Judges10
New Living Translation
1 After Abimelech died, Tola son of Puah, son of Dodo, was the next person to rescue Israel. He was from the tribe of Issachar but lived in the town of Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.
2 He judged Israel for twenty-three years. When he died, he was buried in Shamir.
3 After Tola died, Jair from Gilead judged Israel for twenty-two years.
4 His thirty sons rode around on thirty donkeys, and they owned thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which are still called the Towns of Jair.
5 When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.
6 Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They served the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. They abandoned the Lord and no longer served him at all.
7 So the Lord burned with anger against Israel, and he turned them over to the Philistines and the Ammonites,
8 who began to oppress them that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites east of the Jordan River in the land of the Amorites (that is, in Gilead).
9 The Ammonites also crossed to the west side of the Jordan and attacked Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. The Israelites were in great distress.
10 Finally, they cried out to the Lord for help, saying, “We have sinned against you because we have abandoned you as our God and have served the images of Baal.”
11 The Lord replied, “Did I not rescue you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,
12 the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites? When they oppressed you, you cried out to me for help, and I rescued you.
13 Yet you have abandoned me and served other gods. So I will not rescue you anymore.
14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour of distress!”
15 But the Israelites pleaded with the Lord and said, “We have sinned. Punish us as you see fit, only rescue us today from our enemies.”
16 Then the Israelites put aside their foreign gods and served the Lord. And he was grieved by their misery.
17 At that time the armies of Ammon had gathered for war and were camped in Gilead, and the people of Israel assembled and camped at Mizpah.
18 The leaders of Gilead said to each other, “Whoever attacks the Ammonites first will become ruler over all the people of Gilead.”
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Judges 10Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Judges 10. The full AI study guide (summary, themes, context) has its own page.
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