Benjamin, Tribe of

Martin Collins maintains that of 80% of professing 'Christians' most do not really understand God's Word or the eternally binding, immutable Laws it teaches. Paul, after enumerating the points of his impressive Jewish pedigree in Philippians 3, calls it all rubbish in comparison to Christ. The value of human righteousness can be compared to Monopoly money—worthless in the real economy. Human righteousness entails exchanging the worship of the Creator God for the worship of man. The mind of those who accept this exchange spirals downward to a depraved, darkened, reprobate state. Human righteousness always fails to live up to whatever standard it sets, whether the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, the Golden Rule. We must turn from our own gossamer righteousness to God's solid righteousness, accepting a higher standard than the rest of society. Godly faith is not based on feelings, nor is it blind, Pollyanna gullibility. The growth of faith parallels the incremental transformation from infatuation to mature married love. Saving faith is certain, based on a realization that, while we were still sinners, God saved us from the death penalty, purposing that we become like Christ, allowing His Spirit to transform us into His image. In the examples of Abraham and Sarah, we realize that faith does not start strong, but becomes increasingly strong as we yield to God's guiding hand. Believing His promises, we grow from faith to faith.

Martin Collins, emphasizing that God does not do anything randomly, reveals that even scientists advancing the so-called chaos theory have discovered that disintegration and breakdown (entropy) proceed according to orderly laws. Dr. James Gleick, in his exposition of the Butterfly Effect, observes that even an apparently chaotic event like falling water is governed by predictable laws of physics. Amazingly, some deluded scientists, with all this substantiation of order, continue to advance the evolutionary hypothesis—an untenable position that order can somehow be the product of chaos. God is a God of order and not confusion; all He does follows a specific order—summarized by the adage, a time and a place for everything. One does not laugh and joke at a funeral nor weep uncontrollably at a wedding. Likewise, there is nothing inconsequential or out of place in God's Word, including 1.) the order of Noah's entering and leaving the ark, 2.) the order in which Jacob placed his servants and family in his meeting with Esau, 3.) the order in which Jacob and Moses blessed the tribes of Israel, 4.) the order in which Abraham and Lot separated their families and assets and 5.) the order in which Joshua dispatched the tribes into the Promised land. God made careful distinction between light and darkness, creating boundaries between clean and unclean, profane and holy, insisting that the time He has made holy be kept in a different manner from the rest of the time cycles. The Sabbath serves as the basic time-marker of the week, the year, and the Jubilee. To everything there is a season when the appropriate behavior is expected. God's called-out ones strive to yield to God's timing, realizing that the steps of a good man are ordered by God.

Richard Ritenbaugh, marveling about biblical scholars' tying themselves into knots as they consider the proper genre for the book of the Esther— parable, comedy (in the classical sense), chronicle, morality play or fictional drama —reminds us that God wants us to study the Bible in depth, including the symbolic connections, but especially the plot and characterization, integral parts of the book of Esther. Mordecai, identified as a Benjamite (the tribe with a checkered past), lives and behaves as a man of God should, both an ideal Jew and a typical Jew, exiled as an aristocrat, an ethnic Jew related to King Saul, with special abilities from God, adopting his orphaned cousin Hadassah as his own daughter. Mordecai's sterling character does not change, but remains the standard against which all the other characters are judged, serving as a type of God, an invisible guiding force, concealing and protecting Hadassah from danger. Haman the Agagite is an evil, power-hungry schemer, a Satan-like being, the nemesis of the Jews, including Mordecai and Esther and King Ahasuerus. Esther is a Jewess living in a pagan culture, with a name referring to the goddess of love. Her Hebrew name represents a white flower with a perfume more exquisite than the rose. Just as Mordecai conceals Esther, God conceals His people in secret places under the shadow of His wings, in the sanctuary—the fellowship of the Church. Like Esther, we are pawns at the beginning of our conversion, but we must change dramatically to love God with all our hearts, actively doing His commandments, growing spiritually in responsibility as did Esther, who grew from her initial passive role to taking one of leadership, and that in sharp contrast to King Xerxes, an alcoholic whose advisers easily manipulate.

We know a lot about Joseph, but we tend to know precious little about his younger brother Benjamin. This article explores the biblical references to the man, the tribe, and two of his more famous descendants to uncover instruction for us.

As he aged, Solomon listened to his foreign wives and fell into idolatry. For this, Charles Whitaker shows, God divided his kingdom between Israel and Judah, but promised that a king of Judaic lineage will alway rule Israel—another search criterion in the quest to locate modern Israel.

John Ritenbaugh warns us against blaming our sins on something other than ourselves. God holds us personally responsible for our part in any sin (James 1: 12-16). Joseph's example proves that even the most difficult temptation can be resisted and overcome, though this skill must be developed incrementally. Joseph's early preparation gave him the ability to make the best out of any situation. The conclusion of Joseph's story shows a remarkable metamorphosis in his brothers—from hardness of heart to softness and compassion. Like Christ, Joseph's integrity and steadfastness provided the conditions for his brothers' repentance and eventual reconciliation.

John Ritenbaugh reiterates that working out our salvation does not mean working for salvation, but instead making what we believe operational. God, through His Spirit gives us the power both to will and to do. Paul admonishes the Philippians that nothing blemishes or disfigures their witness more than complaining, because like the ancient Israelites, they (and we) are actually calling God into account. Like Paul, we must consider our daily life a living sacrifice to perform whatever God demands of us. God desires that His witness extend from the written word to actual personalities performing and demonstrating His will — examples of living God's word. Without a living personality, the words just don't have the same effect. Paul, by establishing Epaproditus's credentials, punctuates or amplifies the intent of his written message.