that they were one after another successors of Jephthah, and therefore that their office of judge also extended simply over the tribes on the east of the Jordan, and perhaps the northern tribes on this side.
Verses 8-10
Jdg 12:8-10Ibzan sprang from Bethlehem,-hardly, however, the town of that name in the tribe of Judah, as Josephus affirms (Ant. v. 7, 13), for that is generally distinguished either as Bethlehem “of Judah” (Jdg 17:7, Jdg 17:9; Rth 1:2; 1Sa 17:12), or Bethlehem Ephratah (Mic 5:1), but probably Bethlehem in the tribe of Zebulun (Jos 9:15). He had thirty sons and thirty daughters, the latter of whom he sent away החוּצה (out of his house), i.e., gave them in marriage, and brought home thirty women in their places from abroad as wives for his sons. He judged Israel seven years, and was buried in Bethlehem.
Verses 11-12
His successor was Elon the Zebulunite, who died after filling the office of judge for ten years, and was buried at Aijalon, in the land of Zebulun. This Aijalon has probably been preserved in the ruins of Jalûn, about four hours' journey to the east of Akka, and half an hour to the S.S.W. of Mejdel Kerun (see V. de Velde, Mem. p. 283).
Verses 13-15
He was followed by the judge Abdon, the son of Hillel of Pirathon. This place, where Abdon died and was buried after holding the office of judge for eight years, was in the land of Ephraim, on the mountains of the Amalekites (Jdg 12:15). It is mentioned in 2Sa 23:30 and 1Ch 11:31 as the home of Benaiah the hero; it is the same as Φαραθώ (read Φαραθόν) in 1 Macc. 9:50, and Joseph. Ant. xiii. 1, 3, and has been preserved in the village of Feráta, about two hours and a half to the S.S.W. of Nabulus (see Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 134, and V. de Velde, Mem. p. 340). On the riding of his sons and daughters upon asses, see at Jdg 10:4.
Chap. 13
==Verse 1== Samson's Life, and Conflicts with the Philistines - Judges 13-16
Whilst Jephthah, in the power of God, was delivering the tribes on the east of the Jordan from the oppression of the Ammonites, the oppression on the part of the Philistines continued uninterruptedly for forty years in the land to the west of the Jordan (Jdg 13:1), and probably increased more and more after the disastrous war during the closing years of the high-priesthood of Eli, in which the Israelites suffered a sad defeat, and even lost the ark of the covenant, which was taken by the Philistines (1 Sam 4). But even during this period, Jehovah the God of Israel did not leave himself without witness, either in the case of His enemies the Philistines, or in that of His people Israel. The triumphant
