Judges, chapter 10, comments

 

Judges 10:1 ¶  And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim. 2  And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir. 3  And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years. 4  And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havothjair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead. 5  And Jair died, and was buried in Camon.

 

There is a 45-year period of apparent peace.

 

Tola and family are mentioned elsewhere;

 

Genesis 46:13  And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron.

 

Numbers 26:23  Of the sons of Issachar after their families: of Tola, the family of the Tolaites: of Pua, the family of the Punites:

 

1Chronicles 7:1  Now the sons of Issachar were, Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four. 2  And the sons of Tola; Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their father’s house, to wit, of Tola: they were valiant men of might in their generations; whose number was in the days of David two and twenty thousand and six hundred.

 

Jair is mentioned before Judges;

 

Numbers 32:41  And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took the small towns thereof, and called them Havothjair.

 

Deuteronomy 3:14  Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashanhavothjair, unto this day.

 

Joshua 13:30  And their coast was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, threescore cities:

 

And after Judges;

 

1Kings 4:13  The son of Geber, in Ramothgilead; to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brasen bars:

 

1Chronicles 2:22  And Segub begat Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead. 23  And he took Geshur, and Aram, with the towns of Jair, from them, with Kenath, and the towns thereof, even threescore cities. All these belonged to the sons of Machir the father of Gilead.

 

I think it is particularly interesting to see how status is reckoned. Possessing cities and having as many sons riding on ass colts was a sign of their noble, aristocratic standing as I commented on back in Judges 5.

 

Judges 10:6 ¶  And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him. 7  And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. 8  And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9  Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.

 

Yet again, Israel descends into idolatry. Baalim is the plural of Baal or gods. Baal was the supreme god of the Canaanites and the Phoenicians. Ashtaroth was called Ishtar by the Assyrians and Babylonians and Astarte by the Greeks and Romans according to some sources.

 

God was not pleased. They have multiple enemies dominating them at this point and are in a desperate situation. As Israel expanded its apostasy to import more and more gods into its pantheon to worship Matthew Henry noted that they lost a great deal of honor as no nation that changed its gods would be considered a worthy nation in that context in those times. Adopting someone else’s gods, if they thought it would ingratiate them to the foreign nation, did not work as intended either.

 

Judges 10:10 ¶  And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. 11  And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? 12  The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. 13  Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. 14  Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.

 

This is classic. God tells the Israelites that since they chose to reject Him and His leading by their behavior they can cry out to the gods they chose to follow for help. It is a sort of, “How’s that working out for you, Sparky?” kind of thing.

 

Judges 10:15  And the children of Israel said unto the LORD, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. 16  And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. 17  Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpeh. 18  And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another, What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.

 

The Israelites perform an act of repentance in putting away the foreign gods and God turned toward them. They then gather together to fight the Ammonites and decided to choose a leader who will fight and lead them.