Ibzan, Elon and Abdon
Conquest & Judges · Draft · BSB
Content revision: 2a809e8e2c0517fc · No editorial review date recorded
Date: After Jephthah in the narrative · Seven, ten and eight years
Three short notices follow Jephthah: Ibzan judges seven years, Elon ten, and Abdon eight. Family connections and burial places preserve their memory, but the text does not tell of battles or national assemblies under them.
Ibzan’s Bethlehem is not securely identified as Bethlehem in Judah; a Bethlehem in Zebulun is also proposed. Elon is a Zebulunite and Abdon is from Pirathon in Ephraim. The atlas leaves those differences visible rather than assigning all three to a familiar town.
Primary Scripture
12:8 After Jephthah, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
12:9 He had thirty sons, as well as thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage to men outside his clan; and for his sons he brought back thirty wives from elsewhere. Ibzan judged Israel seven years.
12:10 Then Ibzan died, and he was buried in Bethlehem.
12:11 After Ibzan, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel ten years.
12:12 Then Elon the Zebulunite died, and he was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
12:13 After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, judged Israel.
12:14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. And he judged Israel eight years.
12:15 Then Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, died, and he was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.
Related Scripture
The earlier overview frames the brief notices within the larger pattern of the period.
Location evidence
No single pin represents three separate leaders. In particular, Ibzan’s Bethlehem is not automatically placed at Ruth’s Bethlehem in Judah.
No event map marker is assigned. Do not infer an exact venue from related places.
For the class
How can we respect what a short biblical notice says without supplying a story it does not tell?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial (content/authored/conquest-judges.json)
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm