BENJAMIN SHALL RAVIN AS A WOLF

Nothing in Benjamin’s personal history suggests wolf-like fea­tures, but many of his descendants were vicious. In the time of the Judges, the tribe came near to extinction because lewd behaviour among them went unpunished, provoking the fury of the remaining tribes, chs. 19-21. Benjamin the wolf thought that he could stand up to the rest!

King Saul was the most notable Benjamite in the Old Testa­ment, and his namesake in the New Testament was the man from Tarsus; both of them were ravening wolves. The king relentlessly pursued David, and was guilty of the unprovoked slaughter of God’s priests, 1 Sam. 22. 6-23. Near the end of his days he was made aware of his folly, and confessed, ‘I have sinned … I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly’, 1 Sam. 26. 21. Sadly, his confession did not result in repentance. By contrast, at the end of his life Saul of Tarsus said this, ‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith’, 2 Tim. 4. 7. Like Benjamin, in the evening of his life, he ‘di­vided the spoil’, for, as he anticipated reward, he was aware that it was for ‘all them also that love his appearing’, v. 8. However, in the morning he had ‘devoured the prey’. As the youthful Saul of Tarsus, he was ‘breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord’, Acts 9. 1. God intervened in saving power, and the one time wolf could write to his converts at Thessalonica, ‘We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children’, 1 Thess. 2. 7. What a transformation! What a miracle of divine grace!

This Benjamite had learned something of the blessing of Moses for the tribe, ‘The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him’, Deut. 33. 12. He was aware that he was beloved of the Lord, and thus he wrote, ‘The Son of God … loved me, and gave himself for me’, Gal. 2. 20. As a beneficiary of that sacrifice of love, he dwelt safely, for, ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus’, Rom. 8. 1.

Hidden in the Saviour’s side; By the Spirit sanctified: [Robert Murray McCheyne]