Judges 12:8-15--Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

Judges 12:8-15
English Standard Version

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon
8 After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 9 He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters he gave in marriage outside his clan, and thirty daughters he brought in from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. 10 Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.

11 After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years. 12 Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

​13 After him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years. 15 Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

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This text gives us the names and accounts of three more judges that the LORD used between the time of Jephthah and the time of Sampson, the next major judge we will talk about.  After Jephtha came Ibzan of Bethlehem (assuming this is Bethlehem in the south, but there was another Bethlehem in the north.  He had thirty sons and thirty daughters (meaning that he had to have lots of wives) and he broke the tradition by offering his daughters for marriage outside his clan, and he allowed his sons to marry from outside their clan.  Nothing else significant is said about his time as a judge other than he judged Israel for seven years, and when he died he was buried in Bethlehem.

After him came Elon the Zebulunite (a tribe we haven't seen or heard much from).  He was judge over Israel for 10 years.  He too died and was buried among his people in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.  That is all that is said by the writer about Elon.

​After him came Abdon the son of Hilel the Pirathonite (probably an identifier of the city he was from).  From his burial place we can infer that he was of the tribe of Ephraim, and that is consistent with the other person of the Bible, one of David's mighty men, that we are told was a Pirathonite, for he too was of the tribe of Ephraim.  This must signify an important clan or town so that everyone at the time knew that family name or the name of the city and it gave a special identity of its own.  He too had a large family with forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on 70 donkeys, and he judges Israel for 8 years.  (I'm not sure of the significance of his children and grandchildren riding on donkeys other than it is usually a symbol of peace to ride on a donkey instead, whereas riding on a horse was more a sign of war).  He too died and was buried among his people at Pirathon in Ephraim in the hill country of the Amalekites.

After this the LORD is going to raise up a judge unlike the others as his birth will be foretold.  The Nazarite vow that his parents said he would take for his entire life would be something that would immediately set him apart from everyone else in society and the next miraculous birth where the parents say that their child will be given into the LORD's service and will obey the Nazarite vow is Samuel (who is probably the author of this book).  While we will find Sampson to be physically strong, he was weak when it came to character and taking his relationship with God seriously.  We can contrast that later with Samuel if we want, but it's clear that both men were meant to point us more to Jesus who would ultimately be the one to save his people through his own death (something we'll see through Sampson) and who would serve as Judge, Prophet and Priest like Samuel and He would also be our King of Kings and Lord of Lords (we are not to the time of the kings, but we get there, all the good things the kings did point us to Jesus as well).