Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary) by Richard Hess & Daniel I. Block & Dale W. Manor

Author:Richard Hess & Daniel I. Block & Dale W. Manor [Hess, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: REL006060 Religion / Biblical Commentary / Old Testament
ISBN: 9780310527596
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2016-01-11T16:00:00+00:00

Parenthesis 3: The Governorships of Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (12:8–15)

Thirty sons and thirty daughters (12:9). On the number of children, see comment on 10:4. Ibzan gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan (12:9). Sending his daughters away reflects the patrilocal pattern of marriage. These marriages probably cemented clan alliances and extended the scope of his political influence. At the same time, Ibzan’s initiative in all of these marriages arose out of a concern to build a community with sound foundations.

A parallel to this kind of family is recounted in a second millennium B.C. Hittite text, in which the Queen of Kanish gives birth to thirty sons in a single year. Overwhelmed with this horde, she places them in baskets and sends them down the river to the land of Zalpuwa. The gods rescue them and raise them to adulthood. Later the queen gives birth to thirty daughters, but these she keeps. In time the sons return “driving a donkey,” and, except for divine intervention and quick thinking, they would have married their own sisters.389

Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon (12:13–15). Pirathon is probably modern Farata, six miles west-southwest of Shechem.390 The location of this town in Ephraim is problematic, since the brook Kanah several miles south of Pirathon formed the boundary between the territories allotted to Manasseh and Ephraim (Josh. 17:7–9). Either the boundaries were not firmly fixed at this time, or the term Ephraim is being used loosely for the hill country south of the Wadi Fariʿa.

Seventy donkeys (12:14). On the significance of this comment, see comment on 10:4.

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