Bible Commentaries

Judges 10:1-5. Tola and Jair.—These are the first of five minor Judges, the other three being named in Judges 12:8-15. Of the exploits of these Judges we know nothing. Only a few bare facts regarding their parentage, place of abode, years of rule, number of sons, and place of burial, are set down. Three of the five are elsewhere spoken of not as individuals but as clans, and the other two are naturally to be regarded in the same light. Probably they were not introduced by D, but by a later editor.

Judges 10:1. Tola is here the son of Puah. Elsewhere these are brothers, sons of Issachar, i.e. brother clans (Genesis 46:13, Numbers 26:23, 1 Chronicles 7:1). The site of Shemir is unknown.

Judges 10:3. Jair was a son, i.e. a clan, of Manasseh (Numbers 32:14, Deuteronomy 3:14.). Gilead was a mountainous region on the eastern side of the Jordan, well watered and wooded, providing rich pasturage. Havvoth-Jair means "tent dwellings of Jair," a reminiscence of nomadic days, though encampments had now given place to cities. Jair's thirty "sons" are thirty settlements of the clan, just as our Colonies are the "daughters" of Britannia. Kamon may be the Kamun of Polybius (v. 70, 12).

Judges 10:6-18. Introduction to the Story of Jephthah.—In this section we see the hand of D, and hear the recurrent notes of sin, suffering, repentance, and deliverance.

Judges 10:7. The reference to the Philistines seems to be out of place, unless the section is meant to serve as an introduction to Samson's as well as Jephthah's exploits.

Judges 10:8. Text faulty: "eighteen years" should probably stand at the end of Judges 10:7, and Judges 10:8 should perhaps read "and they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel that were beyond Jordan," the rest being a gloss.

Judges 10:11. Moore thinks that all the proper names after "the Egyptians" have been added by the latest editor. "Maonites" may survive in Ma'an, seven hours from Petra; some read "Midianites" with LXX (mg.).

Judges 10:17 f. A mere editorial summary of Judges 11.