Hillel

Hillel the Pirathonite was the father of Abdon, one of the so-called minor judges of Israel who served after Elon the Zebulunite. Abdon son of Hillel judged Israel for eight years and is remembered for his forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys—a detail that conveyed the prosperity and honor of his household. Hillel himself receives mention only as Abdon's father, placing him among the Ephraimite families of Pirathon in the hill country of Ephraim.

His name, meaning he that praises or praising, was also borne by the great Babylonian rabbi Hillel the Elder (first century BC), whose school became one of the two dominant branches of early rabbinic interpretation. The biblical Hillel is entirely distinct from this later figure but shares a name that became prominent in Jewish tradition. The brief reference in Judges 12:13 places him in the succession of tribal leaders who maintained order in the period before the monarchy.