A judge of Israel between Jerubbaal and Jephthah, in 1 Samuel 12:11. Seemingly not, mentioned in Judges, but the name is probably identical with Abdon, which has the same radical consonants (Judges 12:13-15). No achievement of his for Israel's deliverance is recorded, but may it not be inferred from the record "he was buried ... in the mount of the Amalekites," that he probably smote them, and took the land which they had robbed Israel of? Compare Judges 3:13; Judges 3:27; Judges 5:14. A Bedan is mentioned among Manasseh's descendants (1 Chronicles 7:17), whence some identify him with the Jair (Judges 10:3), and suppose the surname Bedan was added to distinguish him from the elder Jair (Numbers 32:41).
        The Chaldee paraphrase reads "Samson" for "Bedan" in 1 Samuel 12:11. Whence some guess Bedan = Ben-Dan, or Be (Hebrew in) Dan, to be an epithet of Samson, namely, the Danite; compare Judges 13:25. But the order of the names forbids it. The Septuagint, Syrian, and Arabic versions read "Barak," which also the order forbids; however, see Hebrews 11:32. Other and spiritual considerations, besides chronology, often rule the order.