Another Rest (Judges 12:8-15)
INTRODUCTION:
If you remember after Abimelech’s reign of terror as Israel’s “king”, there came a period of 45 years in which Israel was at peace and prospered under the judgeship of Tola and Jair. If you remember all the way back to Ehud and the eighty years of rest that he brought to Israel through the defeat of the Moabites, during that 80 year period another judge arose by the name of Shamgar who it seems single-handedly put a stop to an external threat from the Philistines, thus making sure that there was no disturbance during the 80 years of rest brought on by the defeat of the Moabites. These three plus the three that we will meet this morning have been termed the minor judges, they are minor only in the respect that we do not have much written about them, not like the major judges who we have extensive histories surrounding them and the way in which they saved Israel.
This morning we are going to meet the three remaining minor judges, and like Tola and Jair, these three judges ruled in another time of peace in the land. Counting the six years that Jephthah ruled and the years that these three minor judges ruled means that this rest lasted 31 years, enough time for the nation to recover from the oppression of the sons of Ammon and to begin to prosper again. Let’s pray and then meet the final three of the minor judges.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Judges 12:8-15. Please stand, if you are able, in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read. Notice as we read this passage that the LORD is not mentioned, He is silent, but in His sovereignty allowing Israel to rest and recover and prosper under these men who have become judges in Israel, but we are not told if God raised them up or if they seemed to rise to these positions out of the need for someone to have authority and the ability to judge. Even though God is silent, He is the one who put them in their positions of authority. Follow along as I read.
Judges 12:8-15,
“Now Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel after him. He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage outside the family, and he brought in thirty daughters from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem. Now Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel after him; and he judged Israel ten years. Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. Now Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel after him. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys; and he judged Israel eight years. 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.” (Judges 12:8–15, NASB95)[1]
IBZAN – THE BETHLEHEMITE (Judges 12:8-10)
The first judge that we meet this morning is Ibzan of Bethlehem, and as I already noted in my introduction we have entered into another period of rest from the general chaos of the time of the judges. The reason I say this is because none of the three judges mentioned in this passage is said to have saved Israel from an oppressor. The sons of Ammon had been subdued under Jephthah and there was no other threat during the rule of these three judges.
The Bethlehem that is mentioned here as the hometown of Ibzan is not the Bethlehem that we are all familiar with where David was born, and then later where Jesus was born. We know that there was another Bethlehem in Israel, it is mentioned in Joshua 19:15 when the land of Israel was being divided into the portions that each tribe was to inherit. In Joshua 19:10-16 the territory of Zebulun is described and in verses 14-16 it says, “The border circled around it on the north to Hannathon, and it ended at the valley of Iphtahel. Included also were Kattah and Nahalal and Shimron and Idalah and Bethlehem; twelve cities with their villages. This was the inheritance of the sons of Zebulun according to their families, these cities with their villages.” (Joshua 19:14–16, NASB95)[2] Zebulun’s territory was in the north bordered by Asher to the west, Naphtali to the north and east, Issachar to the east and south, and Manasseh to the south. It was as far north as the Sea of Galilee and became a part of what we know as Galilee today. The reason I believe that the Bethlehem mentioned in this passage is the one in Zebulun and not the one in Judah that we know so well is because the one in the south is mentioned several times in Judges and is always referred to as Bethlehem in Judah. This is also the way it is referred to in Ruth 1:1 which took place during the time of the judges. The southern Bethlehem is always distinguished as Bethlehem Judah in Judges and Ruth. The Bethlehem in Zebulun exists no longer, and its exact location is unknown today. As far as the Old Testament is concerned, Ibzan’s judgeship, and the fact that he is buried there, is this Bethlehem’s only claim to fame, and even this is not remarkable enough to give it any real distinction.
The basic facts about Ibzan’s life and the other two judges in this section are given with very few details and in systematic terms. Ibzan was from Bethlehem, he judged Israel for seven years, he died and was buried in Bethlehem. The only thing that distinguished him from the other minor judges was his extraordinary number of children, 30 sons and 30 daughters and the fact of his success in arranging marriages for all of them. The fact that he had 60 children must have meant that he had several wives to father that many children. How did he have time for anything besides arranging weddings? To have that many children and manage them all and solve disputes and keep peace may have prepared him to be well suited for the role of judge for Israel. If he successfully ruled sixty and their husbands and wives, why not the nation. The best clue to the significance we are meant to see in Ibzan’s large family is the way this statement about him comes immediately after the history of Jephthah and the foolish vow that robbed him of his only daughter. After Jephthah’s emptiness comes Ibzan’s fullness, and with that a restoration to covenant blessing. This theme of emptiness and fullness will surface again in the book of Ruth.
If we look closely at verse nine, we will find another dimension to Ibzan’s success in having so many children. I am sure that this was not why Ibzan had so many children, but he certainly used it to his advantage. My version says that he gave his thirty daughters in marriage outside the family, the ESV says outside his clan. The phrase “the family” in the NASB and the phrase “his clan” in the ESV are interpretive additions, in other words, they are not in the original language but added for clarity by the translators. All the text says literally is that he sent his 30 daughters outside for marriage and got wives for his sons from outside. Just how far “outside” these marriage arrangements extended is not given to us, did it mean outside to other clans, to other tribes, or even to other nations. Although other nations are not likely, given Ibzan’s low profile. The point is that Ibzan was like a good politician, he used marriages to establish relationships and build alliances, not just within his own clan and tribe, but outside to other clans and other tribes. We have already read of multiplying wives and children before, where it had negative connotations. Gideon caused division in his family and in Israel by fathering a son by a concubine and naming him Abimelech (my father is king). In this passage this morning there is nothing to suggest that Ibzan’s domestic affairs were tainted this way. In chapter 3:1-6 of Judges we learned that the Israelites during the time of the judges were intermarrying with the Canaanites and were then following them in worshiping their gods. Again, in this passage there is no indication that Ibzan did this or that his sons or daughters did. This again indicates for us that the outsiders he married his sons and daughters to were not foreigners, but Israelites outside of his clan and tribe. The fact that this note about his domestic affairs is immediately followed by the statement that “he judged Israel” is to cause us to see the connection between the kind of intermarrying that Ibzan did and the manner in which he ruled Israel. The context is important. Gideon created hostility and division by his marriage and parenting arrangements. Ibzan as a good politician used the marriages of his children to bind Israel’s clans and tribes together. Jephthah enforced unity by violence and the exercise of authority and power. Ibzan promoted unity by a particular form of networking by creating linkages between clans and tribes through marriage.
While what Ibzan did through his domestic arrangements may not have been the ideal as given in Genesis, the implication indicates that these marriage arrangements may have helped heal some of the wounds that Jephthah’s divisive rule had caused, and these arrangements also contributed positively to Ibzan’s peaceful administration by making relationships and alliances with those outside his clan and tribe.
Perhaps the most that can be said about Ibzan’s conduct is that in the circumstances it most likely did Israel more good than harm, at least in the short term. Ibzan passes from the scene relatively undistinguished, ranked among those termed as minor judges.
ELON – THE ZEBULUNITE (Judges 12:11-12)
Like Ibzan, Elon is from Zebulun. In Elon’s case a particular point is made of the fact of his tribal identity. Twice in the two verses that we have about him he is referred to as Elon the Zebulunite. Elon seems to be remembered as the model Zebulunite, but why he is so is not clear. The two verses that we have concerning his judgeship give us very little information to work with, so we must look to the other information concerning the Zebulunites that is found within the pages of the book of Judges. The first reference to the tribe of Zebulun is in chapter one in the list of failures by the northern tribes to fulfill the mandate that Joshua had given them to drive the Canaanites out of the land of their inheritance. Judges 1:30 says, “Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.” (Judges 1:30, NASB95)[3] Looking at this verse carefully we note that it does not say they “could not” drive out the inhabitants of the inheritance that they had received, but that they “did not.” In other words, this failure was not due to ability, but a failure of will instead. They eventually redeem the situation somewhat by gaining dominance over the Canaanites among them and using them for forced labor, but in reality, this is a compromise to what they were mandated to do and does not speak well of Zebulun as a tribe from which we might expect exceptional leadership to come forth.
Things do begin to look better as we move on. In chapter 4:6 and 10 we learn that the Zebulunites were part of the 10,000 men that responded to Barak’s call to follow him into battle against Sisera. In the victory of song of Deborah in chapter 5 special mention is made of Zebulun’s leaders in verse 14 and in verse 18 Zebulun’s men were commended for their bravery, risking their own lives against Sisera’s army. Then in chapter 6:35 we learn that they were among the tribes that gathered to Gideon when he assembled an army to fight against Midian.
By the time we reach chapter 12 the failure of Zebulun in chapter one has faded into history and the bravery and willingness to go into battle even at the risk of their own lives has become what is known and remembered about the tribe of Zebulun, and these positive things about Zebulun certainly come to play in the description of Elon as “the Zebulunite.” The Zebulunites had come to be known as men of honor who did not shrink back when duty called and it is reasonable to assume that Elon, as leader in Zebulun and a judge in Israel exemplified these same qualities in his leadership roles. With all that said, it must be noted that nothing is attributed to him in his role of judge, at least nothing that was significant enough to be remembered. Yes, he was a judge in Israel which is no small thing, and he judged for 10 years. Elon may have been a good man and an able administrator, but when compared to Othniel or Ehud or Barak or even Jephthah there is no real comparison. Elon the Zebulunite barely left a trace of his life on Israel’s consciousness. Because of his unremarkable career as judge, Elon too is ranked among those termed as minor judges.
ABDON – THE PIRATHONITE (Judges 12:13-15)
As we move on in this passage, we come upon a new judge but that is about all, there is little new here. We receive the same standard details that we have received with the previous two judges, a little of the judge’s background, the length of his judgeship, his death, and the city or town where he was buried. The new judge, Abdon, the son of Hillel the Pirathonite gives a little more information than we received for Elon the Zebulunite. But again, there are not many details, and it is difficult to know what to make of them. First, we are told that Abdon was the son of Hillel the Pirathonite. Pirathon was a city in Ephraim, apparently this was his hometown because this is where he was buried as well, it was located in the hill country of the Amalekites which we will come back to in just a minute. Abdon was from Ephraim the same tribe as the prophetess Deborah. Besides these details we do not have much to go on. Hillel his father is otherwise unknown. Later in history one of David’s mighty men was from Pirathon but this does in no way mean that Abdon was a warrior. Most puzzling of these verses is the reference to the Amalekites. Everything else we have read of them in Judges has been negative. They were ancient enemies of Israel and continued to be in the time of the judges, they joined themselves to the Ammonites and others in oppressing Israel. They lived in the desert fringe of southern Canaan, but this verse seems to indicate a time when they gained a foothold in the central highlands, they held it long enough to leave a trace of their presence so that it was called the hill country of the Amalekites. They were no longer there during Abdon’s judgeship, or we would read of the conflict between them. But even this does not give us anything by which we can learn anymore about Abdon.
Only verse 14 gives us some information that might prove to be helpful. Like Ibzan, we are told about Abdon’s family. “He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys.” (Judges 12:14a, NASB95)[4] This statement reinforces for us that Abdon had a peaceful administration and lived in a time of rest and prosperity as opposed to the other times in the judge’s history when they were oppressed and afflicted by one nation or another. Horses were the rider’s choice during wartime, donkeys were either for work or as here for ceremony, for times of peace. This note about his seventy sons and grandsons riding on seventy donkeys reminds us of the judge Jair who had thirty sons on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities. Both Abdon and Jair were blessed with both peace and plenty. They were both blessed with large families, and they liked to make that known in a showy way, parading them around on donkeys. Unlike Ibzan and his thirty sons and thirty daughters, only Abdon’s sons and grandsons are mentioned. Abdon had more male children then either Jair or Ibzan and drew attention to that fact. Contrasted with the emptiness of Jephthah after fulfilling his fateful vow, this draws attention to the fact that he not only had sons to carry on the family name he had grandsons as well, which opens up the future for his family to continue with the possibility of creating a lasting family dynasty.
This tendency toward large families began with Gideon, from then on judgeship was on the verge of turning to kingship, with disastrous results as we saw in the case with Abimelech. He took the hint that his father gave him in naming him and he grasped the kingship directly, bringing ruin on himself and on Israel as a whole. A disaster they had to be saved from under the judgeship of Tola. But even when he fell, the desire to be more than a judge lived on in others, showing itself indirectly in the multiplication of wives and the promotion of sons. Even the godly judge Samuel erred by trying to continue his rule through his own, unworthy sons.
When we look at the promotion of Abdon’s sons and grandsons, it was in part what finally lead the people of Israel to demand that the time of the judges end and that they should go the whole way and appoint a king to rule them so that they could be like all the other nations. This did come in God’s time, but throughout judges from the time of Gideon on you can see the secret desire for this through the multiplication of wives and the promotion of one’s own sons and grandsons, this however was not the right way to do it. The LORD had made clear that when the time came for Israel to have a king, God Himself would appoint the one to sit on the throne. We see this in the fact that Abdon’s sons and grandsons had no power to prevent Israel from sliding back into apostasy after his death and they had no power to save Israel from the oppression of the Philistines that followed. When Abdon faded from the scene, we hear no more about his sons and grandsons, again nothing remarkable about this man who sought to make a name for himself through his family. Again, like the others he is ranked with those who are called the minor judges.
CONCLUSION:
Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Tola, Jair, and Shamgar are the judges in this book that have been labeled as the minor judges, what can we learn from their presence in the book of Judges?
First, even though they are minor judges they are people, real people who ruled for a time in Israel. They have names, accomplishments (though there are few recorded for us), families, failings, and strengths, they had stronger networks to which they belonged (clans or tribes), they had people who remembered them, places where they lived, died, and were buried. They are not just extras or the masses or statistics or gap-fillers between major histories. They are real human beings.
Second, even though these are all ranked as minor, and they did nothing that set them apart, they are still different from one another. Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon are all described in fairly systematic terms, they fit into a certain mold. But Shamgar breaks the mold, the one verse that describes his career is completely different in both style and content. In one respect Shamgar and Tola belong together and are distinct from the other four. These two “save” Israel, the others do not. But they save Israel differently. Shamgar saved Israel from an external threat, while Tola saved Israel from internally falling apart after the horrific reign of Abimelech. Tola both saved and judged, while Shamgar only saved. As we continue to compare; Jair, Ibzan, and Abdon all had large families but only Ibzan is said to have daughters as well as sons. Jair and Abdon both have sons who ride on donkeys, but only Abdon has grandsons who did so as well. And so, we could go on, the point is they all come from different backgrounds, and they judge in different time periods and even though we are given few details about each it is enough to know that these men are not just human beings but are very distinct individuals.
Third, just because they are minor judges does not mean they are completely undistinguished. Now compared to people like Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, who are all named in Hebrews 11:32 and about whom we know so much more, these six seem relatively undistinguished. However, all of them with the exception of Shamgar rose to national leadership, judging Israel from 7 to 23 years. This fact alone distinguishes them above most men.
Fourth, little or minor people can be great too, and God can and does use such people to accomplish His purposes. The twelve disciples of Jesus were not impressive by worldly standards, just everyday men, but we owe them an unpayable debt for not giving in to their doubts and fears and fulfilling the mission Jesus entrusted to them. The Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians, and I believe many of us could fit into this same category, that most of them were not great or famous, or well known when God chose them to be His. Mike read these verses to us this morning as our Scripture reading, listen to them again and see if this fits you, “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.” (1 Corinthians 1:26–29, NASB95)[5] In the world that we live there are few stars and many that are like the minor judges. Thank God for stars like Othniel, Deborah, Barak, and Gideon who inspire us by their example. But thank God for those like Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon who remind us, by simply just being there with their modest achievements and all too human failures, that little people like minor judges also have a contribution to make to the great sweep of God’s saving purposes in the world that reaches its climax in Jesus Christ and flows on into our own day and age. Most of us are Tolas, Jairs, Ibzans, Elons, and Abdons, few are Othniels, Deborahs, Baraks, and Gideons, few are Billy Grahams, D.L. Moodys, George Whitfields, John MacArthurs, or James Dobsons. Most of us fit into the category with the minor judges. But praise God, that we too have a noble calling and can be used to display God’s astonishing wisdom to a fallen world. May it be our joy to reflect God’s glory through the witness of our lives, with God’s help, to the world that desperately needs the Good News of Jesus Christ.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.