gladness,

18 Then shall we also rise, each one over our tribe, worshipping the King of heaven, who appeared upon earth in the form of a man in humility

19 And as many as believe on Him on the earth shall rejoice with Him

20 Then also all men shall rise, some unto glory and some unto shame

21 And the Lord shall judge Israel first, for their unrighteousness; for when He appeared as God in the flesh to deliver them they believed Him not

22 And then shall He judge all the Gentiles, as many as believed Him not when He appeared upon earth

23 And He shall convict Israel through the chosen ones of the Gentiles, even as He reproved Esau through the Midianites, who deceived their brethren, so that they fell into fornication, and idolatry; and they were alienated from God, becoming therefore children in the portion of them that fear the Lord

24 If ye therefore, my children, walk in holiness according to the commandments of the Lord, ye shall again dwell securely with me, and all Israel shall be gathered unto the Lord

25 And I shall no longer be called a ravening wolf on account of your ravages, but a worker of the Lord distributing food to them that work what is good

26 And there shall arise in the latter days one beloved of the Lord, of the tribe of Judah and Levi, a doer of His good pleasure in his mouth, with new knowledge enlightening the Gentiles

27 Until the consummation of the age shall he be in the synagogues of the Gentiles, and among their rulers, as a strain of music in the mouth of all

28 And he shall be inscribed in the holy books, both his work and his word, and he shall be a chosen one of God for ever

29 And through them he shall go to and fro as Jacob my father, saying: He shall fill up that which lacketh of thy tribe

30 And when he had said these things he stretched out his feet 31 And died in a beautiful and good sleep

32 And his sons did as he had enjoined them, and they took up his body and buried it in Hebron with his fathers

33 And the number of the days of his life was a hundred and twenty-five years.

BenYamin (The tribe of Benjamin of Israel or Jews).


BenYamin
(The tribe of Benjamin of Israel or Jews).

Benyamin

Benyamin: tentang tangan kanan yaitu yang beruntung. Kej 35:18. (Kamus Gering)

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Benyamin [Kamus Haag]

Benyamin.

(Bhs. Ibr.: Putera [tangan] kanan, artinya: putera selatan. Keterangan lain: anak laki-laki kebahagiaan).

--> Suku Isr. yang berasal dari anak bungsu Yakub dengan Rahel (Kej 35:16-19). Di dalam cerita nenek-moyang bangsa Isr., ia sering disebut-sebut bersama dengan Yusuf (Kej 42:4,36; 43:14). Keistimewaan suku ini disebutkan pada --> Berkat Yakub(Kej 49:27 serigala yang menerkam) dan pada --> Berkat Musa (Ul 33:12Kekasih Yahwe). Hak 20:16menyebutkan, bahwa para keturunan ~B adalah ahli-ahli mengumban yang terlatih. Berlawanan dengan 2Sam 19:21-22Yos 2:1-9:27mengandaikan, bahwa suku ~B merebut suatu daerah tersendiri baginya. Ikut-sertanya suku ~B pada pertempuran di dekat sungai --> Kison (Hak 5:14) dan inti sejarah cerita tentang peperangan antara semua suku Isr. melawan suku ~B (Hak 19-21) masih tidak jelas. Dengan adanya Saul menjadi raja pertama di Isr., jelaslah bahwa ~B mempunyai sebuah peran kepemimpinan. Setelah kematian Isbosyet, puteranya, ~B, meskipun tidak senang (bdk. kebencian Simei: 2Sam 16:5-14; pemberontakan Seba bin Bikri 2Sam 20:1-22) terpaksa menyerah kepada Daud (2Sam 5:1-5). Tradisi mengenai kedudukan ~B setelah pembedaan kerajaan, nampaknya tidak begitu jelas (bdk 1Raj 12:20 dan 1Raj 11:31-36 dan lain-lain). Para putera ~B pulang kembali ke Palestina setelah pembuangan (Ezr 1:5; 4:1 dan lain-lain). Paulus mengagungkan diri sebagai seorang keturunan suku ~B. (Rom 11:1Filip 3:5). Peta PL C6.

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Benyamin [Kamus Tokoh]

Benyamin

Anak ke 12 dari Rahel (Kej 35:16-24; 46:19-211Taw 2:2).

Yakub menolak untuk mengirim dia ke Mesir; akhirnya mengirimnya (dalam Kej 42:1-45:28).

Suku diberkati (Kej 49:27Ul 33:12), dihitung (Bil 1:37; 26:41), diberikan tanah (Yos 18:11-28Yeh 48:23), tidak berhasil menduduki seluruh tanahnya (Hak 1:21), hampir dimusnahkan (dalam Hak 20:1-21:25), berpihak dengan Isyboset (dalam 2Sam 2:1-32), tetapi kembali ke Daud (1Taw 12:2,29).

12,000 dari (Wahy 7:8).

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Suku Benyamin [Kamus Pedoman]

1. Keturunan anak Yakub yang kedua belas.Kej 35:18
2. Nubuat-nubuat tentang - .Kej 49:27Ul 33:12
3. Orang-orang yang terpilih dari - :3.1 Untuk menghitung orang Israel.Bil 1:11
3.2 Untuk mengintai Kanaan.Bil 13:9
3.3 Untuk membagi tanah Kanaan.Bil 34:21
3.4 Kekuatan-pada waktu meninggalkan Mesir.Bil 1:36,37
3.5 Membentuk barisan penutup semua laskar bani Israel yang ketigadalam perjalanan mereka. Bil 10:22,24
3.6 Berkemah di sebelah barat Kemah Pertemuan di bawah panji-panjilaskar Efraim. Bil 2:18-22
3.7 Persembahan - pada waktu Kemah Pertemuan ditahbiskan.Bil 7:60-65
3.8 Bani - .Bil 26:38-40
3.9 Kekuatan - pada waktu masuk ke negeri Kanaan.Bil 26:41
3.10 Di atas gunung Gerizim telah memberi berkat.Ul 27:12
3.11 Daerah-daerah dan batas-batas milik pusaka - .Yos 18:11-28
3.12 Terkenal sebagai pemanah-pemanah dan sanggup melontarkanbatu. 1Taw 12:2
3.13 Membantu melawan Sisera.Hak 5:14
3.14 Ditindas oleh bani Amon.Hak 10:9
3.15 Hampir dibinasakan sebab melindungi orang Gibea.Hak 20:12-48
3.16 Sisa - mendapat isteri untuk memelihara kelangsungan suku.Hak 21:1-23
3.17 Raja pertama untuk bani Israel dari - .1Sam 9:1,2,15-17; 10:20,212Sam 2:8-10
3.18 Sebagian - telah menolong Daud.1Taw 12:1-7,16,29
3.19 Untuk sementara waktu mengikut keluarga Saul melawan Daud.2Sam 2:9,15,25,31
3.20 Mendurhaka kepada Saul.2Sam 3:19
3.21 Sebagian - hadir pada waktu Daud dinobatkan menjadi raja.1Taw 12:29
3.22 Seribu orang dari - bersama Simei datang menemui Daud padawaktu ia kembali ke Yerusalem. 2Sam 19:16,17
3.23 Sangat banyak pada zaman Daud.1Taw 7:6-12
3.24 Panglima tentara diangkat untuk - .1Raj 4:181Taw 27:12
3.25 Tetap setia kepada suku Yehuda.1Raj 12:21
3.26 Melengkapi suatu tentara untuk Yosafat.2Taw 17:17
3.27 Beberapa orang dari - pulang dari tawanan dan tinggaldi Yerusalem. Ezr 1:5Neh 11:4
4. Orang-orang yang terkenal:4.1 Abner.1Sam 14:51; 17:55
4.2 Ehud.Hak 3:15
4.3 Elhanan.2Sam 21:19
4.4 Kisy.1Sam 9:1
4.5 Paulus.Fili 3:5
4.6 Saul.1Sam 9:2; 10:1

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BENYAMIN [Kamus Browning]

Anak laki-laki --> Yakub dan --> Rahel yang termuda (Kej. 35:18), yang diakui oleh suku --> Benyaminsebagai leluhurnya. Disebutkan bahwa ia dekat dengan --> Yusuf, dan secara historis diduga suku Benyamin bersekutu dengan suku Utara ( --> Yusuf). Dapat dimengerti jikalau nama Benyamin berarti orang Selatan. Mereka menempati sebidang tanah yang merupakan penyangga antara --> Efraim dan --> Yehuda. Setelah kekejaman yang dilakukan, yang menyebabkan serangan gencar dari suku-suku lain (Hak. 20), Benyamin yang lemah menjadi bergantung pada Yehuda. --> Saul berasal dari suku ini, begitu pula Simei dan Seba, para penentang --> Daud (2Sam.16:5; 20:1). Setelah perpecahan Israel dan Yehuda menjadi dua kerajaan, Benyamin menjadi bagian dari kerajaan Selatan (Neh. 11:7), namun keturunan suku ini tetap ingat sejarah mereka, sebagaimana --> Yeremia(1:1) dan Paulus (Flp. 3:5).

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BENYAMIN [Ensiklopedia]

1. Putra bungsu dari Yakub. Ia disebut binyamin ('putra tangan kanan') oleh ayahnya, meskipun Rahel, ibunya, yg meninggal sewaktu melahirkan dia, menyebut dia ben-`oni ('putra kesusahanku', Kej 35:18, 24, 42 dab). Setelah Yusuf hilang, Benyamin mendapat tempat utama dalam cinta kasih ayahnya sebagai putra yg masih hidup dari Rahel; hal ini adalah penting dalam penyerahan saudara-saudaranya kepada saudara mereka, Yusuf (Kej 42:4, 38; 44).

2. Suku keturunan Benyamin, Ibrani binyamin, kata pengelompok, jamak bene binyamin, juga bene yemini (1 Sam 22:7Hak 19:16) dan tunggal ben yemini atau be, hayyemini (bnd 1 Sam 9:1, 'isy yemini; 9:4, 'erets yemini) Namanya yg mirip binu (atau maru) yamina mungkin berarti 'putra-putra orang-orang pengembara di Selatan' yg terdapat pada abad 18 sM dalam naskah-naskah Mari, dan beberapa ahli (mis Alt, Parrot) mengira ini asal-usul dari suku dalam Alkitab itu; tapi perbedaan dalam waktu dan asal menjadikan penyamaan itu kurang pasti.

Banyak perincian dari silsilah Benyamin dapat ditemukan, meskipun sumber-sumber itu tidaklah lengkap; dalam Kej 46:21 di bilang sepuluh keluarga, tapi dalam Taw hanya disebut tiga golongan (1 Taw 7:6 dab) dan dari yg tiga ini nama Yediel tidak terdapat dalam Pentateukh. Pencatatan kaum Benyamin terdapat dalam Bil 26:38 dab; lih juga 1 Taw 8untuk perincian yg sesuai dengan catatan pada zaman raja.

Suku ini tinggal di suatu daerah jalur lintas antara G Efraim dan bukit-bukit Yudea. Perbatasan dengan Yudea ditandai dengan tegas (Yos 18:15 dab, bnd 15:5 dab) dan melintas ke selatan Yerusalem, tapi kota ini tetap dalam kekuasaan orang Yebus sampai dikalahkan oleh Daud.

Perbatasan utara seperti terbaca dalam Yos 18:11 dab tidak begitu terang meskipun sesuai dengan perbatasan selatan dari Efraim (16:1-3). Batas itu melalui sebelah selatan Betel (bnd Hak 1:221 Raj 12:29), namun pada waktu-waktu tertentu yg termasuk daerah Benyamin bukan hanya Betel, tapi juga Ofra di timur laut (Yos 18:23; bnd 2 Taw 13:19Ezr 2:28). Dalam Yos 18:21 dab didaftarkan dua kelompok permukiman, timur dan tengah; pelebaran ke barat ditunjukkan dalam singgungan tentang Beerot (2 Sam 4:2dab) dan Ayalon (l Taw 8:13); Lod dan Ono diduduki setelah zaman pembuangan (Neh 11:35). Tidak terang apakah kota Het Kiryat-Yearim, 2 km di selatan Khephirah, diduduki lebih dulu atau lebih kemudian, Noth (Yosua, hlm 89) menganggap penyamaan dengan Ba'alah dari Yehuda sebagai keterangan yg keliru, tapi itu diulangi (Yos 15:9,60; 18:14; bnd Hak 18:121 Taw 2:52; 13:6).

'Benyamin adalah seperti serigala yg menerkam' -- demikian bunyi berkat Yakub (Kej 49:27). Suku ini sangat terkenal oleh keberanian dan ketrampilannya dalam perang, dan istimewa terkenal dalam hal keterampilan membandul dengan tangan kiri (Hak 3:15 dab; 20:16; bnd 1 Taw 8:40). Ehud, yg melepaskan Israel dari bangsa Moab, adalah keturunan Benyamin; demikian juga Saul, raja Israel pertama (1 Sam 9:1), ratu Ester (Est 2:5) dan rasul Paulus (Rm 11:1). Letak wilayah Benyamin tepat pada jalur perluasan orang Filistin, justru peran utama kepemimpinan suku ini dalam sejarah Israel adalah di bawah kepemimpinan Saul. Pada waktu itu umumnya suku Benyamin setia kepada Saul, kendati beberapa menyeberang kepada Daud dalam pembuangannya (1 Taw 12:2-7, 29). Memang lama sesudahnya kesumat ini masih di pendam (2 Sam 16:5; 20:1). Kesetiaan baru ini kepada suku jelas dalam tantangannya terhadap tuntutan bangsa akan keadilan dalam peristiwa gundik seorang Lewi (Hak 20:21), lama sebelum ada kerajaan (20:26 dab).

Setelah Yerusalem dijadikan ibukota, Benyamin ditarik kepada Yehuda (1 Taw 8:28), dan setelah perpecahan Rehabeam tetap mempertahankan kesetiaannya (1 Raj 12:212 Taw 11; perhatikan 1 Raj 11:32, 'oleh karena Yerusalem'). Di kota itu ada dua 'pintu gerbang Benyamin', satu di Bait Suci (Yer 20:2) yg lain mungkin sama dengan 'pintu gerbang domba-domba' di tembok utara kota (Yer 37:13Za 14:10). Meskipun beberapa kali timbul perang (1 Raj 15:16 dab; 2 Raj 14:11 dab) Benyamin tetap merupakan wilayah dad Yehuda (bnd 2 Raj 23:8, 'Geba'). Sesudah kembali dari Pembuangan, tiada lagi perbedaan Benyamin dan Yehuda kecuali dalam hal silsilah perseorangan (bnd Neh 7 dgn 12:7dab).

Dalam penglihatan Yehezkiel bagian wilayah Benyamin berada tepat di bagian selatan ibukota (Yeh 48:22dab).

3. Seorang Benyamin dari suku Yidael (1 Taw 7:10).

4. Seorang Benyamin dari masa pembangunan kembali yg mengambil perempuan asing (Ezr 10:32). Neh 3:23; 12: 34 mungkin menyebut orang itu juga.

KEPUSTAKAAN. Naskah Mari: M Noth, JSS 1, 1956, hlm 322-333; J Gibson, JSS 7 1962, hlm 57 dst; Ilmu bumi; Z Kallai, IEJ 6, 1956, hlm 180-187; GTT, hlm 164 dst, 170 dst. Umum: J Bright, History of Israelz,1972; H Gronbaek, VT 15, 1965, hlm 421-436; K-D. Schunck, ZAW Suppl 86, 1963, lih juga JBL 83, 1964, hlm 207; M Noth, History of Israeli, 1960. JPUL/RS

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BENYAMIN [Biotokoh Pl]

Arti nama:ANAK DARI TANGAN KANANKUAyah: Yakub - Kejadian 46:19Ibu: Rakhel - Kejadian 35:16-19, 46:19Anak laki-laki: Bela, Bekher, Asybel, Yera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosy, Muppim, Huppim dan And - Kejadian 46; 21Saudara laki-laki: Saudara kandung Yusuf - Kejadian 35:24Saudara perempuan: Saudara tiri Dina - Kejadian 30:21Keturunan: Saul dalam Perjanjian Lama dan Perjanjian Baru (1 Samuel 9:1-2Filipi 3:5)Disebut pertama: Kejadian 35:18Namanya disebut: 21 kaliKitab yang menyebut: 4 buku : Kejadian, Keluaran, Ulangan, 1 TawarikhTempat kematian: Dekat Betlehem - Kejadian 35:16-19Terakhir disebut: 1 Tawarikh 7:6Fakta penting: IA YANG BUNGSU DARI 12 ANAK YAKUB, IBUNYA MATI SETELAH MELAHIRKANNYA. IA SAUDARA KANDUNG YUSUF SATU-SATUNYA (KEJADIAN 42:13)

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Yunani

Strongs #958 βενιαμιν Beniamin

Βενιαμειν Beniamein:[maskulin] Benyamin (Kamus Barclay)

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Benyamin [Statistik]

Jumlah dalam TB : 180 dalam 173 ayat (dalam OT : 176 dalam 169 ayat) (dalam NT : 4 dalam 4 ayat)

Strong dalam PL : [<0376> איש ‎1x] [<01144> בנימין ‎165x] [<01145> בן-ימיני ‎9x] [<01387> גבע ‎3x] [<01992> חם ‎1x] [<03227> ימיני ‎3x] [<03228> ימיני ‎1x]

Strong dalam PB : [<958> βενιαμιν ‎4x]

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Dalam Versi-Versi Alkitab:

bani Benyamin: TB 
Benyamin: BIS TB 
kaum suku Benyamin: TB 
orang Benyamin: BIS TB 
orang-orang Benyamin: BIS TB 
seorang Benyamin: TB 
suku Benyamin: BIS TB 

Alphabet

al´fa -bet :

1. Definition

An alphabet is a list of the elementary sounds used in any language. More strictly speaking it is that particular series, commonly known as the Phoenician or Canaanite alphabet, which was in use in the region of Palestine about 1000 bc, and which is the ancestor of nearly all modern written alphabets whether Semitic or European. It is the alphabet therefore of Old Testament Hebrew and Aramaic and New Testament Greek, of the superscription of Caesar and the Latin inscription on the cross, as well as of English through the Greek and Latin. It is an interesting fact, with many practical bearings on text and exegesis, that three sets of letters so very unlike in appearance as Hebrew, Greek and modern English should be the same in origin and alike in nature. Although the earliest surviving inscriptions must be a good deal later than the separation between the Greek and Hebrew, the records in each are more like one another than either is like its own modern printed form.

The characteristics of an alphabet are (1) The analysis of sounds into single letters rather than syllables or images, (2) The fixed order of succession in the letters, (3) The signs for the sounds, whether names or written symbols.

Of these the analysis into single letters, instead of whole words or syllables, is the characteristic element. The order of the letters may vary, as that of the Sanskrit does from the European, and yet the list remain not only alphabetic but the "same" alphabet, i.e. each sound represented by a similar name or written character. On the face of it, therefore, it might be imagined that the Egyptian and Babylonian, the Cypriote, the Minoan and other forms earlier than the Canaanite which are known or suspected to have had phonetic systems, may have had lists of these forms arranged in a fixed order, but these lists were not alphabetic until the final analysis into individual letters.

2. Name

The name alphabet comes from the fist two letters of the Greek, alpha beta , just as the old English name for the alphabet, abc or abece , is simply the first three letters of the English alphabet, and thus is merely an abbreviation for the whole alphabet. It appears that the Greeks also used the first and last letters of the alphabet (alpha and omega ) as the Jews did the first and last, or the first, middle and last letters of their alphabet, as abbreviation for the whole and in the same sense that in English one says "a to izzard." Alpha and beta are themselves derived from the Semitic names for the same letters ('ālēph , bēth ) and have no meaning in the Greek.

3. Invention

The question of the invention of this alphabet differs from the question of the origin of the written forms of the letters with which it is often confused, and relates to the recognition of the individual letters. Alphabetical language whether written or spoken, inward or outward, is distinguished from the pictographic, hieroglyphic, and syllabic stages by this analysis into individual sounds or letters. It begins with the picture, passes to the ideogram and syllable, and from the syllable to the letter. This is best seen in writing, but it is equally true in speech. At the letter stage the alphabet begins. It is alleged by some that another stage, a consonantal writing, between syllabic and alphabetic writing, should be recognized. This would deny to the Phoenician the character of a true alphabet since, as in all Semitic languages, the vowels were in ancient times not written at all. Some go so far as to speak of it as syllabic in character, but on the other hand it may be said with equal pertinence that various syllabaries are nearly alphabetic. When a syllabic writing is reduced, as was the case with the Egyptian, the Cypriote and others, to a point where a character represents uniformly a certain consonant and a certain vowel, the vocal analysis has been made and the essential alphabet begun, although it was only later that men discovered that the consonant common to several syllables might be expressed to advantage in writing by one unvarying sign, and later still that the vowels too might be distinguished to advantage.

4. Origin of the Letters

Few modern questions are changing shape so rapidly as that of the historical predecessor of the Canaanite or Phoenician alphabet. For a long time it was thought that De Rouge had solved the problem by tracing the letters to the Egyptian hieratic. This is the view of most of the popular literature of the present time, but is wholly surrendered by most workers in the field now, in spite of the fact that the latest studies in hieratic show a still greater resemblance in forms (Möller, Hierat. Palaographie , 1909). Winckler and others have claimed derivation from the Cuneiform, Praetorius from the Cypriote, Sayce gets at least three letters from the Hittite, while Evans and others incline to believe that the Minoan was the direct source of the alphabet, introduced from Crete into Palestine by the Philistines who were Cretans, or at least that the two are from a common ancestor, which is also the ancestor of many other of the Mediterranean alphabets.

Some, like Evans and Mosso, even suggest that, perhaps through the Minoan, the letter forms may be traced to the pictographs of the neolithic era in the caves of Europe. There is, in fact, an extraordinary resemblance between some of the letters of the Phoenician alphabet and some of the conventionalized signs of the neolithic age, and it may not be too fantastic to imagine that these early signs are the historic ancestors of the written alphabetical characters, but that they were in any sense alphabetical themselves is impossible if the invention of the alphabet was historical as here supposed, and is unlike from any point of view.

If in fact the Paestos disk dates from before 1600 bc, and if Dr. Hempl's resolution of it into Ionic Greek is sound, we have another possible source or stock of characters from which the inventor of the alphabet may have chosen (Harper's Magazine , January, 1911).

5. Number of Letters

The ideal written alphabet contains a separate character for each sound used in any or every language. Practically in most languages the alphabet falls a good deal short of the number of recognized sounds to be expressed in that language and in pronouncing dictionaries they have to be analyzed into say a broad, a short, a open, etc., by adding diacritical marks. "In educated English without regarding finer distinctions" (Edmonds, Comparative Philology , 45) about 50 sounds are commonly used, but Murray distinguishes at least 96, and the number sometimes used or which maybe used is much greater, the possible number of vowel sounds alone being as many as 72.

Moreover the individual letters differ in sound in different individuals, and even in the same individual in successive utterances of what would be called the same letter or the same sound. It is alleged that the average sound of the a for example, is never the same in any two languages; the a in "father," even, is never the same in any two individuals, and that the same individual, even, never pronounces it twice so exactly in the same fashion that the difference may not be detected by sound photography.

The written alphabet is always thus less than the number of sounds used. The Phoenician and the Semitic alphabets generally had 22 letters, but they omitted the vowels. English has 26, of which many have two or more sounds.

6. Names of the Letters

The names of the Greek alphabet are derived from the Semitic names and are meaningless in the Greek, while in the Semitic it has been pretty clearly shown that they signify for the most part some object or idea of which the earliest form of the written letter was a picture, as e.g. 'ālēph , the ox. The forms of the letters are apparently derived from pictures of the ox, house, etc., made linear and finally reduced to a purely conventional sign which was itself reduced to the simplest writing motion. All this has been boldly denied by Mr. Pilcher (PSBA , XXVI (1904), 168-73; XXVII (1905), 65-68), and the original forms declared to be geometric; but he does not seem to have made many converts, although he has started up rival claimants to his invention.

The names of the letters at least seem to indicate the Semitic origin of the alphabet, since the majority of them are the Semitic names for the objects which gave name to the letter, and the picture of which gives form to the written letter.

Following is Sayce's list (PSBA , XXXII (1910), 215-22) with some variants: (1) 'ālēph = ox; (2) bē̄th = house (tent); (3) gı̄mel = camel; (4) dāleth = door; (5) hê = house; (6) waw = nail (Evans, tent peg); (7) zâyin = weapon; (8) ḥêth = fence; (9) ṭêth = cake of bread (Lidzbarski, a package); (10) yôdh = hand; (11) kaph = palm of hand; (12) lamedh = ox-goad; (13) mêm = water flowing; (14) nûn = fish; (15) ṣamekh = ?; (16) ‛ayin = eye; (17) pê = mouth; (18) cadhē = trap (others, hook or nose or steps), (19) ḳoph = cage (Evans says picture is an outline head and Lidzbarski, a helmet); (20) rêsh = head; (21) shîn = tooth (not teeth); (22) taw = mark. Not all of these meanings are, however, generally accepted (compare also Nöldeke, Beitrage Strassb. (1904), 124-36; Lidzbarski, Ephemeris , II, 125-39).

7. Order of Letters

The order of the letters differs more or less in different languages, but it is in the main the same in all the Semitic and Western alphabets derived from the Phoenician alphabet and this is roughly the order of the English alphabet. This order is, however, full of minor variations even among the Western alphabets and in the Indian languages the letters are entirely regrouped on a different principle.

The conventional order of the Semitic alphabet may be traced with some certainty in the Biblical books to as early as the 6th century bc, even accepting the dates of a radical higher criticism, for there are more than a dozen passages in the Old Testament composed on the principle of the alphabetical acrostic (Psalms 111:1-10; Psalms 112:1-10; 119; Prov 31:10-31; Lam 1; 2; 3; 4, etc.) and the oldest of these are of this period (see ACROSTIC ). The Formello abecedarium, if it is in fact from the 7th century bc, carries the known order back a century farther still and shows it prevailing in Italy as well as Palestine. Moreover, there are those who still consider some of the alphabetical psalms older even than this.

It must be noted, however, that while the order is in general fixed, there are local and temporary differences. In several cases e.g. the order of the sixteenth and seventeenth letters of the alphabet is inverted in the alphabetical acrostics, and this would seem to point to a time or place where pē̄ , ‛ayin , was the accepted order. It happens that the inversion occurs in both the passages which are counted earliest by the modern critics (G. B. Gray in HDB 2, 8). Mr. Sayce too has recently altered or restored the order by relegating the original ṣamekh to a place after shı̂n , while Mr. Pilcher has quite reconstructed the original order on a geometrical basis, to his own taste at least, as brd; hvg; mnl; szt .

A certain grouping together of signs according to the relationship of the objects which they represent has often been noticed, and Sayce (PSBA , XXXII (1910), 215-22) thinks that he has (after having put ṣamekh in its right place) reduced the whole matter to a sequence of pairs of things which belong together: ox-house, camel-tent door, house-nail, weapon-fence (city wall), bread-hand, open hand-arm with goad, water-fish, eye-mouth, trap-cage, head-tooth, ṣamekh , taw . This arranging he thinks was done by someone who knew that 'alûph was the West Semitic for "leader" and taw was the Cretan sign for ending - an Amorite therefore in touch with the Philistines. The final word on order seems not yet to have been spoken.

8. The Earliest Texts

The chief North Semitic texts are (1) Moabite stone (circa 850 bc); (2) inscriptions of Zkr, Zenjirli, etc. (circa 800 bc); (3) Baal-Lebanon inscription (circa 750 bc); (4) Siloam inscription (circa 700 bc); (5) Harvard Samaritan ostraca (time of Ahab?); (6) Gezer tablet; (7) various weights and seals before 600 bc. The striking fact about the earliest inscriptions is that however remote geographically, there is on the whole so little difference in the forms of the letters. This is particularly true of the North Semitic inscriptions and tends to the inference that the invention was after all not so long before the surviving inscriptions. While the total amount of the earliest Palestine inscriptions is not even yet very large, the recent discovery of the Samaritan ostraca , the Gezer tablet, and various minor inscriptions, is at least pointing to a general use of Semitic writing in Palestine at least as early as the 9th century bc.

9. Changes in Letter Forms

The tendency of letters to change form in consequence of changed environment is not peculiar to alphabetical writing but is characteristic of the transmission of all sorts of writing. The morphology of alphabetical writing has however its own history. The best source for studying this on the Semitic side is Lidzbarski's Handbuch (see below), and on the Greek side the best first source is E. S. Roberts, Introduction to Greek Epigraphy (Cambr.). The best synoptical statement of the Semitic is found in the admirable tables in the Jewish Encyclopedia , V, i, 449-53.

For the later evolution of both Greek and Latin alphabets, E. M. Thompson's Introduction to Greek and Latin Paleography , Oxford, 1912, is far the best Introduction. In this he takes account of the great finds of papyri which have so revolutionized the study of the forms of Greek letters around the beginning of the Christian era, since his first Handbook was published. (See articles on the text of Old Testament and New Testament.)

In the Hebrew, the old Phoenician alphabet of the early inscriptions had in the New Testament times given way to the square Aramaic characters of the modern Hebrew which possibly came into use as early as the time of Ezra.

The most comprehensive modern brief conspectus covering both Hebrew and Greek is that reproduced in this article from the little manual of Specht. See also WRITING .

Literature

Isaac Taylor's Alphabet (2nd ed., 1899) is still useful for orientation, and his article in the HDB likewise, but Edward Clodd's little Story of the Alphabet (New York, 1907), taken with Faulmann's Geschichte der Schrift and Buch der Schrift , is better for general purposes. For scientific purposes see the bibliography prefixed to Lidzbarski's Handbuch der nordsemitischen Epigraphik (1898, 2 vols) and his Ephemeris passim to date, Evans' Scripta minoa , Oxf., 1909, and the literature of the article WRITING in this Encyclopaedia. See also C. G. Ball, "Origin of the Phoenician Alphabet," Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology , XV, 392-408; E. J. Pilcher, "The Origin of the Alphabet," PSBA , XXVI (1904), 168-73; Franz Praetorius, "The Origin of the Canaanite Alphabet," Smithsonian Rep. (1907), 595-604; S. A. Cook, "The Old Hebrew Alphabet and the Gezer Tablet," PEFS (1909), 284-309. For Bible class work, H. N. Skinner's Story of the Letters and Figures (Chicago, 1905) is very admirably adapted to the purpose.