Of Ibzan, the Ninth Judge of Israel, little is known. In the Book of Judges only three verses are devoted to him:
And after him [ie Jephthah] Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters, whom he sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. Then died Ibzan, and was buried at Bethlehem. (Judges 12:8-10)
The curious detail of his fathering thirty sons and thirty daughters echoes an earlier passage concerning Jair, the Seventh Judge of Israel:
And after him [ie King Abimelech] arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years. And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havothjair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead. (Judges 10:3-4)
This immediately calls into question Ibzan’s historicity. Nevertheless, there may be a simple explanation:
Such extensive connections through marriage were one of the means of creating foreign alliances. (Berlin & Brettler 525)
See also The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary for a similar explanation (Freedman 3792-3793).
Ibzan
In the Talmud, Ibzan is identified with the figure of Boaz, who marries Ruth and fathers on her David’s paternal grandfather Obed:
The objection which might be based upon Ruth iv. 17, where it appears that Obed was Boaz’s only child, is met by the assertion that all the children of Ibzan died in their father’s lifetime because he had not invited Manoah to their weddings. (Singer 554)
We will meet Manoah, the father of Samson, in a future article. The identity of Ibzan and Boaz is generally rejected by Christian commentators ( eg Ellicott 238 and McClintock & Strong 461). Josephus also explicitly records that Ibzan was survived by all sixty of his children (Whiston 348).
In The Legends of the Jews, Ibzan and his successor Elon are passed over completely:
As it had been Jephthah’s task to ward off the Ammonites, so his successor Abdon was occupied with protecting Israel against the Moabites. (Ginzberg 4:46)
Curiously, though, Ibzan is then mentioned on the following page:
The judge Ibzan had not invited Manoah and Zelalponit to any of the one hundred and twenty feasts in honor of the marriage of his sixty children, which were celebrated at his house and at the house of their parents-in-law, because he thought that “the sterile she-mule” would never be in a position to repay his courtesy. It turned out that Samson’s parents were blessed with an extraordinary son, while Ibzan saw his sixty children die during his lifetime. (Ginzberg 4:47)
I find it difficult to take any of this seriously.
Bethlehem
Ibzan came from Bethlehem, and it was there that he was buried. But which Bethlehem is meant: the more famous city of this name in Judah or the less famous Bethlehem of Zebulun? The latter is located about 35 km west of the Sea of Galilee, or 10 km northwest of Nazareth. It is explicitly mentioned as one of the cities of Zebulun in the Book of Joshua:
And the third lot came up for the children of Zebulun according to their families: and the border of their inheritance was unto Sarid: And their border went up toward the sea, and Maralah, and reached to Dabbasheth, and reached to the river that is before Jokneam; And turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrising unto the border of Chislothtabor, and then goeth out to Daberath, and goeth up to Japhia, And from thence passeth on along on the east to Gittahhepher, to Ittahkazin, and goeth out to Remmonmethoar to Neah; And the border compasseth it on the north side to Hannathon: and the outgoings thereof are in the valley of Jiphthahel: And Kattath, and Nahallal, and Shimron, and Idalah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Zebulun according to their families, these cities with their villages. (Joshua 19:10-16)
Ibzan’s successor, Elon, is also a Zebulonite (Judges 12:11). These details, and the fact that the name is not qualified by Ephratah or Judah, have led many Biblical commentators to conclude that Bethlehem of Zebulun is meant (Singer 554). Josephus, however, assumed that Bethlehem of Judah was meant (Whiston 348), and some later commentators have left the question unanswered (Orr 1446). Freedman offers a third alternative:
His place of residence and burial was Bethlehem. A tradition of interpretation as old as Josephus assumed this to be the famous Bethlehem in Judah; but the context of the Ibzan pericope makes it more likely that the reference is to a N Bethlehem close to the border of Asher (Josh 19:15). The book of Judges appears to be structured, at least in part, by the idea that each of the tribes had at one time or another produced a leader who “judged Israel.” Whereas Elon of Zebulun comes next, Ibzan was possibly regarded as the leader who came out of Asher. (Freedman 3793)
Conclusion
The historicity of Ibzan is doubtful. The brief account of his term of office repeats details from the Judgeship of Jair, and nothing is said of his administration other than that he forged foreign alliances through marriage. On the other hand, he is explicitly associated with Bethlehem, which suggests that the account has some historical basis to it. Perhaps he was a Canaanite leader of local importance, whose story was later exploited by the compilers of the Book of Judges.
And that’s a good place to stop.
References
- Adele Berlin & Marc Zvi Brettler (editors), The Jewish Study Bible, Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation, Oxford University Press, Oxford (1999)
- Charles John Ellicott (editor), An Old Testament Commentary for English Readers, Volume 2, Cassell & Company, Limited, London (1884)
- David Freedman (editor-in-chief), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, Doubleday, New York (1992)
- Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, Volume 4, Translated from the German by Henrietta Szold, The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia (1913)
- Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, Volume 6, Translated from the German by Henrietta Szold, The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia (1928)
- John McClintock, James Strong, Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Volume 4, Harper & Brothers, New York (1872)
- James Orr (General Editor), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Volume 3, The Howard-Severance Company, Chicago (1915)
- Carl G Rasmussen, Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, Revised Edition, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan (2010)
- Isidore Singer (managing editor), The Jewish Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Funk & Wagnalls Co, New York (1904)
- William Whiston (translator), Complete Works of Josephus, A New and Revised Edition Based on Syvert Havercamp’s Translation, Volume 4, Bigelow, Brown & Co, Inc, New York (1800)
Image Credits
- Ibzan: Guillaume Rouillé, Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, Part 1, Page 52, Lyon (1553), Public Domain
- Ibzan and Jephthah: After Jan Snellinck (artist), Gerard de Jode, Thesaurus Sacrarum historiarum Veteris et Novi Testamenti, Folio 94r, Antwerp (1585), Public Domain
- The Two Bethlehems: International Mapping, © Zondervan, Carl G Rasmussen, Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan (2010), Fair Use
