AM Bible Study Group; July 1, 2015 from Judges 10:1-5
Theme: The two ‘minor’ judges—Tola and Jair—show how God raises unique leaders for the times.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
We now come to the story of a couple of men in the Book of Judges that are—sadly—rather unworthily named. They are a part of that group that are called the ‘minor judges’. That name, however, has to do with the size of the portion of Judges that tells their story; and has nothing at all to do with their actual usefulness in the hand of God. We know some of the major judges rather well—Ehud, Debora (and Barak), Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. But there are six of the judges for which we are given only the smallest amount of attention—Shamgar, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon; and as in the passage before us today, Tola and Jair. They may have been categorized in the ‘minors’—but in terms of God’s use of them, they definitely played in the majors!
The times being described to us come immediately after a great deal of turmoil in the land. That turmoil was caused by the rebellious son of Gideon called Abimelech (who, by the way, is not counted among the judges). These times parallel the times of the Book of Ruth; and you’ll remember that Ruth’s story begins with a great famine in the land (Ruth 1:1). Naomi and her daughters-in-law thought to return to their homeland because they had heard that God had visited the land again with blessing (v. 6); and this might be because the difficult days of Abimelech had come to and end, and new ‘judges’ were being given to minister to the people.
And the two successive judges that we find at the beginning of Chapter 10—Tola and Jair—when considered in the light of the small amount of details given about them—actually show how God provides two very different, quite unique leaders for particular times.
I. THE LEADERSHIP OF TOLA—A DELIVERER FOR THE TIMES (vv. 1-2).
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. He judged Israel twenty-three years; and he died and was buried in Shamir (Judges 10:1-2).
A. First, let’s note where this man Tola was from. He was born of the tribe of Issachar; whose territory was southwest of the Sea of Galilee. There is a strong and honored tradition of leaders from Isaachar that perhaps this man and his father were named after. One of the sons of Isacchar, for example, was a man named Tola (Genesis 46:13; Numbers 26:23), and another was Puah (Numbers 26:23; 1 Chronicles 7:1). It would have been an honor to have been given the names of the great founding fathers of one’s tribe. And yet, we see this judge Tola didn’t live in the land of his birth. Rather, he lived “in Shamir in the mountains of Ephraim”—further south. After he died, he was buried in this place—obscure to us today—called Shamir. Ephriam was a tribe and a place of honor. It was were Deborah lived and ministered (Judges 4:5); and it was where the tabernacle had been kept. But it was not Tola’s original home.
B. What might cause a man who had been named after one of his forefathers—and who’s father was also named after a forefather—to live in another place than his home, and to even be buried later in that place? Perhaps the answer is in what we’re also told about the nature of God’s calling on his life; that he was raised “to save Israel”. He was a deliverer of his people—and perhaps the task that God had raised him to necessitated that he live elsewhere. We’re not told of any particular battle he fought; but consider carefully the kind of times his people had just gone through. Abimelech’s conspiracy had caused a great deal of turmoil throughout the land; and though the crisis was over, there was still—no doubt—a great deal of unrest and ill-will. Consider too that the powerful tribe that Tola had taken up residence in had, in the days of Gideon, become very resentful for having been slighted during a key battle (Judges 8:1-3). They, as it turns out, harbored a bitterness that would flair up again later in a very disastrous way (see 12:1-7). Could it be that Tola was a “savior”in the sense that he helped keep the peace between the people of his land, and quieted the potential for unrest, and even guided them through a difficult ‘reconstruction’ period—even to the point of living in and being buried in a place where turmoil might have arisen? We’re told that he judged the people for twenty-three years—with the implication that they were times of peace. If that’s the case, then he truly was a deliverer for the times!
C. It may be that there are times that God raises someone up, not so much to accomplish something, but rather to keep something from happening. Peacemakers aren’t always noticed for what they do; but they make it possible for a lot of other good things happen. As it says in Psalm 133:1; “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” May God help us to be “deliverers” at critical times—deliverers who help make peace.
II. THE LEADERSHIP OF JAIR—AN ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE TIMES (vv. 3-5).
After him arose Jair, a Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years. Now he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; they also had thirty towns, which are called “Havoth Jair” to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died and was buried in Camon (Judges 10:3-5).
A. Note that Jair arose “after” Tola; and he judged Israel for another twenty-two years. This makes for a total of 55 years of peaceful rule. And it may be that the “deliverance” that Tola was used to bring about helped make for the administrative reforms that Jair was able to bring about. It may be that God raised one to build on the foundation of the other.
B. Jair was a Gileadite—that is, from the region of Gilead that was on the other side of the Jordan from Tola’s birthplace; southeast of the Sea of Galilee. And just like Tola, Jair’s name had historic significance to the place of his birth. Another Jair—from the times of Moses—was used by God to take possession of some of the towns of Gilead for the tribe of Manasseh. Back then, the former Jair named this cluster of towns Havoth Jair (Numbers 32:40-41); which means “Tent Villages of Jair”. And that’s what this judge called Jair named the towns that his many sons supervised. In fact, those towns were still being called Havoth Jair—after this Jair—all the way up to the times of Samuel when the Book of Judges was written.
C. Whereas Tola was a peacemaker, Jair seems to have been an administrator. We’re told that he had thirty sons who wrote on thirty donkeys; and that they together had thirty towns under their care. Perhaps they rode throughout Havoth Jair a little like local sheriffs—keeping the peace. But let’s stop and take a warning from this. It may be that this time of administrative peace resulted in a loss for God’s people. For this man to have thirty sons, he would have had to have many wives—which, as we recall, was part of a downfall for Gideon in his times of luxury (Judges 8:30). And the fact that his sons road on thirty donkeys suggested something close to nobility and royalty; because in Scripture (though it obviously doesn’t mean this today), riding around on a donkey was a symbol of prestige and privilege. (This same status symbol comes up again later under the judgeship of Abdon; see 12:13-14).
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Tola’s judgeship brought relational peace, and Jair’s judgship brought administrative peace. But we might speculate that the prestige that came with peace led to a gradual decline in the spiritual state of God’s people; because when the story of Jair is over, we’re told, “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” (vv. 6-7).
Nevertheless, these were leaders for their times. We should pray—and trust—that God will raise up leaders over His people for our own times as well.