(Gen. 35:11:) AND GOD SAID TO HIM : I AM GOD ALMIGHTY; BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY … [AND KINGS SHALL COME OUT OF YOUR LOINS]. The sages have said: On the basis of this text Abner drew an interpretation, as a result of which he enthroned Saul's son Ishbosheth,⁸⁸ namely, that Benjamin was going to produce two kings, since God had said to him: AND KINGS (in the plural) SHALL COME OUT OF YOUR LOINS.⁸⁹ Now until then only Saul had arisen (as a king out of Benjamin). He therefore enthroned Saul's son Ishbosheth. And not only that, but also in the incident of the concubine at Gibeah (Jud. 19-21), { the Israelites had readmitted him (i.e., Benjamin)}. R. Samuel bar Nahman said: They did so on the basis of this text. When they had opposed him, they had said (in Jud. 21:1): NONE OF US SHALL GIVE HIS DAUGHTER IN MARRIAGE TO BENJAMIN. Thus they had banished him, but they later repented and accepted him. They said: If he were not more exalted than the heavens, the Holy One would not have said to our father Jacob (in Gen. 35:11), when he came back to the land from abroad: AND KINGS SHALL COME OUT OF YOUR LOINS. Thus on the basis of this text they readmitted him.

footnotes: ⁸⁸ Gen. R. 82:4. ⁸⁹ Abner’s argument was that, as a promise, the passage refers to the future and that the next event mentioned (in vss. 16-18) is the birth of Jacob’s last son, Benjamin.