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Judges 12:13-15 (ANIV)
Abdon
13 After him, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, led Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel for eight years. 15 Then Abdon son of Hillel died, and was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

DRAWING NOTES:

TIME OF DAY:
Unspecified in the Bible narrative. I have set this scene in the mid morning.

LIGHTING NOTES:
The sun (unseen and on the right (East) illuminates this scene, casting shadows below and to the left of the figure and objects in this scene.

CHARACTERS PRESENT:
Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon.

RESEARCH/ADDITIONAL NOTES:
I found a photograph of the rolling chalk/limestone hills around mount Ebal & Gerizim on the internet, which inspired the scene I have drawn. I have added a lot more trees in my picture, as I know that there were many more trees in Biblical times in the land of Israel than there are now. Over the centuries very many trees have been cut down to fuel growing human populations.

The name Abdon perhaps means “service” or “servile”, which is why I have drawn the figure wringing his hands, and having a humble “bowing to his betters” hunched appearance! In fact this judge had forty sons and thirty grandsons, and from this fact we may conclude that he may well have been a rich and influential man, and not servile (as his name means) at all! Abdon is the second to last judge mentioned in the Book of Judges. After him Israel was delivered into the hands of the Philistines forty years. During that time we have a series of personal stories: of Samson, of Micah and his Levite, of the Benjamite civil war. After the book of Judges comes stories of the Moabitess Ruth and of the childhood of Samuel. Then begins the monarchy of undivided Israel with king Saul.

Here’s the background landscape without the figure.

Background of Judges 12 – Abdon, Israel’s eleventh judge

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Judges 12 – Abdon, Israel’s eleventh judge

Where is Pirithon in Israel?
The site of Pirithon is probably located just west of Mount Ebal & Mount Gerizim, in the tribal lands of Ephraim. The name Pirathon means “height, summit” or “top”. The reference to “in the land of Ephraim in the mount (hill country) of the Amalekites” may have been a reference to a district which at some former time had been held by the Amalekites. Benaiah, one of David’s chief captains (2 Samuel 23:30; 1 Chronicles 11:31; 1 Chronicles 27:14) also came from this town.

“Pirithon is probably to be identified with Fer`ata, about 6 miles Southwest of Nablus. A possible rival is Fir`on, 15 miles West of Nablus. G.A. Smith suggests a position at the head of Wady Far`ah (Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 355). Moore thinks it may have been in Benjamin, Abdon being a Benjamite family (1 Chron. 8:23, 30; 1 Chron. 9:36). It is just possible that the place may be identical with Pharathon, one of the towns fortified by Bacchides (1 Macc. 9:50).”
[Source: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia]