Research Materials On Paul As The Benjamite Wolf of Prophecy

In Jesus Words Only, chapter 14 presented the case that Paul fulfilled the Ravening Benjamite Wolf Prohecy of Jacob found at Genesis 49:27. See "Benjamite Wolf."

We quoted the early church commentator, Hippolytus (170-236 AD), who saw Paul perfectly fit the Benjamite Ravening Wolf of Genesis 49:27, but did so not realizing how negative the original Hebrew was about this person. Hippolytus trusted the Greek Septuagint 257 BC translation which said the wolf "divided the food" --- trophe in Greek, which mistranslated the Hebrew word for spoil, that is shalal . That "dividing" was still part of the wolf's evil behavior. Unaware of this, Hippolytus wrote:

Benjamin is a ravening wolf; in the morning he shall devour still, and till evening he apportions food.

HIPPOLYTUS: This thoroughly suits Paul, who was of the tribe of Benjamin. For when he was young, he was a ravening wolf; but when he believed, he apportioned food. This also is shown us by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the tribe of Benjamin is among the first persecutors, which is the sense of in the morning. For Saul, who was of the tribe of Benjamin, persecuted David, who was appointed to be a type of the Lord. [Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies 5.168.]

[Catholic New Advent Encyclopedia.][Rev. S.D.F.Salmond, Hippolytus of Rome: Extant Fragments of Hippolytus.] [Anti-Nicene Fathers - Hippolytus (trans. Rev. J. H. Macmahon) Vol. 5

Three more sources from the early church besides Hippolytus -- Jerome and Tertullian and a Christian interpolator to the Testament of the 12 Patriarchs -- thought Paul fulfilled the Benjamite Wolf prophecy in Genesis 49:27.

First, in a letter of Jerome to Marcella in 386 AD, it reads in part:

If the faith of the apostle Peter is shaken by Our Lord's passion, it is that amid his bitter tears he may hear the words: "Feed my sheep." Paul, that ravening wolf, that little Benjamin, is blinded in a trance, but as the result he gains clear vision, and from the sudden horror of darkness around him calls upon Him as Lord whom in the past he persecuted as man.

Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi Epistulae (ed. Isidorus Hilberg) (New York: Johnson, 1970, repr.1910-18) 3 Vols.; ep.38. The translation and annotation from F.A.Wright, Select Letters of St. Jerome (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1933, repr.1980) at 158-67 (reprinted online at http://epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/letter/308.html)

Tertullian in 207 A.D. in Against Marcion likewise saw Paul as fulfilling the prophecy in Genesis 49, but like others spins the second part to Paul's favor -- which positive spin is textually implausible from the Hebrew, as discussed in Jesus' Words Only (2007) at 335. Regardless, Tertullian wrote in 207 A.D.:

Because even the book of Genesis so long ago promised me the Apostle Paul. For among the types and prophetic blessings which he pronounced over his sons, Jacob, when he turned his attention to Benjamin, exclaimed, “Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall impart  nourishment.” He foresaw that Paul would arise out of the tribe of Benjamin, a voracious wolf, devouring his prey in the morning: in order words, in the early period of his life he would devastate the Lord’s sheep, as a persecutor of the churches; but in the evening he would give them nourishment, which means that in his declining years he would educate the fold of Christ, as the teacher of the Gentiles. Tertullian, Latin Christianity: Its Founder Tertullian (ed. Philip Schaff)(1885) at 735 (PDF at 783)(downloaded from Christian Classics Ethereal Library at this link.)

But again, Tertullian is placing a favorable spin on something that in Genesis in Hebrew is not favorable. "Dividing the spoils" means taking those you killed and then eating them. Paul divided the church and then sucked away the Gentiles for himself.

What explains this? The erroneous translation of the Hebrew Bible into the Greek Septuagint of 257 BC.  The Masoretic Hebrew text says "divide the spoil" (shalal in Hebrew) in 49:27, but the Septuagint Greek translation says "will provide food" -- trophe in Greek. (See Septuagint, Gen. 49 with English transliteration.)

Finally, the Jewish Encyclopedia in "Benjaim" notes that in the early church a third source identified Paul as the ravenign wolf of the Deuteronomy prophecy:

[Benjamin's] comparison to the ravening wolf (Cant. R. to viii. 1), "who devours his enemy" (Gen. xlix. 27) is referred to ... also in the original text of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs [Benjamin ii]; whereas a Christian interpolation refers it to Paul).

The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs was a Christian (Pauline) work from about 200 AD of what purported to be solely a Jewish document that existed prior to the Christian era.  However, some believe there is a substratum that might have existed prior to the Christian era. See "Testament of the 12" and "Patriachs." This source tries to turn it around, and have Benjamin himself prophesy (not Jacob as in Deuteronomy) that no longer will he be called the wolf that ravens, but a blessing to the Gentiles. Obviously, it was politically necessary for Paulinists to deflect the attention this verse had as inimical to Paul's validity, and thus this apocryphal book was invented to help have Benjamin contradict Jacob's true prophecy that the end result was negative.

Jesus' Message About The Ravening Wolf Is More Identifying

Both Tertullian and Jerome failed to line up Genesis with our Savior's Words that speak clearly that the "ravening wolf" who comes as a false prophet is in "sheep's clothing," i.e., outwardly appears to be a Christian. Our savior says that inwardly this sheep-appearing person is actually a "ravening wolf." (Matt. 7:15.) Our Lord deliberately spoke of the "ravening wolf" knowing that Genesis spoke about the "ravening wolf" coming from the tribe of Benjamin. (Gen. 49:27.)

Study Notes

Justin Martyr in 165 AD discusses that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Jacob of Shiloh to come who would wash his garments in the "blood of grapes." See First Apology XL at page 40 and LXXI at pages 66-67.