THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN ...Where are they now?

THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN

...Where are they now?

If you are Hispanic, you must read this...

With the ability to test genes these days, we are finding out some interesting things about Hispanic people....they might be Israelites, at least their genes say so.  Below is an article written in the Los Angeles Times about a DNA project testing 78 Hispanic people in New Mexico, and how 30 of them had the Cohanim marker in their blood.  They have "Jewish" blood.  Here is an excerpt from the article below.

Latinos with traditions of Spanish Jewish ancestry

David Kelly. "DNA Clears the Fog Over Latino Links to Judaism in New Mexico." Los Angeles Times (December 5, 2004). Excerpts:
 

"He [Father William Sanchez launched a DNA project to test his relatives, along with some of the parishioners at Albuquerque's St. Edwin's Church, where he works. As word got out, others in the community began contacting him. So Sanchez expanded the effort to include Latinos throughout the state. Of the 78 people tested, 30 are positive for the marker of the Cohanim, whose genetic line remains strong because they rarely married non-Jews throughout a history spanning up to 4,000 years. Michael Hammer, a research professor at the University of Arizona and an expert on Jewish genetics, said that fewer than 1% of non-Jews possessed this marker. That fact - along with the traditions in many of these families - makes it likely that they are Jewish, he said. ... It also explained practices that had baffled many folks here for years: the special knives used to butcher sheep in line with Jewish kosher tradition, the refusal to work on Saturdays to honor the Sabbath, the menorahs that had been hidden away. In some families, isolated rituals are all that remain of a once-vibrant religious tradition diluted by time and fears of persecution. ... 'We believe a fairly high percentage of first families [arriving] in New Mexico were nominally Catholic, but their secret religion was Judaism,' he [Bennett Greenspan of Family Tree DNA] said. "We are finding between 10% and 15% of men living in New Mexico or south Texas or northern Mexico have a Y chromosome that tracks back to the Middle East.' They are not all Cohanim, and there's a slight chance some could be of African Muslim descent. But Greenspan said the DNA of the men is typical of Jews from the eastern Mediterranean."

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

How are Hispanic people connected to the Jews?  Read and find out!  First of all, according to Norman Roth, Historian and commentator, and Professor of Jewish History, at one time, more Jews lived in Spain than in all the other European countries combined....  That is interesting but do you know why?  It is because the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70 a.d., only 40 years after Christ's death, and they took the nation of Judah captive to Spain. 

History tells us that Titus moved the besieged Jews (And Benjaminites) to Spain a few years after the death of Christ.  I REPEAT THIS VERY IMPORTANT POINT~ WHOLE SETTLEMENTS OF BENJAMINITES AND JEWS WERE EXILED TO SPAIN DURING THE ROMAN CONQUEST OF PALESTINE BY EMPEROR TITUS.  Once you understand this, you will begin to understand some important things. 
The House of Judah that existed at the time of Christ was made up of Jews, and the tribe of Benjamin that stayed with Judah....now you know why 30 of the 78 Hispanic people tested in the article above had the Cohanim marker.
The Bible tells us in the book of Obadiah how the captives from Jerusalem which were in Sepharad (Spain) would possess the cities of the South.

"And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, (Spain) shall possess the cities of the south."   Obadiah 1:20
"Rabbi Abraham Iben Ezra says that this is referring to the exile by Titus (the Roman Emperor who destroyed the Temple) of Jews to Spain. The Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi) says the same.  The Abarbanel says that whole settlements in Spain were founded by exiles from Jerusalem who included families descended from King David."
Or better put..."The exiled of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad" (Spain)  "The oldest Syrian translation of the Bible  translates "Sepharad" as Spain (in those times Portugal and Spain were one country).
The Jews of the oldest temples, used the word "Sepharad" to indicate Iberia/Spain. 
Targum Yehonathan translates "Sepharad" as Aspamiah" meaning Spain. "
 

If you are Hispanic, your Spanish heritage makes it highly likely that you have either Benjaminite or Jewish blood.  So why don't you know this already?  That's kind of a big thing isn't it?  How would you live differently if you had known that all your life?  Have you ever felt that you were different but you didn't know why?  Could it be that you are an Israelite and not a gentile?  The reason so many Hispanics have Jewish backgrounds and don't know it is because of the Spanish Inquisition.  During the Spanish Inquisition, there were so many Jews in Spain that they forced them to become Catholics or die. 
Spain may be the Tribe of Benjamin
The whole tribe of Benjamin stayed with the tribe of Judah long ago when they split  from the "Ten Lost Tribes."  It is highly possible that most of the tribe of Benjamin wound up in Spain during Titus's exile of the "Jews."  We suspect this because of the word "Tarshish" which is a Benjaminite name in the Bible.  Not only is that name connected with the tribe of Benjamin, but it is the ancient name of a city in southern Spain.  And there is other evidence as well.

1st Chronicles 7:6-10 tells of a descendant of Benjamin named Tarshish. 
Fausset's Bible  Dictionary says that the ancient city of Tarshish is located in Southern Spain.  Bible  scholars clearly confirm the location of Tarshish in the Bible as modern day Spain. 
So, it is not just speculation...it is confirmed. 
And the Bible  is clear that T(H)ARSHISH WAS THE GREAT-GRANDSON OF BENJAMIN. 

Here is the genealogy.  Benjamin had 3 sons---Bela, Becher and Jedial.  Go to verse 10 below and we see that Jedial was the father of Bilhan, and Bilhan was the father of Tharshish.

1 Chronicles 7:6-10
6 The sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three.

7 And the sons of Bela; Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of the house of their fathers, mighty men of valour; and were reckoned by their genealogies twenty and two thousand and thirty and four.

8 And the sons of Becher; Zemira, and Joash, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jerimoth, and Abiah, and Anathoth, and Alameth. All these are the sons of Becher.

9 And the number of them, after their genealogy by their generations, heads of the house of the fathers, mighty men of valour, was twenty thousand and two hundred.

10 The sons also of Jediael; Bilhan: and the sons of Bilhan; Jeush, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenaanah, and Zethan, and Tharshish, and Ahishahar.   KJV

*(My note...Tarshish is also one of the sons of Javan in the book of Genesis)
 

But, lets start at a logical place.  If you read the article, "The Hunt for the Lost Tribes of Israel," then you are already aware of the fact that the little nation of Israel in the Middle East does not represent all of the 12 tribes of Israel.  They are in fact, the remnant of the house of Judah.  The reason we bring this up here is to help us realize that if we want to see what happened to Benjamin, we have to understand their close but separate connection to the Jews.

The history of the Benjaminites over time, has become "confused" and mixed up with the history of the Jews.  Benjaminites have for thousands of years erroneously been called "Jews," because of their long association and loyalty to the tribe of Judah.  Yet Benjamin is more related to Ephraim and Manasseh.  Benjamin was Joseph's full blooded brother.  Jacobs favorite wife only had 2 sons, Benjamin and Joseph.  So, Hispanics are descended through Rachel just like Joseph and his sons Ephraim and Manasseh.  The Bible  often connects Benjamin with Ephraim and Manasseh.  And to this day, as nations, they are associated.  This whole western hemisphere is made up of Ephraim in Canada, Manasseh in the United States and Benjamin in all the Hispanic countries to the South.


Psalm 80:2 says, "Appear in front of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Wake up your power, and come to save us."
Regrettably, though, Benjamin has had a hard relationship with the Ephraim and Manasseh at times.  There is a the reason why some Hispanic people have such long names.  They carry both the maternal and paternal names.  And there is a reason for it.
In fact at one time, the tribe of Benjamin was nearly wiped out by the House of Israel.  Bible history contains a sad record of a desolating civil war in which they were nearly annihilated by the other tribes.
In the bible, in the book of Judges, chapters 20 and 21 tell how after the heat of the battle, where in anger, the tribes of Israel realized that they had nearly wiped out the tribe of Benjamin, they regretted what they had done. So, they took about 400 young women by force from the city of Jabesh-gilead in Manasseh to give to the survivors, but it "sufficed them not."  It was not enough to go around.  To make things worse, they had all sworn an oath that none of their daughters would be given to a Benjaminite. 
But, they found a way around this.  They had their daughters gather together at one of the yearly Feasts, and they instructed the remaining survivors of Benjamin to "steal" a wife.  This explains why the tribe of Benjamin had the greatest variation.  We went to Spain and this was most evident.  You have never seen such variation.  It is because, there are many Benjaminites in Spain and they had mothers from all the other tribes!  Now we see why Spanish names are so long....they retain both of their maternal and paternal family names---which makes sense as it honors both sides of their heritage. 
There were bad feelings between Benjamin and the rest of Israel long after this.  Because, when the 12 tribes split up, Benjamin preferred to stay with Judah. Which is reasonable.  And who could blame them.  They blended into the tribe of Judah until no one knew anymore whether he was a Jew or a Benjaminite.
As we already discussed, 1st Chronicles 7:6-10 tells of a descendant of Benjamin named Tarshish.  We also remember that Fausset's Bible  Dictionary says that the ancient city of Tarshish is located in Southern Spain.  So, lets see what else we can discover about connections to Spain. 

Many Spanish are proud of their "Jewish" heritage.  One Spaniard wrote....
"About 700 BC, in early Spain, before it was Spain, the Bible  refers to a place called Tarshish, in the south of the peninsula where the Phoenician King, Hiram of Tyre, sent people to harvest minerals and metals that could be worked at that time. The place became known later as Tarsis, and was highly in demand for it's metal. Those early Phoenicians bore names that had their origins in Israelite descent., so it appears that the people that King Hiram sent there, were Jewish. In the biblical Book of Obadiah 1:20, Tarshish was said to be in the land of "Aspamiah" (Espania, Spain)

But not many are aware that the "ships of Tarshish" which we know were located in Southern Spain, brought back a vast wealth of gold to King Solomon.  We believe that the ships of Tarshish" of the Bible later became the legendary "Spanish fleet."  Who doesn't know from history about the Spanish Armada.  Spanish seamanship has been around since olden times.  The Spanish were the first ones to reap the gold of the New World.  Just as the navy of Tharshish had anciently brought gold in bible times to King Solomon. 

So, it was no coincidence that the fleet of Spain (Tharshish) sought Gold in the New World with a fever never seen before or since.  It is well known that Spanish conquistadors wiped out whole Indian cultures in their rapacious and ravening lust for Gold.  The tradition of "gold fever" went back as far as the time of Solomon, who had more Gold at his disposal than any other king before him, due to the "Navy of Tharshish" which was at his disposal.

1 Kings 10:21-22 say, "And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.  For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks."
 

Note that Solomon had his own navy WITH the navy of King Hiram.  There were 2 separate navys.  Solomon's navy was made up of Israelites.  They brought all that gold to Solomon, not to Hiram!  I repeat that Biblical scholars have long associated the ships of Tharshish or Tarshish with the nation of Spain. How do we know that?  We put the pieces together.  Again, Tarshish is our best clue.  The International Standard Encyclopedia says:  "Tarshish "an eponym of a Benjaminite family"  (Strong's 8659, Tarshish or Tharshish)  
In plain English, that means that the area called Tarshish is derived from a Benjaminite family name.   What do we know of the tribe of Benjamin?  We know that Jacob prophesied what would happen to all of the tribes in the end time.  This is what he said about Benjamin.
JACOBS PROPHECY ABOUT BENJAMIN (Spain)
Jacob did not combine Benjamin's prophecy with Judah's.  So from this we know that Benjamin had their own destiny, separate from the Jews.  The Jews are spread all over the world, but Benjamin wound up mainly in Spain. 

Jacob wrote of Benjamin,
Genesis 49:1 says,  "And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days." "....Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf, in the morning he shall devour the prey and at night he shall divide the spoil.  Genesis 49:27 

Ravin comes from a Hebrew word that means to "tear into pieces."  Historically, Spain certainly tore the new world up.  They conquered the new world.  And for that we are thankful.  It is true that the Spanish fleet ransacked  several Indian cultures, destroying them in a lust for Gold unequalled in history.  In their defense though, they destroyed  extremely barbaric cultures that practiced human sacrifice...and many horrific customs....  As we have already discussed, Tarshish of the Bible is in Southern Spain.  These Spanish conquistadors did "ravin as a wolf" as prophesied.   Is Spain the tribe of Benjamin?  It certainly looks like it. 
You might think, well, I am not pure Spanish so I am not a Benjaminite, but that is not true.  Joseph married an Egyptian woman and had 2 sons named Ephraim and Manasseh.  When Jacob laid hands on those 2 boys to give them the birthright, he said, "let my name be on them."  Yes, they were half Egyptian...but they were full Israelites!  Before we close, we want to look at one more thing.  It was something that Jacob prophesied about Benjamin in the end time.
What did Jacob mean when he prophesied that Benjamin would "divide the spoil?"  It means that things are going to be very good for Benjamin in the end time.  Remember the story of Joseph?  When he was finally reunited with his brothers, he gave his full blooded brother Benjamin very special treatment...Benjamin received a double portion!
The tribe of Benjamin will be getting preferential treatment when the time comes to re-unite all the tribes of Israel back into one large nation of Israel.  You don't think this will happen?  It is prophesied in Ezekiel 37:19:22.  "Say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. And the sticks whereon thou write shall be in your hand before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD, behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land, and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all."

Here is the link to the article in the New York Times, which tells of the Hispanic link to the Jews...(and Benjaminites!)
LINK TO THE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE

Hispanics Uncovering Roots as Inquisition's 'Hidden' Jews