Ibzan

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Judges in Bible
In the Book of Judges
Othniel
Ehud
Shamgar
Deborah and Barak
Gideon
Abimelech
Tola
Jair
Jephthah
Ibzan
Elon
Abdon
Samson
In the First Book of Samuel
Eli
Samuel
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Ibzan (Hebrew אבצן) appears in the Bible as one of the Judges of Israel. Very little is said about him, except the following:

8And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
9 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.
10 Then died Ibzan, and was buried at Bethlehem.

from Judges 12:8-10 (King James Version)

Many scholars believe that the Bethlehem referred to in the story is the Bethlehem in the territory of the Tribe of Zebulun, rather than the more famous Bethlehem in the Tribe of Judah. However the Talmud (Bava Batra 91a) asserts that Ibzan is to be identified with Boaz from the story of Ruth, who lived in the Bethlehem of Judah, and that he consummated his marriage with Ruth on the last night of his life. This identification is probably made on the strength of the similarity of the Hebrew spellings of their names and the fact of their both residing in "Bethlehem."

[edit] See also

Preceded by:
Jephtha
Judge of Israel Succeeded by:
Elon
In other languages