📖 Biblical Definition
Twelfth and final minor judge of Israel before Samson (Judges 12:13-15). Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite (from Pirathon in the hill country of Ephraim), judged Israel eight years. Like Ibzan and Jair before him, his judgeship is distinguished by the prominence of his clan: he had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy ass colts — an emphatic mark of princely-patriarchal status. After eight years he died and was buried in Pirathon in the hill country of the Amalekites. The patriarchal-Reformed reader notes the Judges-pattern: the brief minor-judge accounts (Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon) consistently emphasize multigenerational household prosperity as the visible mark of the Lord's blessing on faithful governance. Abdon's forty sons and thirty grandsons riding seventy ass colts is the Hebrew-narrative shorthand for a household at the height of patriarchal prosperity. His name's meaning (servant) is itself instructive: the patriarch's authority is exercised under the Lord whose servant he is, and the household's prosperity is the Lord's blessing on faithful servanthood.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Twelfth and final minor judge of Israel before Samson (Judges 12:13-15); Pirathonite of Ephraim; eight-year reign; forty sons and thirty grandsons on seventy ass colts.
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ABDON, proper n. (OT judge) Twelfth and final minor judge of Israel before Samson (Judges 12:13-15). Son of Hillel, a Pirathonite (from Pirathon in the hill country of Ephraim). Judged Israel eight years. Forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy ass colts — the Hebrew-narrative shorthand for a household at the height of patriarchal prosperity. Buried in Pirathon in the hill country of the Amalekites. The minor-judge accounts (Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon) consistently emphasize multigenerational household prosperity as the visible mark of the Lord's blessing on faithful governance.
📖 Key Scripture
Judges 12:13-15 — "And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel. And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he judged Israel eight years. And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites."
Psalm 127:3-5 — "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them."
Psalm 128:6 — "Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel."
1 Corinthians 7:22 — "For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
No major postmodern redefinition. Abdon is a quiet minor judge; the recovery is the appreciation of multigenerational household prosperity as the Lord's blessing on faithful servanthood.
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Abdon as a proper name does not undergo lexical corruption. The principal contemporary mishandling is the failure to attend to the multigenerational household-prosperity pattern Abdon's forty sons and thirty grandsons represent. The modern individualist anti-natalist reading of Scripture finds the seventy-grandson-on-ass-colts detail strange or even embarrassing; the patriarchal-Reformed reader recognizes it as the Hebrew narrative's celebration of the Lord's blessing on a faithful patriarch's multigenerational household. Psalm 127 and 128 explicitly link this pattern to the man who fears the Lord.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Judges 12:13-15; twelfth minor judge; Pirathon of Ephraim; eight years; seventy descendants on ass colts.
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['Hebrew', 'H5658', 'Avdon', 'servant, servitude']
['Hebrew', 'H5650', "'eved", 'servant, slave']
['Hebrew', 'H6552', 'Pirathon', 'place-name in Ephraim']
Usage
"Twelfth minor judge; Pirathon of Ephraim; eight years."
"Forty sons and thirty grandsons on seventy ass colts; patriarchal prosperity."
"Multigenerational household-flourishing as the Lord's blessing on servanthood."