Bedan (original) (raw)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Biblical deliverer of the Israelites

This article is about the Biblical figure Bedan. For other uses, see Bedan (disambiguation).

Bedan (Hebrew: בְּדָן Bəḏān) is named as one of the deliverer of Israelites in 1 Samuel 12:11.[1]

He is not mentioned elsewhere as a judge of Israel.[2] Bishop Simon Patrick and others (including the Talmud[3]) posit the name to be a contraction of ben Dan ("the son of Dan") by which they suppose Samson is meant, as the Targum reads.[4] The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic, however, refer to the name as Barak, instead of Bedan; and the two latter versions list in that verse Samson as the last deliverer of the Israelites, instead of Samuel.[5] These readings are adopted by Charles François Houbigant, and appear to be genuine, for it is not probable that Samuel would enumerate himself.[6] The letters forming Bedan (בדן) Barak (ברק) in the Hebrew are very similar, and a scribe might easily have written the one for the other, and the mistake might well have been perpetuated.[7] Others contend that this is no mistake, but that Bedan (B'dan) is simply a variant or contracted form of the name Abdon.[8]

Bedan is the name of a descendant of Manasseh in 1 Chronicles 7:17 [9]

  1. ^ 1 Samuel 12:11
  2. ^ BibleGateway – Quick search: Bedan
  3. ^ Public Domain Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Samson". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  4. ^ Study Light Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary 1 Samuel 12:11
  5. ^ Bible Study Tools Commentaries:1 Samuel 12:11
  6. ^ Study Light Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary 1 Samuel 12:11
  7. ^ [1]
  8. ^ Study Light Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary 1 Samuel 12:11
  9. ^ 1 Chronicices 7:17