The Stone of Bohan

What the heck is the stone of Bohan? It is actually referred to in two bible verses, in Joshua 15:6 “Then the border went up to Beth-hogiah, and continued North of Beth-arabah, and the border went up to the stone of Bohan, the son of Rueben.”  Then in Joshua 18:17 “Then it turned northward and went to En-shemesh and went to Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, and it went down to the stone of Bohan, the son of Rueben.” Basically, these verses detail the stone of Bohan location which was a boundary between the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin. Generally, landmarks mentioned in the bible have some higher significance. But since there are no other references to Bohan or the stone of Bohan, we will never know what happened at this location. But it is safe to assume the stone of Bohan has some significant religious meaning.

Finding reference to your namesake, especially in the bible, would peek anyone’s interest. The first thing to note, Reuben’s genealogy outlined in Genesis mentions he had four children and Bohan is not one of them. The second thing to note is that Bohan in Hebrew means thumb or closing. From those definitions, one may conclude that Bohan was the fifth and final son of Rueben which would be counted on a hand using the thumb to represent the fifth child. Perhaps Rueben had an illegitimate and undocumented son? Finally, the location of the stone of Bohan is probably significant, but that importance remains a mystery since the stone has never been positively identified.