Bible contradiction? How old was Benjamin when his clan migrated to Egypt?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: How old was Benjamin when his clan migrated to Egypt?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

He was an infant.

“ We said to my lord, ‘We have an old father and a little child of his old age. Now his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’” (Genesis 44:20)

“But we said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.” (Genesis 44:22)

He was a grown man with ten sons.

“Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.” (Genesis 46:8)

“The sons of Benjamin: Bela and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard.” (Genesis 46:21)

 

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

 

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of a Bible contradiction it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of the error with the Skeptic Annotated Bible which we have responded to, such as our listing of “100 Alleged Bible Contradictions Answered.”  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to the specific claim of a contradiction mentioned here, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that there is a Bible contradiction.
3. The skeptic cited Genesis 46:8 and Genesis 46:21 as proof that the Bible taught Benjamin was a grown man when he migrated to Egypt.  The skeptics did properly interpreted these two verses to support their claim.
   1. Genesis 46:8 tells us the lists are those who went to Egypt.
   2. A few verses later in Genesis 46:21 it actually name 10 sons of Benjamin that was part of the migration.
   3. Obviously to have any kid, Benjamin must have been at least a young adult.  But with Benjamin having that many offspring this makes it even more certain that Benjamin was an adult when he migrated to Egypt.
   4. Further evidence that Benjamin was an adult comes from Genesis 43:34 which recorded that when Benjamin first went to Egypt he was able to eat five times the amount than the rest of his older brothers: “He took portions to them from his own table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. So they feasted and drank freely with him.”  Obviously to eat 5 times more than his other adult brothers imply that Benjamin was an adult prior to his migration to Egypt.
4. The skeptic cited Genesis 44:20 and Genesis 44:22 as proof that the Bible taught Benjamin was an infant when he migrated to Egypt. Here though the skeptics did not properly interpreted these two verses to support their claim.
   1. Genesis 44:20 mentioned Benjamin was “a little child.”  The Hebrew phrase does not have to mean “infant.”
      1. The Hebrew word for “child” is יֶלֶד and the word simply mean “offspring.”   There’s clear use in Scripture where it does not mean infants.
         1. In 1 Kings 12:8, 12:10, 12:14, 2 Chronicles 10:14 the plural form of יֶלֶד is mentioned.  It refers to those who were friends with a king and they were old enough to advise him (though of course the counsel wasn’t very wise).  Thus יֶלֶד doesn’t necessarily always mean infant.
         2. In Isaiah 2:6 Isaiah called out Israel’s sins as including the fact that “they strike bargains with the children of foreigners.”  The word “children” here is the plural form of יֶלֶד.  Again here the term cannot refer to infants since infants don’t engage in international diplomacy.
      2. The Hebrew word for “little“ in “a little child” is קָטָן and the word simply mean “young.”   There’s clear use in Scripture where it does not mean infants.
         1. קָטָן appears in 1 Samuel 16:11 and there it refers to David as the youngest of his sibling.  David is obviously not an infant since he was old enough to be shepherding.
         2. קָטָן also appear in Genesis 27:42.  There it refers to Jacob and at that point he was an adult that was capable of fleeing when his mother told him that his twin brother will seek vengeance against him.
   2. Genesis 44:22 mentioned Benjamin was a “lad ”  The Hebrew word here is נַעַר and it does not have to mean “infant.”
      1. In Genesis 37:2 Joseph is described as נַ֫עַר (“naar”) even though he is 17 years old.
      2. In 1 Kings 3:7 Solomon described himself before God as נַ֫עַר (“naar”) even though he is old enough to be an adult king.
5. Thus we don’t have a Bible contradiction here.  A careful analysis of the terms used to describe Benjamin’s youth in Genesis 44:20 and Genesis 44:22 reveal that they don’t imply Benjamin was an infant as the skeptic claim.  Furthermore the terms can be used to describe young adults.  The skeptic’s charge of an alleged Bible contradiction here is ironically quite juvenile.
6. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”

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