Judges10
New International Version
1After the time of Abimelek, a man of Issachar named Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim.
2He led Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.
3He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years.
4He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair.
5When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.
6Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer served him,
7he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites,
8who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.
9The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress.
10Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.”
11The Lord replied, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,
12the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands?
13But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.
14Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!”
15But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.”
16Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.
17When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.
18The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, “Whoever will take the lead in attacking the Ammonites will be head over all who live in Gilead.”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Judges 10.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Tola and Jair judge Israel. (1–5). The Philistines and Ammonites oppress Israel. (6–9). Israel's repentance. (10–18).
vv1-5
Quiet and peaceable reigns, though the best to live in, yield least variety of matter to be spoken of. Such were the days of Tola and Jair. They were humble, active, and useful men, rulers appointed of God.
vv6-9
Now the threatening was fulfilled, that the Israelites should have no power to stand before their enemies, Le 26:17, 37. By their evil ways and their evil doings they procured this to themselves.
vv10-18
God is able to multiply men's punishments according to the numbers of their sins and idols. But there is hope when sinners cry to the Lord for help, and lament their ungodliness as well as their more open transgressions. It is necessary, in true repentance, that there be a full conviction that those things cannot help us which we have set in competition with God. They acknowledged what they deserved, yet prayed to God not to deal with them according to their deserts. We must submit to God's justice, with a hope in his mercy. True repentance is not only for sin, but from sin. As the disobedience and misery of a child are a grief to a tender father, so the provocations of God's people are a grief to him. From him mercy never can be sought in vain. Let then the trembling sinner, and the almost despairing backslider, cease from debating about God's secret purposes, or from expecting to find hope from former experiences. Let them cast themselves on the mercy of God our Saviour, humble themselves under his hand, seek deliverance from the powers of darkness, separate themselves from sin, and from occasions of it, use the means of grace diligently, and wait the Lord's time, and so they shall certainly rejoice in his mercy.
Key Words
אַחַר: properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses)
אֲבִימֶלֶךְ: Abimelek, the name of two Philistine kings and of two Israelites
קוּם: to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)
יָשַׁע: properly, to be open, wide or free, i.e. (by implication) to be safe; causatively, to free or succor
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
תּוֹלָע: Tola, the name of two Israelites
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
פּוּאָה: Puah or Puvvah, the name of two Israelites
דּוֹדוֹ: Dodo, the name of three Israelites
אִישׁ: a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation)
Cross References
Judges 10Points to the origin and naming of Havoth-jair in the land of Gilead under Moses.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Directly links Jair's conquest and naming of Gilead's villages (Havoth-jair) to Deuteronomy's geographical account.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Riding on white ass colts denotes prominent status and high civic office in ancient Israel.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallels the descriptive marker of another judge (Abdon) whose sons rode on ass colts.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Directly continues the Gileadites' search for a military head to fight Ammon, leading to Jephthah.
Supported by JFB
Theological formula where God's anger burns and He sells backsliding Israel into hands of spoilers.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Samuel's historical summary echoes this confession of forsaking Yahweh to serve Baalim and Ashtaroth.
Supported by JFB
Irony of God sending Israel to seek aid from the false gods they chose for themselves.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Echoes the Song of Moses where the Lord asks where the gods of their refuge are.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Expands on the recurring theological cycle of Israel doing evil and serving foreign deities.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Describes God beholding their affliction and hearing their cry despite their deep provocations.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Illustrates how God's soul was grieved, showing His deep affliction in all their afflictions.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallels putting away strange gods (Baalim and Ashtaroth) to prepare hearts to serve Yahweh alone.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Fulfills the covenant curse where the stranger rises high above Israel while they go low.
Supported by Matthew Henry