Who was Matri in the Bible?

Matri is not an individual person but the name of a clan or family within the tribe of Benjamin. This clan is significant as the ancestral family of King Saul, Israel's first king (1 Samuel 10:21).

Why is the Matri clan important?

The Matri clan is important because it was the family line from which King Saul was chosen. This established Saul's tribal and familial identity within Benjamin when the prophet Samuel selected him by lot (1 Samuel 10:20-21).

Where is the Matri clan mentioned in the Bible?

The Matri clan is mentioned only once in the Bible, in 1 Samuel 10:21. This occurs during the public selection of Saul as king, where Samuel identifies Saul as belonging to the tribe of Benjamin and then the clan of Matri.

Matri

Old TestamentUnited MonarchyMaleSaul's family

The Matrite (or Matri) clan was Saul's ancestral clan from the tribe of Benjamin (1Sa.10.21).

Matri

Biography

Matri (or the Matrites) was the ancestral head of a Benjaminite clan from which Israel's first king, Saul, descended. The clan of Matri appears in the pivotal narrative of 1 Samuel 10:17-24, when the prophet Samuel gathered all Israel at Mizpah to select their king by sacred lot. As the lot-casting narrowed progressively from tribe to clan to family, the tribe of Benjamin was chosen first, then the clan of Matri was selected from among Benjamin's families, and finally Saul the son of Kish was identified as God's chosen ruler. Beyond this single dramatic episode, no other biblical reference to Matri or the Matrite clan survives, leaving their broader genealogical relationships within Benjamin largely unrecorded.

Significance

The clan of Matri occupies a pivotal moment in Israel's transition from theocratic judges to monarchic rule. The selection process at Mizpah, moving from tribe to clan to individual, demonstrated that the choice of Saul as king was not arbitrary human politics but divine appointment confirmed through sacred lot (Proverbs 16:33). That God chose a king from an obscure Benjaminite clan, the smallest tribe in Israel after the near-annihilation recorded in Judges 20-21, underscores the biblical pattern of God choosing the humble and unlikely to accomplish His purposes. The Matrites thus serve as a reminder that God's sovereign selection operates independently of human prestige or numerical strength.

Authority Records

Wikidata

Verse Appearances (1)

1Sam

1Sam 10:21

References

Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References (TIPNR). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]

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