t12papocrypha
Testament of Benjamin 12
Benjamin closes his final charge by commanding his children to carry his bones from Egypt and bury them at Hebron with his fathers. The narrative records his death at a hundred and twenty-five years, his placement in a coffin, and then — in the ninety-first year after the exodus began — the covert transfer of the patriarchal bones to Canaan, buried at Hebron beside the forefathers. The sons of Israel then return to Egypt and remain there until the appointed departure. The carrying of the bones enacts the covenant of lineage: the physical remains of the fathers anchor the land promise and mark the continuity of the house of Israel through every season of sojourn.
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And when he finished his words, he said: I charge you, my children, carry up my bones out of Egypt, and bury me at Hebron, near my fathers. So Benjamin died a hundred and twenty-five years old, in a good old age, and they placed him in a coffin. And in the ninety-first year of the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt, they and their brethren brought up the bones of their fathers secretly in a place which is called Canaan; and they buried them in Hebron, by the feet of their fathers. And they returned from the land of Canaan, and dwelt in Egypt until the day of their departing from the land of Egypt.
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