Editing Benjamin (section)

==Origin==
[[Image:Kever Binyamin.jpg|thumb|300px|An exterior view of a [[Mamluk]] [[caravanserai]] complex, including the mausoleum of Nabi Yamin, traditionally believed to be the tomb of Benjamin, located outside [[Kfar Saba]], Israel]]

Biblical scholars believe, due to their geographic overlap and their treatment in older passages, that Ephraim and Manasseh were originally considered one tribe, that of ''Joseph''.<ref name = "gzuhsh">''Jewish Encyclopedia'', ''Ephraim''</ref> According to several biblical scholars, Benjamin was also originally part of this single tribe, but the biblical account of Joseph as his father became lost.<ref name = "gzuhsh"/><ref name = "fxeide">''[[Peake's Commentary on the Bible]]''</ref>

The description of Benjamin being born after the arrival in Canaan is thought by some scholars to refer to the tribe of Benjamin coming into existence by branching from the Joseph group after the tribe had settled in Canaan.<ref name = "fxeide"/> A number of biblical scholars suspect that the distinction of the ''Joseph tribes'' (including Benjamin) is that they were the only Israelites which went to [[Egypt]] [[the Exodus|and returned]], while the main Israelite tribes simply emerged as a subculture from the Canaanites and had remained in [[Canaan]] throughout.<ref name = "fxeide"/><ref>[[Israel Finkelstein]], ''The Bible Unearthed''</ref>

According to this view, the story of Jacob's visit to [[Laban (Bible)|Laban]] to obtain a wife originated as a [[metaphor]] for this migration, with the property and family which were gained from Laban representing the gains of the Joseph tribes by the time they returned from Egypt.<ref name = "fxeide"/> According to textual scholars, the [[Jahwist]] version of the Laban narrative only mentions the Joseph tribes and Rachel, and does not mention the other tribal [[matriarch]]s whatsoever.<ref name = "fxeide"/><ref>[[Richard Elliott Friedman]], ''Who Wrote the Bible?''</ref>