Son Of My Suffering

Egressus autem inde, venit verno tempore ad terram quæ ducit Ephratam: in qua cum parturiret Rachel, ob difficultatem partus periclitari cœpit. Dixitque ei obstetrix: Noli timere, quia et hunc habebis filium. Egrediente autem anima præ dolore, et imminente jam morte, vocavit nomen filii sui Benomi, id est, Filius doloris mei: pater vero appellavit eum Benjamin, id est, Filius dextræ. Euphrata vero et Bethlehem unius urbis vocabulum est, sub interpretatione consimili, siquidem in frugiferam et domum panis vertitur, propter eum panem qui de coelo descendisse se dicit. Et factum est cum dimitteret eam anima, siquidem moriebatur, vocavit nomen ejus filius doloris mei, Pater vero vocavit nomen ejus Benjamin. In Hebraeo similitudo omnis resonat. Filius doloris mei, quod nomen moriens mater imposuit, dicitur Ben oni: filius vero dexterae, hoc est virtutis, quod mutavit Jacob, appellabatur. Unde erant qui putant Benjamin filium dierum interpretari. Cum enim dextera appelletur iamin, ימין et finiatur in n litteram, dies quidem appellantur et ipsi iamim, ימים, sed in m litteram terminantur. Sed quid sibi vult quod cum eumdem Benjamin Rachel pareret, vocavit nomen ejus filius doloris mei, nisi futurum prophetans ex ea tribu Paulum, qui affligeret filios Ecclesiae persecutionis suo tempore? Aliter, per Benjamin terrestis figurabatur Jerusalem, quae est in tribu ejusdem Benjamin, cujus populus gravi matrem dolore afflicit, effundendo sanguinem prophetarum, insuper etiam in necem Christi impiis acclamando vocibus. Sanguinus eius super nos et super filios nostros. Rabanus Maurus, In Genesim Libri Quatour, Liber III, Caput XXIV Source: Migne PL 107.617a-c

And leaving there in the spring he came into the land that lies towards Ephrata, in which place when Rachel was to give birth, the difficult labour she had put her life in peril. But the midwife said to her, 'Do not be afraid, for you will give birth to a son.' But with her life ebbing away from her in her suffering, already close to death, Rachel called her son Benoni, that is, 'Son of my suffering.' His father’s name for him was Benjamin, the son of my right hand.' 1  Euphrata and Bethlehem is the name of one city, which when translated are similar, that is, they mean 'fruit bearing' and 'house of bread', on account of that bread which is said to have descended from heaven. And when Rachel's soul was leaving her, when she was dying, she called his name 'Son Of My suffering,' but his father named him Benjamin. In Hebrew the names are very similar, Son Of My Suffering, which name the dying mother gave, is 'Ben Oni' and 'Son Of My Right Hand,' that is, my strength, to which Jacob changed it. And there are some who think that Benjamin is to be translated 'Son of Days'. But right hand is iamin ימין  and ends in the letter 'n', and that which is called days is iamim  ימים and ends in the letter 'm'. But why did Rachel wish, bearing this same Benjamin, to call him by the name 'Son Of My Suffering,' unless as a prophecy of the future and that tribe from which Paul arose, who afflicted the sons of the Church with persecution in his time. Otherwise, Benjamin is a figure of the terrestrial Jerusalem, which is in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, which people afflicted that mother with grave grief, pouring out the blood of the Prophets, 2 and beyond this even clamouring with impious voices for the death of Christ: 'His blood be on us and our sons.' 3  Rabanus Maurus, from the Commentary On Genesis, Book 3, Chapter 24  1 Gen 35. 16-18  2 Mt 23.37, Lk 13.34  3 Mt 27.25