Benjamin

After twenty years in exile in Padanaram, Jacob returned to Canaan with his family and all his possessions, and revisited Bethel where God blessed him again, and renamed him Israel. Shortly afterwards, his wife Rachel gave birth to her second and Jacob's twelfth son. She died in child-birth, and the stricken father named the infant Benjamin. Many years later; in his final address to his sons, Jacob likened Benjamin to a wolf (Genesis 49:27).

When the nation of Israel was about to occupy Canaan, God decreed that Israel must destroy all the local inhabitants. His reason was that the cultures and religions of the indigenous people would corrupt His Israel people - proselytes were expected to adopt the God-given laws and culture of Israel. However, God's direction about this matter was not obeyed. Once Israel had settled in Canaan many of the local inhabitants were spared. God was angered by this disobedience and indicated that troubles would follow.

The first disaster soon occurred. Jerusalem and Gibeon, two large cities in the territory allocated the tribe of Benjamin, were left intact. In due course, the Israel people living in the area began to adopt the same abominable habits that had led to God's annihilation of Sodom (compare Genesis 19:l-8 with Judges 19:5-28). Following Benjamin's refusal to hand over the deviant men for judgement, the rest of Israel slaughtered all but 600 men of the tribe of Benjamin. The tribe survived this decimation, but always remained small in number.

Several centuries later God agreed to Israel's request for a king, and Saul, a Benjaminite, was selected. However, this man did not obey God's orders given through the prophet Samuel and was rejected. Samuel was instructed to anoint David of the tribe of Judah to be Israel's second king thereby fulfilling Jacob's promise to his son Judah that he would be the progenitor of a kingly line (Genesis 49:10).

After Solomon's death, the Israel kingdom was divided into the ten-tribed House of Israel, and the two-tribed House of Judah comprising the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The small number of the House of Judah that were not deported to Assyria with the rest of Israel at the time of the captivity (741-721 B.C.), were eventually taken captive to Babylon. Following the conquest of Babylon by the Medes and Persians, a small number of the descendants of these captives, called Jews at that time, returned to Canaan. Many of those of Benjaminite ancestry settled in the region of the Lake of Galilee and eventually became known as Galileans.

When Jesus selected His disciples, eleven of the twelve were Galileans - probably Benjaminites; Judas Iscariot was a Judahite. The Apostle Paul was also a Benjaminite. Thus was a prophecy of Ahijah fulfilled in which God promised that the tribe of Benjamin would be a light to the Davidic dynasty (1 Kings 11:36).

The insignia of the wolf does not have great heraldic significance today, but some historians suggest that it was the emblem used by the ancient Normans. These people migrated from Scandinavia to France and later, under William the Conqueror, to England. This completed God's planting of the Israel people in their new home (the British Isles) as was promised to King David some 2000 years previously. No invasion of the British Isles has occurred since - also in accordance with Bible prophecy (Isaiah 54:17).

The completion of the migration of Israel to the British Isles set the stage for the transfer of the Davidic Throne to London. This was followed by the establishment of the "Company of Nations" (Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), and the "Great People" (the United States of America) that Israel was to become in these safe and blessed lands (2 Samuel 7:10, Ezekiel 21:27, Genesis 35:10-12).