Abdon

Biblical Record

Abdon is a judge who appears only in Judges 12:13–15. The judges were the leaders who guided Israel during the period of the judges. According to the text, Abdon succeeded the judge Elon and was the son of Hillel the Pirathonite. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkey colts. Abdon judged Israel for eight years, and after his death he was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites. The text records no battles he fought or deeds he performed.

Other persons and a place bearing the same name also appear in the Bible and should be distinguished from the Abdon of this article:

• Joshua 21:30; 1 Chronicles 6:74: a city of the Levites in the territory of the tribe of Asher
• 1 Chronicles 8:23: a member of the tribe of Benjamin
• 1 Chronicles 8:30; 9:36: the firstborn son of a Gibeonite family. This genealogy is linked to that of the house of Saul.
• 2 Chronicles 34:20: Abdon the son of Micah, an official of King Josiah. In 2 Kings 22:12 he appears as "Achbor the son of Michaiah."

Significance Within the Bible

The Book of Judges recounts at length the deeds of judges such as Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. By contrast, Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon receive only brief notices of their origin, length of service, and burial place. These five are commonly called the "minor judges," and Abdon is the last of them. The Samson narrative (Judges 13) begins immediately after the account of Abdon.

The record of his many descendants riding on donkeys is similar in form to the accounts of Jair (Judges 10:4) and Ibzan (Judges 12:9). Scholars generally read such notices as indicating the family's wealth and social standing. The New Testament does not mention Abdon, and his name is absent even from Hebrews 11:32, which names several of the judges.

Interpretive Questions

• "The mount of the Amalekites": It is unclear why a location within the land of Ephraim bore this name. One view holds that the area was so called because Amalekites had once lived there, and some also point to Judges 5:14, "Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek."
• Pirathon: Benaiah, one of David's mighty men, is also recorded as a Pirathonite (2 Samuel 23:30).
• Relationship to Bedan: Opinions differ on the identity of the judge "Bedan" mentioned in 1 Samuel 12:11. In addition to the view that reads the name as Barak, as the Septuagint does, and the view that identifies him with Samson, as Jewish tradition does, there is reportedly also a view that identifies him with Abdon. The biblical text does not explicitly identify the two as the same person.
• Chronology of the judges: Scholars also differ on whether the judges ruled in succession or whether some of their tenures overlapped.

In Korean Churches

In Korean churches, Abdon is rarely the subject of a sermon in his own right. He is mentioned mainly when Judges is studied in whole-Bible reading programs or in Sunday school, as part of learning the names and order of the judges.