Chapter 10
Tola
10:1 After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. 2 And he judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir.
The three-year period Abimelech ruled was likely concurrent with Tola’s time as Israel’s judge (see Appendix 2). Since Abimelech was only influential over a small region of Israel and was never considered a judge (or at least never an ‘official’ judge). These two verses are all we know about him. He was from the tribe of Issachar but lived in Ephraim’s territory. The city of Shamir listed here is not the same city listed in Joshua 15:48 which is located near Hebron in Judah’s territory, the exact location of this Shamir is not known. Tola judged Israel for twenty-three years.
Considerations
Lineage versus Territory
Since an Israelite can be from the lineage of one of Jacob’s sons (the tribes of Israel) and live in another tribe’s territory, the text can at times get confusing. For example Tola could have been introduced as being from Issachar or from Ephraim. Diligent study may be required to separate one’s lineage from the location they lived in.
Jair
10:3 After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. 4 And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. 5 And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.
After Tola died, Jair the Gileadite (the name Gilead can refer to a person, city, the region around those cities, or to the whole east of the Jordan Israelite settlement, often difficult to determine which), became Israel’s judge and served for twenty-two years. In one verse we are told that he had great wealth. He had thirty sons (which hints that he likely had several wives) who rode on thirty donkeys. The family had thirty cities called Havvoth-jair (villages of Jair) in the region of Gilead. Since the name Jair first appears in Numbers 32:41 as the Israelite that captures these cities during a campaign led by Moses (see also Deuteronomy 3:14), the Jair here is likely a patronym (a family name) possibly a great-grandson of the Jair during the time of Moses. When he died he was buried in Kamon (often thought to be either Qumran, Qamm, Kamein, or Hanzir, all southeast of the Sea of Galilee in the region of Gilead).
Disobedience (again) Followed by Oppression (again)
10:6 The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the LORD and did not serve him.
Apparently one pantheon of false gods wasn’t enough, the people of Israel not only served the Canaanite Baals and the Ashtaroth, but now they have embraced the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia! And in doing so completely rejected YHWH. Instead of the one true God, they attempt to fill their lives up with the worship of all of the gods of their enemies. Why so many gods? Were they adding gods to their ‘worship roster’ seeking something? If so, they could add indefinitely and still receive nothing in return, until they return to YHWH.
10:7 So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, 8 and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9 And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.
God sold (Hebrew yim·kerē, to sell, exchange) the people of Israel into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites who began to oppress them that year. They oppressed the Israelites in Gilead east of the Jordan River for eighteen years and fought against the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim. Much of Israel was being oppressed and was in great distress.
10:10 And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.” 11 And the LORD said to the people of Israel, “Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines? 12 The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand. 13 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. 14 Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.” 15 And the people of Israel said to the LORD, “We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.” 16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel.
After eighteen years the people of Israel finally cry out to YHWH acknowledging that they had sinned against Him and pleaded for help, but His reply was no! He told them, “Did I not rescue you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites? When they oppressed you, you cried out to me for help, and I rescued you. Yet you have abandoned me and served other gods. So I will not rescue you anymore. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour of distress!” (Judges 10:11b-14, NLT)
Recognizing the grievous situation they were in, the people tell God, “Do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.” Perhaps not fully understanding that the oppression from the Ammonites and Philistines was God’s punishment for their sins, they ask for deliverance. But they ended their relations with the false gods they were serving and put them away (Hebrew yā·sî’·rû, to desert, to quit, to depart from) on their own, and then returned to serving YHWH. This process may sound familiar to some readers, as the church in Ephesus had learn a similar lesson to learn, one that Jesus taught, which is to remember where they had fallen, repent of their sin, and return to Him (see Revelation 2:5). God then became impatient (Hebrew tiq·ṣǎr’, to reap, to harvest, can also mean to shorten, it refers figuratively to impatience or annoyance, in context God didn’t want them to suffer any longer) over the misery of Israel’s oppression.
10:17 Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped at Mizpah. 18 And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
The Ammonite army camped in Gilead (see commentary for verse three) while the people of Israel’s army camped at Mizpah (in northern Gilead, see Genesis 31:49, several cities with the same name, this is not the Mizpah located in Benjamin’s territory). This soon-to-be confrontation brought to their attention that the Israelite army needed a strong leader. That whoever the leader will be, they will become the leader of Gilead.