Her soul was in departing— An expression aptly describing the nature of death, which is the dissolution of the union between soul and body.
Ben-oni, &c.— Rachel, to express her sorrow amidst the pangs of child-birth and death, called her son Ben-oni, that is, the son of my sorrow: but Jacob, to avert the evil omen, immediately named him Ben-jamin, i.e.. the son of my right hand, or strength.* And it has been observed, that both names were verified in his posterity; no tribe having been more valorous, and none more subject to sorrowful disasters, than the tribe of Benjamin. Chronologers place the time of Benjamin's birth at the year of the world 2982 (thirteen years after Joseph's birth), which was of Jacob's age one hundred and four: for Jacob begat Joseph at the age of ninety-one; and of these thirteen years, six were spent with Laban, and seven in Canaan. It is remarkable, that she, who said, Give me children, or I die, died in child-birth. How vain are human wishes! the very granting them often proves our destruction. How happy are they who submit all their will and every wish to Him who is All-wise!
* Houbigant is for reading בנימים (benimim) the son of my old age.