Parent: JesusWordsOnly
Who is the Benjamite Wolf in Prophecy
Jesus ' Words on the Ravening Wolf
Jesus several times mentions a wolf or wolves. He says the false prophets will be wolves dressed like sheep. This means they will claim to be followers of Christ, but "inwardly [they] are ravening wolves." The full quote is:
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly are ravening wolves. (Matt. 7:15.)
Jesus warns true Christians that they are at risk from these so-called Christians who are truly ravening wolves.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye
therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. (Matt. 10:16)
Christian leaders who do not care for the flock will leave the average Christian at the mercy of these ravening wolves. Jesus explains:
He that is a hireling, and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are
not, beholdeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth,
and the wolf snatcheth them, and scattereth them: (John 10:12)
He fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. (John 10:13)(ASV)
s this imagery of the ravening wolf as the false prophet ever spoken about elsewhere in Scripture? Yes, in fact there is a prophecy in the book of Genesis that the tribe of Benjamin would later produce just such a "ravening wolf."
Genesis Prophecies of Messiah and His Enemy from the Tribe of Benjamin
Paul tells us in (Rom. 11:1), "For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin ." Paul repeats this in (Phil. 3:5), saying he is "of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin ." 1
Keeping this in mind, Genesis has a very interesting Messianic prophecy. Modern Christians are sadly generally unaware of this prophecy. It may be ignored because the nearby passage about a Benjamite ravening wolf in the latter days hits too close to home. It is better to ignore a clear Messianic prophecy than to risk seeing the Bible prophesied the emergence of Paul and the error he would propagate among Christians.
In Genesis chapter 49, Jacob, also known as Israel, utters a prophecy of the latter days. In this prophecy, Jacob identities the role of each son and his tribe. The passage begins:
And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: gather yourselves
together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the
latter days. (Gen. 49:1)
- We discussed elsewhere the Ebionite charge that Paul was not a true Jew. Then could he still be a Benjamite? Yes, Paul could be a descendant of a tribe without being a true Jew. For example, if one of Paul's grandparents were a Benjamite, then he can be of the tribe but not a true Jew.
Then Jacob delivers a prophecy about his son Judah and the tribe of Judah for the latter days. It is a clear Messianic prophecy.
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah [i.e., the right to rule
belongs to this tribe], Nor the ruler's staff from between his
feet, Until Shiloh come: And unto him shall the obedience of the
peoples be. (Gen. 49:10)
Binding his foal unto the vine, And his ass's colt unto the choice vine;
He hath washed his garments in wine, And his vesture in the
blood of grapes. (Gen. 49:11]
His eyes shall be red with wine, And his teeth white with milk. (Gen. 49:12] (ASV)
The root word for Shiloh comes from Shalom, meaning peace. Shiloh means one who brings peace. Shiloh comes holding the sceptre of Judah. Shilo thus is a prince of peace.
This passage therefore clearly depicts Messiah, the Prince of Peace, with his gannents bathed in the blood of grapes. All obedience will be owed him. The Genesis-Shiloh Messiah is then presented in similar imagery as the Lamb of God in the Book of Revelation. (Rev. 19:13) "garment sprinkled with blood".
Ancient Jewish scholars also read this Genesis passage to be a Messianic prophecy. In all three Rabbinic Targums, the Hebrew scholars taught Shiloh was the name for Messiah. This was also repeated by many ancient Jewish writers. (Gill, Gen. 49:10.)
So why is this Messianic passage so unfamiliar to Christians? Perhaps because in close proximity we find Jacob's prophecy about the tribe of Benjamin. This Benjamite prophecy follows many positive predictions for all the other eleven tribes.
Of whom does the Benjamite prophecy speak? When weighed carefully, there is very little chance that the Benjamite prophecy could be about anyone but Paul. This prophecy about Benjamin, if it was to be fulfilled and then verified, must have been fulfilled in the time of Christ. At that time, the tribes of Judah, Levi, and Benjamin still had survived.
The others were the lost tribes of the Diaspora. (Gill, commentary on Gen. 49:10). After the time of Christ, any distinguishable tribe of Benjamin soon disappeared. Thus, the prophecy about Benjamin is no longer capable of being fulfilled and confirmed. Accordingly, one must consider the possibility this verse is talking about Paul. In fact, the early Christian church, as demonstrated below, did think this was a prophecy about Paul. Somehow we lost memory of this teaching.
Let's turn now to Jacob's last prophecy about the Benjamites in the "latter days " when Shiloh comes. Here we read of the imagery of a ravening wolf that identifies the tribe of Benjamin.
Benjamin is a wolf that raveneth: In the morning she shall devour
the prey, And at evening] he shall divide the spoil. (Gen. 49:27) ASV
Let's analyze this verse - for there is a time-sequence to the ravening wolf's activity. In the morning, he devours the prey. This means he kills his prey. In the evening, he takes the spoils left over after killing the prey. There are many metaphorical similarities to Paul. He starts as a killer of Christians or as one who approves the killing of Christians. (Acts 7:58; 8:1-3, 9:1.) However, later Paul claims a right of division among his earlier prey -he exclusively will recruit Gentiles as Christians while the twelve apostles supposedly would exclusively recruit Jews. ((Gal. 2:9).)
- The unlikelihood that this was consensual from the twelve is discussed in "Paul's Admission of Parting Ways With the Apostles" on page 334.
In fact, in the early Christian church, this entire verse of (Gen. 49:27) was read to be a prophecy about Paul. However, the second part was then spun favorably to Paul. An early church writer, Hippolytus (200s A.D.), said Paul fulfilled (Gen. 49:27) because Paul started as a murderer of Christians, fulfilling the first part of Genesis 49:27. The second part about 'dividing the spoil' was interpreted by Hippolytus to mean Paul made Christian followers predominantly among Gentiles. However, this was read positively. Hippolytus believed Paul divided the spoil in a manner God intended. However, dividing the spoil means plundered. It does not have a positive connotation. This spin by Hippolytus on dividing the spoil as a good deed was wishful thinking. God instead was sending a prophecy of the evil that would be done by this Benjamite, not the good.
Here is the quote from the early church writer Hippolytus (estimated to be 205 A.D.) wherein he saw God prophesying of Paul in (Gen. 49:27:)
'Benjamin is a devouring wolf. In the morning, he will devour the
prey, and at night he will apportion the food.' This thoroughly
fits Paul, who was of the tribe of Benjamin. For when he was
young, he was a ravaging wolf. However, when he believed, he
'apportioned the food.' (Hippolytus, W 5.168.) 3
These writings from the early church demonstrates two things: (a) early Christians were more familiar than ourselves with the Shiloh Messianic prophecy in (Gen. 49:1012); and (b) if one knew the Shiloh prophecy, one could not avoid seeing in close proximity the prophecy of a Benjamite wolf (Gen. 49:27) whereupon one would realize it is unmistakably talking about Paul. As Hippolytus says, "this thoroughly fits Paul."
- Notice incidentally that the positive spin was manufactured by Hippolytus changing the verse's meaning from divide the spoils to apportion the food.
What do modem Pauline Christian commentators do with the Benjamite wolf prophecy? While some admit (Gen. 49:27) is about Paul, and spin the divide the spoils aspect of the prophecy favorably toward Paul as a good deed, 4 the leading commentators take an entirely different approach. Gill, for example, adopts the ancient Jewish explanation of this prophecy of the latter days. Because Benjamin's territory was where the Temple was located, it was said the offering of the morning and evening sacrifice fell to his lot, i.e ., territory. 5 Thus, this verse was supposedly intended to be talking about Benjamin's indirect role in the killing the sacrifice in the morning and evening. The performance of the sacrifices, of course, are positive God-serving actions if attributable to Benjamin's actions. Thus, rather than a ravening wolf being an evil beast who attacks innocent sheep, modern Christian commentators say Benjamin was being complimented for possessing wolf-like "fortitude, courage, and valour." (Gill.)
Gill ignores many key flaws in this application. First, the role of Benjamin's tribe in the killing was entirely passive, i.e., its territory was ceded to help locate the temple where sacrifices later took place. This passive role cannot evince any kind of courage or valour. It is a poor solution.
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See, e.g.. http://cgg.org/index.cfm/page/literature.showResource/CT/ARTB/k/1007 (last accessed 8/19/05).
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Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews (1909) Vol.2 Part VIII; Gill ("the temple which stood in the lot of Benjamin"). This rationale to apply the prophecy to a role for the tribe of Benjamin in the sacrifices is extremely weak. Just because the Temple apparently occupied part of Benjamin's territory does not mean that the morning and evening sacrifice was this tribe s responsibility. The duty of performing the sacrifice belonged to the Levites. It is a stretch of the wildest proportions to say a Benjamite in latter days would kill an animal by the mere passive role of having its tribal land under the feet of a Levite priest.
Genesis Prophecies of Messiah and His Enemy from the Tribe of Benjamin
More important, Gill ignores the context of the passage itself. The word prey, raveneth, wolf, spoils, etc., all are forebodings of evil acts, not courageous valor in good deeds. A ravening wolf is a wolf that is prowling and eating voraciously. Furthermore, the sacrificed animals in the temple are hardly prey. Also, technically, Benjamin's land-lot was used to kill the sacrifice in both the morning and evening. However, if prey means sacrifice, this prophecy was about killing prey only in the morning. Thus, it is incongruous to read this prophecy to be about Benjamin's land-lot being used in the evening and morning sacrifice.
Furthermore, Gill also overlooked the motivation behind these Targum explanations. The other tribes were probably mystified why their father Jacob warned them about Benjamin's tribe in the latter days. Gill fails to realize the Hebrew scholars who wrote the ancient Targums were engaged in good politics. The other eleven tribes were reassuring Benjamin that he was trusted. What else could they say to keep peace?
As a result, we are not beholden to that ancient polite resolution of this latter days prophecy. We now can see the clear fulfillment of this prophecy in the deeds of Paul.
Gill Also Overlooks the Bible's Portrayal Later of the Tribe of Benjamin
The Bible also gives us later an adequate depiction of the tribe of Benjamin and its members so that it is impossible to believe (Gen. 49:27) was meant at all positively. It was a portent of gloomy evil by the Benjamites. The Bible has utterly unflattering stories about the Benjamites.
First, at the same time the tribe of Benjamin's territory served its supposedly noble role in the morning/evening sacrifice, the Benjamites were fighting a war against the other eleven tribes. In two days, the Benjamites killed 40,000 members of the other tribes. However, the Benjamites were later lured into leaving their city, and lost their war. The tribe of Benjamin was virtually annihilated. (Judges chs. 19-21). In this episode, there is a particularly distasteful event. The men of Gibeah were Benjamites who the Bible describes as "a perverse lot." They cruelly tried to abuse a visitor and then they raped an old man's concubine. ((Judg. 19:14), 22, 25.)
Certainly, to this point in the Bible, the Benjamites are depicted as quite evil and even as anti-Israelites.
The next and last Bible story of Benjamites is more of the same negative portrayal of Benjamites. This story also has uncanny parallels to Saul-Paul.
The Bible tells us King Saul was a Benjamite. (1 Sam. 9:21). He is at one point an inspired true prophet, given a "new heart"-you could even say born again. (1 Sam. 10:910). Yet, later King Saul pursued the man named David to kill him. Saul did so despite knowing God decided David would replace Saul as King. (1 Sam. 18:8-10; 19:10.) Saul became so depraved that he wanted to kill his own son Jonathan because of his loyalty to David. (1 Sam. 20: 30-34.) Thus, Saul is an example of a true prophet from the tribe of Benjamin who later turned false by virtue of defying God's anointed ( messhiach ). 6 Unfortunately, Saul also would not be the last Saul from the tribe of Benjamin to begin apparently as a true prophet but who later defied the messhiach.
Incidentally, it is reassuring to remember that Saul, the Benjamite, did not triumph over the house of David. Eventually David took the throne from Saul. Initially, King Saul would not yield the throne to the House of David despite Saul prophetically knowing God's will to choose David. Saul made a desperate stand to hold onto raw power even after he realized he lacked God's true blessing. Nevertheless, the House of David eventually triumphed anyway over the Benjamite Saul. ((1Sam. 9:1-2); 10:1; 15:10, 30, 16:1.)
- Kings in those days were anointed with oil. The word anointed was messhiach. Thus, King David sometimes refers to himself as messhiach-anointed one. In Daniel, this title took on the characteristic of a future world ruler.
Thus, if Pauline Christians are the modern followers of the Benjamite wolf, then we know they are resisting following Jesus' words just like King Saul resisted letting David have the throne. Despite all their efforts to kill off Jesus' words by means of strained interpretations of various dispensations, God's anointed from the House of David will eventually triumph.
Regardless whether King Saul's story was intended to serve as such a parable, we can see in King Saul another Benjamite whose actions were evil in the last analysis. Prior to Paul's arrival, the Bible never depicts the Benjamite tribe as doing any good. Instead, the Bible portrays this tribe and its members as fighting the rest of Israel and God's anointed from the House of David. Thus, Gill's notion that (Gen. 49:27) was intended to compliment the valor of the Benjamites is completely baseless. It is solely a verse portending gloomy evil by members of this tribe, of which the Bible documents every step of the way right up to the point Paul is himself helping murder Christians.
Next we shall see how to discern the wolf by his deeds. The Bible, in Ezekiel, is highly specific. There is no question that Paul in his post-conversion teachings fits the traits of the time of the ravening wolves depicted by Ezekiel.