BEDAN

(Beʹdan).

1. Listed with Gideon (Jerubbaal), Jephthah, and Samuel as delivering Israel from enemies. (1Sa 12:11) However, nowhere else in the Bible nor in secular history is mention made of such a Bedan. Regarding this text, C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch remark: “It is extremely improbable that Samuel should have mentioned a judge here, who had been passed over in the book of Judges on account of his comparative insignificance.”​—Commentary on the Old Testament, 1973, Vol. II, 1 Samuel, p. 118.

Bedan is by some understood to refer to Barak. The context of 1 Samuel 12:11 denotes a major deliverer and recalls the oppression by Sisera and the deliverance that followed, a deliverance in which Jehovah used Barak. Barak is named along with Gideon and Jephthah in Hebrews 11:32. The Greek Septuagint and Syriac Peshitta read “Barak” at 1 Samuel 12:11. Others believe Bedan refers to Judge Abdon.​—See BARAK.

2. A descendant of Manasseh.​—1Ch 7:17.