Genesis 49:27
“Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.”
Benjamin speaks of a victorious remnant.
Jacob closes with a strong image. Benjamin is not pictured as weak, cornered, or barely surviving. He is pictured as a wolf, ravenous, forceful, and victorious. In the morning he devours the prey. At night he divides the spoil. The whole verse carries the sense of strength, triumph, and final victory.
And that is a fitting way to bring this whole section around.
Throughout history, the Jews have been castigated, hunted, scattered, and nearly annihilated. Again and again, the world has tried to crush them. Again and again, enemies have risen up against them with the thought that surely this time Israel would disappear. But the story is not over yet.
That is what Benjamin seems to say.
The people who have been hated will not remain underfoot forever. The people who have been pursued will not always be the hunted ones. There is coming a day when the remnant will be seen in strength. There is coming a day when what looked weak will prove victorious after all.
Benjamin speaks of that final note.
A victorious remnant.
And there is something especially beautiful in connecting this with Paul, a Benjamite himself. In Romans 8:38, 39, Paul says that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He knew something about that love. He knew something about grace. And in a very real way, the Jewish people stand as a witness to that same truth. Even when they have been fickle, even when they have wandered, even when they have been under discipline, God has not cast them off.
He has remained faithful.
That is one of the great themes running underneath this whole chapter. Israel’s story has turns in it. There is disappointment, scattering, burden, deception, persecution, and sorrow. But none of those things get the final word. The final word belongs to the faithfulness of God.
That is why Benjamin matters here.
He reminds us that God is not through with the Jews. Not by a long shot.
Men may write Israel off. Nations may rage against her. History may look dark. But God has not changed His mind. The same God who made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will keep every one of them. And in the end, the remnant will stand in strength, because the faithfulness of God will bring them there.
That is true not only for Israel nationally, but it says something about the heart of God more broadly. What He sets His love upon, He does not abandon. What He purposes to finish, He finishes. What looks impossible to man is not impossible to Him.
So Benjamin closes this prophetic word with strength, with victory, and with hope. The wolf is no longer the picture of prey, but of power. The one once pressed is now prevailing. The one once threatened is now dividing the spoil.
The story is not over.
And because God is faithful, it will end exactly where He said it would.