Judges 10

Tola

1 After the time of Abimelech, a man of Issachar, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose up to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim.

2 Tola judged ^[a] Israel twenty-three years, and when he died, he was buried in Shamir.

Jair

3 Tola was followed by Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years.

4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. And they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth-jair. ^[b]

5 When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.

Oppression by the Philistines and Ammonites

6 And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.

7 So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites,

8 who that very year harassed and oppressed the Israelites, and they did so for eighteen years to all the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.

9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, and Israel was in deep distress.

10 Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against You, for we have indeed forsaken our God and served the Baals.”

11 The LORD replied, “When the Egyptians, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines,

12 Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites ^[c] oppressed you and you cried out to Me, did I not save you from their hands?

13 But you have forsaken Me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.

14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of trouble.”

15 “We have sinned,” the Israelites said to the LORD. “Deal with us as You see fit; but please deliver us today!”

16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and He could no longer bear the misery of Israel.

17 Then the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, and the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.

18 And the rulers of Gilead said to one another, “Whoever will launch the attack against the Ammonites will be the head of all who live in Gilead.”

Judges 10 Commentary

Chapter 10

Tola and Jair judge Israel. (1-5) The Philistines and Ammonites oppress Israel. (6-9) Israel's repentance. (10-18)

Verses 1-5 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.

Verses 6-9 Now the threatening was fulfilled, that the Israelites should have no power to stand before their enemies, Le. 26:17, Le. 26:37 . By their evil ways and their evil doings they procured this to themselves.

Verses 10-18 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or governed or led; here and throughout the book of Judges
• [b]. Or the villages of Jair
• [c]. Hebrew; some LXX manuscripts Midianites

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 10

This chapter gives an account of two judges of Israel, in whose days they enjoyed peace, Jud 10:1-5, 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, Jud 10:6-9, 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, Jud 10:10-16 and the chapter is concluded with the preparation made by both armies for a battle, Jud 10:17,18.