Chapter Ten

1–5. The judges Tola and Jair. 6–9. Idolatry of the Israelites and their oppression by the Philistines and Ammonites. 10. The turning of the Israelites to the Lord. 11–16. The answer of the Lord and His mercy to the Israelites. 17–18. The occupation of Gilead by the Ammonites, the gathering of the Israelites, and the proposal of leadership.

Judges 10:1. After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose up to save Israel. He was from the tribe of Issachar and lived in Shamir on the hill country of Ephraim. Judges 10:2. He judged Israel for twenty-three years, and then he died and was buried in Shamir. Judges 10:3. After him, Jair from Gilead rose up and judged Israel for twenty-two years. Judges 10:4. He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities in the land of Gilead, which are called the towns of Jair to this day. Judges 10:5. And Jair died and was buried in Kamon. After the death of Abimelech, the judges of Israel were successively Tola from the tribe of Issachar and Jair from Gilead, who did not distinguish themselves by special deeds in the life of the people. Of these, the first was buried after his death in the city of Shamir in Ephraim, which is distinct from Shamir in Judah (Josh 15:48), and the second was buried in the city of Kamon, which according to the testimony of Josephus lay in the tribe of Manasseh in Gilead (Antiquit. V, 7, 6).

Judges 10:6. Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Astartes, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him. Judges 10:7. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the Ammonites; Judges 10:8. and they crushed and oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years, all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. Judges 10:9. The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah and Benjamin and the house of Ephraim; and Israel was sorely distressed. After the death of Tola and Jair, the idolatry of the Israelites increased to the extreme: they worshiped the gods of all the surrounding nations, while abandoning the service of the Lord. For this impiety, the Lord delivered them into the power of two nations: the Philistines (compare Gen 10:14), who occupied the coast of the Mediterranean Sea southwest of the Israelite territory, and the Ammonites (Gen 19:38), who lived near the Dead Sea northeast of the Moabites, in the former territory of the Amorites. The Ammonites in this case crossed the Jordan and oppressed the Israelites.

Judges 10:10. And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against You, for we have forsaken our God and served the Baals. Judges 10:11. The Lord said to the Israelites, “Did not the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines oppress you? Judges 10:12. And also the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Moabites. And when you cried out to Me, did I not deliver you from their hand? Judges 10:13. Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. So I will not save you anymore. Judges 10:14. “Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of distress. Judges 10:15. But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us as You see fit, only deliver us this day. Judges 10:16. And they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord. And His soul could not bear the suffering of Israel any longer. When the Israelites, under the pressure of oppression by the Ammonites, cried out to the Lord for mercy, the Lord, having already shown mercy to them more than once, on this occasion, to awaken in them a deeper repentance, did not at once send them a deliverer, but did so only after He saw their genuine repentance and return to Him.

Judges 10:17. The Ammonites assembled and camped in Gilead. The Israelites also assembled and camped at Mizpah. Judges 10:18. The people and the leaders of Gilead said to each other, “Whoever begins the fight against the Ammonites will be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. Seeing that the Ammonites had occupied Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah, which in this case is identified with Ramoth of Gilead (Deut 4:43; Josh 13:26), and offered to make the first one who would dare begin the war against the Ammonites their leader.