Wolves in the Bible are depicted negatively as ruthless predators. So why, in Jacob’s farewell poem (Genesis 49:27), is Benjamin described as a ravenous wolf who devours foes by day and divides the spoil by night? The answer lies in a time when the ancient Israelites lived as nomads or semi-nomads, raising flocks and carrying out surprise raids; thus, wolves were a proud symbol of strength, cunning, and success.
After Joseph’s goblet is found in Benjamin’s sack, Judah makes a passionate speech to save Benjamin, in which he claims that if Benjamin leaves his father, “he will die.” Who will die? Why does the Torah phrase this so ambiguously?
The rabbis claim that a “subverted” or “apostate” city, which Deuteronomy 13:13-18 condemns to destruction, “never was and never will be” (t. San. 14:1). Yet the account in Judges 19-21 of the destruction or ḥerem of Gibeah, its inhabitants, animals, and property, suggests that such “internal ḥerem” was an Israelite practice, and that Gibeah is being presented as a subverted city.
Why the rabbis ended Parashat Miketz with a cliffhanger (in both the Babylonian and the Eretz-Yisraeli traditions), and what the Ancient Near Eastern legal context of “evidence law” can clarify for us about the background of the story.
The historical symbolism of the twelve tribes and the geographical significance of the tribe of Benjamin.
What is the meaning of the literary parallels in Genesis 34–38 and 1 Samuel?