Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 10

After Abimelech. —This is merely a note of time. Abimelech is not counted among the judges, though it is not improbable that, evil as the episode of his rebellions was, he may have kept foreign enemies in check.

To defend Israel. —Rather, to deliver, as in the margin and elsewhere (Judges 2:16; Judges 2:18; Judges 3:9, etc.).

There arose. —The phrase implies a less direct call and a less immediate service than that used of other judges (Judges 2:18; Judges 3:9).

Tola. —The name of a son of Issachar (Genesis 46:13). It means “worm” (perhaps the kermes worm), and may, like Puah, be connected with the trade in purple dyes. He seems to have been the only judge furnished by this indolent tribe, unless Deborah be an exception. Josephus omits his name.

Puah. —Also a son of Issachar (1 Chronicles 7:1).

The son of Dodo. —The Septuagint renders it “the son of his uncle,” but there can be little doubt that Dodo is a proper name, as in 1 Chronicles 11:12; 2 Samuel 23:9; 2 Samuel 23:24. It is from the same root as David, “beloved.” Since Tola was of Issachar, he could not be the nephew of Abimelech, a Manassite.

He dwelt in Shamir. —The name has nothing to do with Samaria, as the Septuagint seems to suppose. It may be Sanûr, eight miles north of Samaria.

In mount Ephraim. —As judge, he would have to establish his residence in a town more central than any in his own tribe. There was another Shamir in Judah (Joshua 15:48).

He judged Israel. —The recurrence of the normal verb (to judge) shows that Tola was an honorable "Judge," not a despot, like Abimelech. Nothing further is known about Tola.

Jair, a Gileadite. In Numbers 32:41 we are told of a Jair, the son of Manasseh, who took the small towns of Gilead, and called them Havoth-jair. This earlier Jair, with Nobah, plays a splendid part in Jewish legend, which is only alluded to in Scripture . In what relation the Jair of these verses stood to him we cannot, in the uncertain data of the chronology, decide. The Jair of Numbers 32:41 was descended from Judah on the father’s side, and on the mother’s was a great-grandson of Manasseh.

Had thirty sons. — This was an indication of his rank and position, which assumed an ostentatious polygamy. (Compare to Judges 8:30.)

That rode on thirty ass colts. — Compare to Judges 5:10; see commentary on Judges 12:14. This implied that Jair was able to raise his numerous household in wealth.

The horse was little used in Palestine—for which, indeed, it is not well suited—until the days of Solomon (1 Kings 4:26). Its introduction was always discouraged by the prophets (Deuteronomy 17:16; Joshua 11:6–9; Psalms 33:17, and other passages).

There is a curious play on words involving Jair (yair), “ass-colts” (ayârîm), and “cities,” which should be arîm, but is purposely altered for the sake of paronomasia. (See commentary on Judges 15:16.)

Such plays on words in serious narratives point to a very early form of literature—though they probably originated from some popular proverb. The Septuagint, like Josephus, writing for Gentiles who did not understand the value attached to asses in Palestine, almost always euphemize the word into “colts,” or “foals” (pôlous), which in this case happily allows them to maintain the play on words with “cities” (poleis).

Thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair. — Havoth means villages (Septuagint, epauleis), and since they are here called “cities,” and thirty are named, we must suppose that this Jair (if he was a different person from the one previously mentioned) had increased the number of villages originally taken from Og from twenty-three to thirty (Numbers 32:41; Deuteronomy 3:14; 1 Chronicles 2:22).

In the latter passage (1 Chronicles 2:22), the Jair mentioned is spoken of as a son of Segub, and a great-grandson of Manasseh.

To this day. —Judges 1:26.

In Camon. —There seems to have been a Kamon six miles from Megiddo (Euseb. Jer.), but it is far more probable that this town was in Gilead, as Josephus says (Antt. v. 6, § 6), and there is a Kamon mentioned as near Pella by Polybius (Hist. v. 70, § 12).