(13) Abdon.--The name means "servant." Some suppose that he is the unknown Bedan of 1Samuel 12:11.

Hillel.--The first occurrence of a name ("praising") afterwards destined to be so famous in the annals of Jewish theology. Hillel, the rival of Shammai, shortly before our Lord's day, may be regarded, with all his faults, as by far the greatest and best of the Rabbis.

A Pirathonite.--And, therefore, of the tribe of Ephraim.

Verse 13. - A Pirathonite, i.e. an inhabitant of Pirathon in the tribe of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites (ver. 15), afterwards famous as the birthplace of Benaiah, one of David's mighty men (2 Samuel 23:30). The Pharathon which is mentioned in 1 Macc. 9:50, and by Josephus, following its authority, as fortified by Jonathan the brother of Judas may have been the same, though its collocation between Titans and Tekoah rather suggests a more southern position; and the Ferata found by Robinson between two and three hours from Samaria, south-south-west, on the way to Jerusalem, seems certainly to represent Pirathon.

12:8-15 We have here a short account of three more of the judges of Israel. The happiest life of individuals, and the happiest state of society, is that which affords the fewest remarkable events. To live in credit and quiet, to be peacefully useful to those around us, to possess a clear conscience; but, above all, and without which nothing can avail, to enjoy communion with God our Saviour while we live, and to die at peace with God and man, form the substance of all that a wise man can desire.And after him Abdon the son of Hillell, a Pirathonite, judged Israel. So called from Pirathon, where he was born, and which was in the tribe of Ephraim, as appears from Judges 12:15.