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Judges Chapter Ten

 

Judges 10 Outlines

Tola (v.1~2)

Jair (v.3~5)

Israel Oppressed Again (v.6~18)

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 10

This chapter gives an account of two judges of Israel in whose days they enjoyed peace Judges 10:1 after which they sinning against God came into trouble and were oppressed by their enemies eighteen years and were also invaded by an army of the Ammonites Judges 10:6 when they cried unto the Lord for deliverance confessing their sin; but he had first refused to grant them any though upon their importunity and reformation he had compassion on them Judges 10:10 and the chapter is concluded with the preparation made by both armies for a battle Judges 10:17.

 

Judges 10:1  After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah the son of Dodo a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in the mountains of Ephraim.

  YLT  1And there riseth after Abimelech to save Israel Tola son of Puah son of Dodo a man of Issachar and he is dwelling in Shamir in the hill-country of Ephraim

And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel .... To save deliver and protect Israel; which does not necessarily imply that Abimelech did; for he was no judge of God's raising up or the people's choosing but usurped a kingly power over them; and was so far from saving and defending them that he involved them in trouble and distress and ruled over them in a tyrannical manner and left them in the practice of idolatry: it only signifies that after his death arose a person next described to which this may well be attributed that he was raised up as a judge by the Lord; and though we read of no enemies particularly that he delivered the people from in his days yet it is not impossible nor unlikely that there might be such though not made mention of; besides he might be said to save them as the word signifies in that he was an happy instrument of composing those differences and dissensions which Abimelech had occasioned and of recovering them from the idolatry they had fallen into in his times and of protecting them in their liberties civil and religious: and this was

Tola the son of Puah the son of Dodo a man of Issachar; he was of the tribe of Issachar and bore the same name as the eldest son of Issachar did as his father Puah had the name of the second son of Issachar 1 Chronicles 7:1 and as for Dodo his grandfather this is elsewhere mentioned as the name of a man as it doubtless is here 2 Samuel 23:9 though some copies of the Targum the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it the son of his uncle or father's brother; meaning that his father Puah was the son of Abimelech's uncle or father's brother and so was one of the family which was raised up to be a judge after his death; but it is not likely that Gideon the father of Abimelech and Puah the father of this man should be brethren when the one was of the tribe of Manasseh and the other of the tribe of Issachar:

and he dwelt in Shamir in Mount Ephraim: that is when he became judge in Israel he removed to this place as being in the midst of the tribes and near the tabernacle of Shiloh and so fit for a judge to reside in to whom the people might apply from all parts to have justice and judgment administered to them. It is called Shamir in Mount Ephraim to distinguish it from another of the same name in the mountain of Judah Joshua 15:48 it seems to have its name from the thorns which grew about it.

 

Judges 10:2  2 He judged Israel twenty-three years; and he died and was buried in Shamir.

   YLT  2and he judgeth Israel twenty and three years and he dieth and is buried in Shamir.

And he judged Israel twenty three years and died .... He did not take upon him to be king as Abimelech did but acted as a judge in which office he continued twenty three years and faithfully discharged it and died in honour:

and was buried in Shamir; the place where he executed his office. It is saidF20Juchasin fol. 136. 1. that in the first year of Tola the son of Puah Priamus reigned in Troy.

 

Judges 10:3  3 After him arose Jair a Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years.

   YLT  3And there riseth after him Jair the Gileadite and he judgeth Israel twenty and two years

And after him arose Jair a Gileadite .... Who was of the half tribe of Manasseh on the other side Jordan which inhabited the land of Gilead and who is the first of the judges that was on that side Jordan; it pleased God before the government was settled in a particular tribe to remove it from one to another and to honour them all and to show that though the two tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh were separated from their brethren by the river Jordan they were not neglected by the Lord; and generally speaking judges were raised up in all those parts which were most oppressed and liable to be oppressed by their enemies as Gilead by the Ammonites; wherefore this and the next judge that followed him Jephthah were of Gilead:

and judged Israel twenty two years; protected them from their enemies administered justice to them and preserved them in the true religion.

 

Judges 10:4  4 Now he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; they also had thirty towns which are called “Havoth Jair”[a] to this day which are in the land of Gilead.

   YLT  4and he hath thirty sons riding on thirty ass-colts and they have thirty cities (they call them Havoth-Jair unto this day) which [are] in the land of Gilead;

And he had thirty sons that rode upon thirty ass colts .... Which to ride on in those times was reckoned honourable and on which judges rode in their circuit Judges 5:10 and such might be these sons of Jair who were appointed under him to ride about and do justice in the several parts of the country as Samuel's sons were judges under him 1 Samuel 8:1

and they had thirty cities which are called Havothjair unto this day which are in the land of Gilead; or the villages of Jair. There were some of this name that belonged to Jair a son of Manasseh in the times of Moses Numbers 32:41 and these may be the same at least some of them; for they were but twenty three he had whereas these were thirty 1 Chronicles 2:22 and these coming by inheritance to this Jair a descendant of the former and he being of the same name and these cities perhaps repaired and enlarged by him the name of them was continued and established for it is not reasonable to suppose as some have done that this is the same Jair that lived in the times of Moses who if so must have lived more than three hundred years an age men did not live to in those times.

 

Judges 10:5  5 And Jair died and was buried in Camon.

   YLT  5and Jair dieth and is buried in Kamon.

And Jair died and was buried in Camon. A city of Gilead as JosephusF21Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7. sect. 6. calls it; JeromF23De loc. Heb. fol. 90. B. under this word Camon makes mention of a village in his times called Cimana in the large plain six miles from Legion to the north as you go to Ptolemais; but as RelandF24Palestina Illustr. tom. 2. p. 679. observes this seems not to be the same place but rather this is the Camon PolybiusF25Hist. l. 5. speaks of among other cities of Peraea taken by Antiochus.

 

Judges 10:6  6 Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths the gods of Syria the gods of Sidon the gods of Moab the gods of the people of Ammon and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him.

   YLT  6And the sons of Israel add to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah and serve the Baalim and Ashtaroth and the gods of Aram and the gods of Zidon and the gods of Moab and the gods of the Bene-Ammon and the gods of the Philistines and forsake Jehovah and have not served Him;

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord .... After the death of the above judges they fell into idolatry again as the following instances show:

and served Baalim and Ashtaroth; as they had before; see Gill on Judges 2:11 Judges 2:13 and besides these:

also the gods of Syria; their gods and goddesses Belus and Saturn Astarte and the Dea Syria Lucian writes of:

and the gods of Zidon; the goddess of the Zidonians was Ashtaroth 1 Kings 11:5 and it seems they had other deities:

and the gods of Moab; the chief of which were Baalpeor and Chemosh Numbers 25:3.

and the gods of the children of Ammon as Milcom or Molech 1 Kings 11:5.

and the gods of the Philistines; as Dagon the god of Ashdod Beelzebub the god of Ekron Marnas the god of Gaza and Derceto the goddess of Ashkalon:

and forsook the Lord and served not him; not even in conjunction with the above deities as Jarchi and others observe; at other times when they worshipped other gods they pretended to worship the Lord also they served the creature besides the Creator; but now they were so dreadfully sunk into idolatry that they had wholly forsaken the Lord and his worship at the tabernacle and made no pretensions to it but entirely neglected it.

 

Judges 10:7  7 So 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 people of Ammon.

   YLT  7and the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel and He selleth them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Bene-Ammon

And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel .... His anger burned like fire he was exceedingly incensed against them nothing being more provoking to him than idolatry as after mentioned:

and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the children of Ammon; that is delivered them into their hands and they became subject and were in bondage to them as such are that are sold for "slaves"; part of them that lay to the west of the land of Israel fell into the hands of the Philistines; and another part which lay to the east were oppressed by the children of Ammon particularly those that were on the other side Jordan came into the hands of the latter.

 

Judges 10:8  8 From that year they harassed and oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years—all the children of Israel who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites in Gilead.

   YLT  8and they crush and oppress the sons of Israel in that year -- eighteen years all the sons of Israel [who] are beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorite which [is] in Gilead.

And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel .... The Philistines on one side and the children of Ammon on the other; meaning either that year in which Jair died as Jarchi; or the first year they began to bring them into bondage as R. Isaiah: "and from that year" as Kimchi and Ben Melech that they vexed and distressed them they continued to vex and distress them

eighteen years; or as Abarbinel interprets it "with that year" they vexed and oppressed them eighteen years that is so many more or reckoning that into the number of them; and these eighteen years of their oppression are not to be reckoned into the years of Jair's government and as commencing from the fourth of it as Bishop Usher Lightfoot and others; for it does not appear that there was any oppression in his days but from the time of his death to the raising up of Jephthah a new judge: and the people oppressed by the children of Ammon during that time

were all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Ammonites which is in Gilead; even the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh.

 

Judges 10:9  9 Moreover the people of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah also against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim so that Israel was severely distressed.

   YLT  9And the Bene-Ammon pass over the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim and Israel hath great distress.

Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan .... Not content with the oppression of the tribes on the other side Jordan which had continued eighteen years they came over Jordan into the land of Canaan to ravage that and bring other of the tribes into subjection to them particularly the three next mentioned which lay readiest for them when they were come over Jordan:

to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim who lay to the south and the southeast of the land of Canaan and were the first the Ammonites had to fight with and subdue when they had crossed Jordan to the east of it:

so that Israel was sore distressed; by the Ammonites in the east threatening those three tribes mentioned and the Philistines on the west who gave disturbance to the tribes that lay nearest them as Asher Zebulun Naphtali Issachar and Dan; and this distress was begun the same year in different parts by different enemies.

 

Judges 10:10  10 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord saying “We have sinned against You because we have both forsaken our God and served the Baals!”

   YLT  10And the sons of Israel cry unto Jehovah saying `We have sinned against Thee even because we have forsaken our God and serve the Baalim.'

And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord .... In this their distress seeing nothing but ruin and destruction before their eyes their land being invaded by such powerful enemies in different quarters; this opened their eyes to a sense of their sins the cause of it and brought them to a confession of them:

saying we have sinned against thee both because we have forsaken our God and also served Baalim; had been guilty not only of sins of omission neglecting the pure of God but also of sins of commission even gross idolatry in serving Baalim and other gods before mentioned.

 

Judges 10:11  11 So the Lord said to the children of Israel “Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the Philistines?

   YLT  11And Jehovah saith unto the sons of Israel `[Have I] not [saved you] from the Egyptians and from the Amorite from the Bene-Ammon and from the Philistines?

And the Lord said unto the children of Israel .... By a prophet he sent unto them as Kimchi and Abarbinel see Judges 6:8 whom Ben Gersom takes to be Phinehas but he could not be living at this time; or by an angel a created one sent on this occasion; or the uncreated one the Son and Word of God who might appear in an human form and to whom all that is here said is applicable:

did not I deliver you from the Egyptians; by bringing them out of subjection and bondage to them and by delivering them out of their hands at the Red sea:

and from the Amorites; the kings of Sihon and Og whose countries were taken from them and put into their hands when they attempted to stop them in their march to the land of Canaan:

from the children of Ammon; when they joined with the Moabites against them Judges 3:13.

and from the Philistines? in the times of Shamgar Judges 3:31.

 

Judges 10:12  12 Also the Sidonians and Amalekites and Maonites [b] oppressed you; and you cried out to Me and I delivered you from their hand.

   YLT  12And the Zidonians and Amalek and Maon have oppressed you and ye cry unto Me and I save you out of their hand;

The Zidonians also .... Who were left in the land to distress them though there is no particular mention of them and of the distress they gave them and of their deliverance from it which yet is not at all to be questioned:

and the Amalekites; both quickly after they came out of Egypt Exodus 17:13 and when they were come into the land of Canaan joining the Moabites and the Midianites against them Judges 3:13.

and the Maonites did oppress you; meaning either the old inhabitants of Maon a city in the mountains of Judah near to which was a wilderness of this name Joshua 15:55 or rather a people of Arabia called by StraboF26Geograph. l. 16. p. 528. and Diodorus SiculusF1Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 176. Minaeans the same with Mehunim mentioned with the Arabians 2 Chronicles 26:7 and who perhaps came along with the Midianites when they oppressed Israel; though some have thought of the old inhabitants of Bethmeon and Baalmeon Numbers 32:38.

and ye cried unto me and I delivered you out of their hands; all those mercies and deliverances are mentioned to aggravate their sins that notwithstanding the Lord hath so often and eminently appeared for them yet they deserted him and his worship and fell into idolatry. Jarchi observes that here are seven salvations or deliverances mentioned in opposition to the seven sorts of false gods or idols they had served Judges 10:6.

 

Judges 10:13  13 Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more.

   YLT  13and ye -- ye have forsaken Me and serve other gods therefore I add not to save you.

Ye have forsaken me and served other gods .... Since they had been so remarkably saved time after time and delivered from so many powerful enemies which was dreadful ingratitude:

wherefore I will deliver you no more; which is not to be understood absolutely since after this he did deliver them but conditionally unless they repented of their idolatries and forsook them. This is said to bring them to a sense of their sin and danger.

 

Judges 10:14  14 “Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.”

   YLT  14Go and cry unto the gods on which ye have fixed; they -- they save you in the time of your adversity.'

Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen .... For they were their choice and not what they were obliged to serve through persecution and by compulsion of others and whom they needed not having the Lord Jehovah to be their God; and they are bid not seriously but in an ironical or sarcastic way to call upon them for help in this their time of distress in whose power it was not to relieve them:

let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation; if they can whom you have served in your prosperity.

 

Judges 10:15  15 And the children of Israel said to the Lord “We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day we pray.”

   YLT  15And the sons of Israel say unto Jehovah `We have sinned do Thou to us according to all that is good in Thine eyes; only deliver us we pray Thee this day.'

And the children of Israel said unto the Lord we have sinned .... By serving other gods particularly; and they seemed to have a true sense of their sin and their confessions of it to be ingenuous by what follows:

do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; inflict what punishment he would upon them as famine or pestilence they could not but own it would be just and righteous and what their sins deserved:

deliver us only we pray thee this day; out of the hands of men; they chose rather to fall into the hands of God; and however he thought fit to deal with them they entreated that this once he would save them out of the hands of their enemies.

 

Judges 10:16  16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord. And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.

   YLT  16And they turn aside the gods of the stranger out of their midst and serve Jehovah and His soul is grieved with the misery of Israel.

And they put away the strange gods from among them .... Which was an evidence of the truth of their repentance and showed their confessions and humiliations to be genuine:

and served the Lord; and him only both in private and public; in the observance of duties both moral and ceremonial; in an attendance on the service of the sanctuary and by offering sacrifices to God there according to his will:

and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel; which is to be understood after the manner of men; for grief properly does not belong to God there being no passion in him; but it denotes a carriage or behaviour of his which shows what looks like sympathy in men; a love and affection for Israel notwithstanding their ill behaviour to him and a change of his dispensations Providence towards them according to his unchangeable will; so MaimonidesF2Moreh Nevochim par. 1. c. 41. understands it of the good will and pleasure of God to cease from afflicting the people of Israel; but Abarbinel is of opinion that this refers to the soul of Israel which was shortened and contracted as the word signifies because of the labour of servitude the affliction and distress they were in.

 

Judges 10:17  17 Then the people of Ammon gathered together and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled together and encamped in Mizpah.

   YLT  17And the Bene-Ammon are called together and encamp in Gilead and the sons of Israel are gathered together and encamp in Mizpah.

Then the children of Ammon were gathered together .... By a crier as Jarchi; they had passed over Jordan as in Judges 10:9 and had been distressing three of the tribes of Israel on that side; but now being informed by an herald at arms that the children of Israel on the other side Jordan were risen up in defence of their country rights and liberties the children of Ammon came back and crossed over Jordan again:

and encamped in Gilead; in the land of Gilead part of which belonged to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the other part to the half tribe of Manasseh:

and the children of Israel assembled themselves together and encamped at Mizpeh: of which name there were several cities in the land of Israel on both sides Jordan; this must design a place on the other side Jordan either in the tribe of Gad or Manasseh for it seems there was of this name in each see Genesis 31:49.

 

Judges 10:18  18 And the people the leaders of Gilead said to one another “Who is the man who will begin the fight against the people of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

   YLT  18And the people -- heads of Gilead -- say one unto another `Who [is] the man that doth begin to fight against the Bene-Ammon? he is for head to all inhabitants of Gilead.'

And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another .... Being thus assembled and encamped:

what man is he that will begin to fight with the children of Ammon? for though the forces were assembled together for battle yet it seems they had no general to command them and lead them on to it:

he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead this they ordered to be proclaimed to encourage some person to take the command of them and go before them to battle promising him that he should be judge or governor over all the tribes on that side Jordan.

 

──John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

Footnotes:

  1. Judges 10:4 Literally Towns of Jair (compare Numbers 32:41 and Deuteronomy 3:14)
  2. Judges 10:12 Some Septuagint manuscripts read Midianites.