Becher

Becher is the name of two men in the Hebrew scriptures: a son of Benjamin who heads a clan recorded in Genesis and 1 Chronicles, and a son of Ephraim listed in the wilderness census of Numbers. The two appear in separate tribal lines and are not interchanged in the genealogies, though the Ephraimite Becher is also known by the name Bered.

Becher Son of Benjamin

When Jacob's household goes down to Egypt, the catalogue of his descendants fixes Becher among Benjamin's first-born sons: "And the sons of Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Ashbel; and the sons of Bela were: Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, and Muppim; and Gera begot Ard" (Gen 46:21).

The Chronicler repeats the Benjaminite list in shorter form, naming Becher as one of three: "[The sons of] Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three" (1Ch 7:6). The bracketed insertion supplies the implied subject from the surrounding genealogical block. Bela's sons follow in 1Ch 7:7, and the text then turns directly to Becher's own house: "And the sons of Becher: Zemirah, and Joash, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jeremoth, and Abijah, and Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher" (1Ch 7:8). The nine-name roster is the only place scripture gives any further description of this Becher's descendants.

Becher Son of Ephraim

A second Becher belongs to a different tribe entirely. In the wilderness census taken on the plains of Moab, Ephraim's families are enumerated by clan name: "These are the sons of Ephraim after their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the family of the Becherites; of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites" (Nu 26:35). Becher here is patriarch of the Becherite clan, one of three Ephraimite divisions counted alongside the Shuthelahites and Tahanites.

Becher Called Bered

The Chronicler's parallel to the Numbers list of Ephraim's sons does not use the name Becher: "And the sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eleadah his son, and Tahath his son," (1Ch 7:20). Where Numbers names Becher between Shuthelah and Tahan, 1 Chronicles places Bered between Shuthelah and Tahath in the same generational position. The two records bear witness to a single Ephraimite figure under two names — Becher in the census, Bered in the Chronicler's genealogy.