{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-6082","native_reference":{"book_number":10,"chapter_from":35,"chapter_to":35,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":26,"verse_to":26},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: WAS BENJAMIN BORN IN MESOPOTAMIA? — When the twelve sons who were born to Israel are mentioned, it is said: These are the sons of Israel, who were born to him in Mesopotamia . Now Benjamin was born long afterwards, when Bethel had already passed and they were approaching Bethlehem. Some interpreters strive unnecessarily to decide this question, saying that one should not read: nati sunt , as most Latin copies do, but facti sunt , according to the Greek text εγενοντο, pretending to understand also Benjamin would not have been born in Mesopotamia, but there he had come, since he was already begotten in the womb of his mother, for it is thought that Rachel had come out of there pregnant. In this way, although it was read, they were born to him, it could be said that he was already born in the womb, since he had already been conceived. As an example, what was said to Joseph about the Virgin Mary is indicated, “For what has been born in her is of the Holy Spirit (Mt. 1:20).” But there is another reason that prevents this solution of the problem. For if Benjamin had been conceived there, the sons of Jacob, who had come out of that place and grown up, could scarcely be twelve years old. For Jacob spent twenty years there. Of these twenty, the first seven years without being married, hoping to marry serving Laban. Assuming that the year he was married was born a child, the oldest could be about twelve, when they left. Therefore, if Benjamin had already been conceived, all that journey had to take place within ten months, and all that was written about Jacob in the journey. It follows that their children, such small children, would have carried out such a large slaughter on the occasion of their sister Dina, would have killed a large number of men and thus have taken possession of the city. Two of them, Simeon and Levi, who with sword in hand, were the first to reach these men, and killed them, were age eleven and the other ten years. Their mother would have had without interruption, a child every year. But it is unbelievable that children of this age could have done all this, when Dina herself was barely six years old. Therefore, we must find another solution to this problem so that we correctly understand what was said about the twelve children mentioned. These are the sons of Jacob, who came to him in Mesopotamia of Syria. Because among all those children, who were so many, there was one who was not born there, but who had reason to be born in that place, since his mother had married there with his father. But this solution of the problem must be confirmed by some example of another similar expression. There is no easier solution to this question than recourse to a synecdoche (A figure of speech that uses the name of a part of something to represent the whole). Thus, when in one part is greater or more important, it is usually also designated by its name that which does not belong to the name itself. For example, the case of Judas, who no longer belonged to the twelve apostles, because he had already died when the Lord rose from the dead (Cf. 1 Cor. 15:5), and yet the Apostle keeps in his letter the number of twelve when he says that the Lord Appeared to the twelve. The Greek codices have this word with an article, so that no twelve persons can be understood, but those known by that number. I think that this same type of expression belongs to what the Lord said, “Have I not chosen you, the twelve? And one of you is a devil.” And he says so that it does not appear that he too belongs to the elect. It is not easy to speak of the elect with reference to evil, except when the bad ones are chosen by other bad ones. But if we thought that Judas was also chosen so that through his betrayal the Lord's passion would be realized, that is, if we thought his wickedness was chosen for something, since God uses good even of bad things, let us pay attention to these other words, I do not mean all of you; I know who I chose (Jn. 6:70). Here he declares that only the good belong to the elect. And so, that which the Lord said, “I chose you twelve,” he said it through a synecdoche, so that under the name of the greater part and better understood also what does not belong to the name itself. This way of expressing itself is in this same book when Emmor goes to speak with Jacob in favor of his son Shechem to obtain that he married Dina, the daughter of Jacob. And the sons of Jacob, which were absent, came, and Emmor said unto them all, My son Shechem is fond of your daughter; Give her then for a wife (Gen. 34:8).” As the person of the father was the most important, in saying, by synecdoche, your daughter, also understands under that name the brothers, of whom Dina was not a daughter. To this same type also belongs the expression: Go to the sheep and bring me from there two kids. For they grazed the sheep and the goats at the same time. And since the sheep are more important, under that name it also included goats. Now as the eleven number of the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Mesopotamia, was the most important, when he mentioned the Scripture to them, he also understood Benjamin, who was not born there. And he said, These are the sons of Jacob, who came to him in Mesopotamia of Syria . [<br/><i>— QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 116 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"55ff430eaf02c5b988b922fe36e1338cff7e3726d264ed197dfbe947388f2c1f","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":6082,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"c331986b48a5234173fdeb459e24126773d05a82aa2707cbb0edfac529e10e12","translator":null,"work":null}