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Chapter 10

Judges 10

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¹And there riseth after Abimelech, to save Israel, Tola son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he is dwelling in Shamir, in the hill-country of Ephraim,

²and he judgeth Israel twenty and three years, and he dieth, and is buried in Shamir.

³And there riseth after him Jair the Gileadite, and he judgeth Israel twenty and two years,

⁴and he hath thirty sons riding on thirty ass-colts, and they have thirty cities, (they call them Havoth-Jair unto this day), which [are] in the land of Gilead;

⁵and Jair dieth, and is buried in Kamon.

⁶And the sons of Israel add to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and serve the Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Aram, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the Bene-Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsake Jehovah, and have not served Him;

⁷and the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel, and He selleth them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the Bene-Ammon,

⁸and they crush and oppress the sons of Israel in that year — eighteen years all the sons of Israel [who] are beyond the Jordan, in the land of the Amorite, which [is] in Gilead.

⁹And the Bene-Ammon pass over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, and Israel hath great distress.

¹⁰And the sons of Israel cry unto Jehovah, saying, 'We have sinned against Thee, even because we have forsaken our God, and serve the Baalim.'

¹¹And Jehovah saith unto the sons of Israel, '[Have I] not [saved you] from the Egyptians, and from the Amorite, from the Bene-Ammon, and from the Philistines?

¹²And the Zidonians, and Amalek, and Maon have oppressed you, and ye cry unto Me, and I save you out of their hand;

¹³and ye — ye have forsaken Me, and serve other gods, therefore I add not to save you.

¹⁴Go and cry unto the gods on which ye have fixed; they — they save you in the time of your adversity.'

¹⁵And the sons of Israel say unto Jehovah, 'We have sinned, do Thou to us according to all that is good in Thine eyes; only deliver us, we pray Thee, this day.'

¹⁶And they turn aside the gods of the stranger out of their midst, and serve Jehovah, and His soul is grieved with the misery of Israel.

¹⁷And the Bene-Ammon are called together, and encamp in Gilead, and the sons of Israel are gathered together, and encamp in Mizpah.

¹⁸And the people — heads of Gilead — say one unto another, 'Who [is] the man that doth begin to fight against the Bene-Ammon? he is for head to all inhabitants of Gilead.'

Matthew Henry
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill
Keil-Delitzsch

Introduction

In this chapter we have, I. The peaceable times Israel enjoyed under the government of two judges, Tola and Jair (Jdg 10:1-5). II. The troublesome times that ensued. 1. Israel's sin that brought them into trouble (Jdg 10:6). 2. The trouble itself they were in (Jdg 10:7-9). III. Their repentance and humiliation for sin, their prayers and reformation, and the mercy they found with God thereupon (Jdg 10:10-16). IV. Preparation made for their deliverance out of the hand of their oppressors (Jdg 10:17, Jdg 10:18).

Verse 1

Quiet and peaceable reigns, though the best to live in, are the worst to write of, as yielding least variety of matter for the historian to entertain his reader with; such were the reigns of these two judges, Tola and Jair, who make but a small figure and take up but a very little room in this history. But no doubt they were both raised up of God to serve their country in the quality of judges, not pretending, as Abimelech had done, to the grandeur of kings, nor, like him, taking the honour they had to themselves, but being called of God to it. 1. Concerning Tola it is said that he arose after Abimelech to defend Israel, Jdg 10:1. After Abimelech had debauched Israel by his wickedness, disquieted and disturbed them by his restless ambition, and, by the mischiefs he brought on them, exposed them to enemies from abroad, God animated this good man to appear for the reforming of abuses, the putting down of idolatry, the appeasing of tumults, and the healing of the wounds given to the state by Abimelech's usurpation. Thus he saved them from themselves, and guarded them against their enemies. He was of the tribe of Issachar, a tribe disposed to serve, for he bowed his shoulder to bear (Gen 49:14, Gen 49:15), yet one of that tribe is here raised up to rule; for those that humble themselves shall be exalted. He bore the name of him that was ancestor to the first family of that tribe; of the sons of Issachar Tola was the first, Gen 46:13; Num 26:23. It signifies a worm, yet, being the name of his ancestor, he was not ashamed of it. Though he was of Issachar, yet, when he was raised up to the government, he came and dwelt in Mount Ephraim, which was more in the heart of the country, that the people might the more conveniently resort to him for judgment. He judged Israel twenty-three years (Jdg 10:2), kept things in good order, but did not any thing very memorable. 2. Jair was a Gileadite, so was his next successor Jephthah, both of that half tribe of the tribe of Manasseh which lay on the other side Jordan; though they seemed separated from their brethren, yet God took care, while the honour of the government was shifted from tribe to tribe and before it settled in Judah, that those who lay remote should sometimes share in it, putting more abundant honour on that part which lacked. Jair bore the name of a very famous man of the same tribe who in Moses's time was very active in reducing this country, Num 32:41; Jos 13:30. That which is chiefly remarkable concerning this Jair is the increase and honour of his family: He had thirty sons, Jdg 10:4. And, (1.) They had good preferments, for they rode on thirty ass colts; that is, they were judges itinerant, who, as deputies to their father, rode from place to place in their several circuits to administer justice. We find afterwards that Samuel made his sons judges, though he could not make them good ones, Sa1 8:1-3. (2.) They had good possessions, every one a city, out of those that were called, from their ancestor of the same name with their father, Havoth-jair - the villages of Jair; yet they are called cities, either because those young gentlemen to whom they were assigned enlarged and fortified them, and so improved them into cities, or because they were as well pleased with their lot in those country towns as if they had been cities compact together and fenced with gates and bars. Villages are cities to a contented mind.

Verse 6

While those two judges, Tola and Jair, presided in the affairs of Israel, things went well, but afterwards, I. Israel returned to their idolatry, that sin which did most easily beset them (Jdg 10:6): They did evil again in the sight of the Lord, from whom they were unaccountably bent to backslide, as a foolish people and unwise. 1. They worshipped many gods; not only their old demons Baalim and Ashtaroth, which the Canaanites had worshipped, but, as if they would proclaim their folly to all their neighbours, they served the gods of Syria, Zidon, Moab, Ammon, and the Philistines. It looks as if the chief trade of Israel had been to import deities from all countries. It is hard to say whether it was more impious or impolitic to do this. By introducing these foreign deities, they rendered themselves mean and despicable, for no nation that had any sense of honour changed their gods. Much of the wealth of Israel, we may suppose, was carried out, in offerings to the temples of the deities in the several countries whence they came, on which, as their mother-churches, their temples in Israel were expected to own their dependence; the priests and devotees of those sorry deities would follow their gods, no doubt, in crowds into the land of Israel, and, if they could not live in their own country, would take root there, and so strangers would devour their strength. If they did it in compliment to the neighbouring nations, and to ingratiate themselves with them, justly were they disappointed; for those nations which by their wicked arts they sought to make their friends by the righteous judgments of God became their enemies and oppressors. In quo quis peccat, in eo punitur - Wherein a person offends, therein he shall be punished. 2. They did not so much as admit the God of Israel to be one of those many deities they worshipped, but quite cast him off: They forsook the Lord, and served not him at all. Those that think to serve both God and Mammon will soon come entirely to forsake God, and to serve Mammon only. If God have not all the heart, he will soon have none of it. II. God renewed his judgments upon them, bringing them under the power of oppressing enemies. Had they fallen into the hands of the Lord immediately, they might have found that his mercies were great; but God let them fall into the hands of man, whose tender mercies are cruel. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines that lay south-west of Canaan, and of the Ammonites that lay north-east, both at the same time; so that between those two millstones they were miserably crushed, as the original word is (Jdg 10:8) for oppressed. God had appointed that, if any of the cities of Israel should revolt to idolatry, the rest should make war upon them and cut them off, Deu 13:12, etc. They had been jealous enough in this matter, almost to an extreme, in the case of the altar set up by the two tribes and a half (Jos. 22); but now they had grown so very bad that when one city was infected with idolatry the next took the infection and instead of punishing it, imitated and out-did it; and therefore, since those that should have been revengers to execute wrath on those that did this evil were themselves guilty, or bore the sword in vain, God brought the neighbouring nations upon them, to chastise them for their apostasy. The oppression of Israel by the Ammonites, the posterity of Lot, was, 1. Very long. It continued eighteen years. Some make those years to be part of the judgeship of Jair, who could not prevail to reform and deliver Israel as he would. Others make them to commence at the death of Jair, which seems the more probable because that part of Israel which was most infested by the Ammonites was Gilead, Jair's own country, which we cannot suppose to have suffered so much while he was living, but that part at least would be reformed and protected. 2. Very grievous. They vexed them and oppressed them. It was a great vexation to be oppressed by such a despicable people as the children of Ammon were. They began with those tribes that lay next them on the other side Jordan, here called the land of the Amorites (Jdg 10:8) because the Israelites had so wretchedly degenerated, and had made themselves so like the heathen, that they had become, in a manner, perfect Amorites (Eze 16:3), or because by their sin they forfeited their title to this land, so that it might justly be looked upon as the land of the Amorites again, from whom they took it. But by degrees they pushed forward, came over Jordan, and invaded Judah, and Benjamin, and Ephraim (Jdg 10:9), three of the most famous tribes of Israel, yet thus insulted when they had forsaken God, and unable to make head against the invader. Now the threatening was fulfilled that they should be slain before their enemies, and should have no power to stand before them, Lev 26:17, Lev 26:37. Their ways and their doings procure this to themselves; they have sadly degenerated, and so they come to be sorely distressed.

Verse 10

Here is, I. A humble confession which Israel make to God in their distress, Jdg 10:10. Now they own themselves guilty, like a malefactor upon the rack, and promise reformation, like a child under the rod. They not only complain of the distress, but acknowledge it is their own sin that has brought them into the distress; therefore God is righteous, and they have no reason to repine. They confess their omissions, for in them their sin began - "We have forsaken our God," and their commissions - "We have served Baalim, and herein have done foolishly, treacherously, and very wickedly." II. A humbling message which God thereupon sends to Israel, whether by an angel (as Jdg 2:1) or by a prophet (as Jdg 6:8) is not certain. It was kind that God took notice of their cry, and did not turn a deaf ear to it and send them no answer at all; it was kind likewise that when they began to repent he sent them such a message as was proper to increase their repentance, that they might be qualified and prepared for deliverance. Now in this message, 1. He upbraids them with their great ingratitude, reminds them of the great things he had done for them, delivering them from such and such enemies, the Egyptians first, out of whose land they were rescued, the Amorites whom they conquered and into whose land they entered, and since their settlement there, when the Ammonites had joined with the Moabites to oppress them (Jdg 3:13), when the Philistines were vexatious in the days of Shamgar, and afterwards other enemies had given them trouble, upon their petition God had wrought many a great salvation for them, Jdg 10:11, Jdg 10:12. Of their being oppressed by the Zidonians and the Maonites we read not elsewhere. God had in justice corrected them, and in mercy delivered them, and therefore might reasonably expect that either through fear or through love they would adhere to him and his service. Well therefore might the word cut them to the heart (Jdg 10:13), "Yet you have forsaken me that have brought you out of your troubles and served other gods that brought you into your troubles." Thus did they forsake their own mercies for their own delusions. 2. He shows them how justly he might now abandon them to ruin, by abandoning them to the gods that they had served. To awaken them to a thorough repentance and reformation, he lets them see, (1.) Their folly in serving Baalim. They had been at a vast expense to obtain the favour of such gods as could not help them when they had most need of their help: "Go, and cry unto the gods which you have chosen (Jdg 10:14), try what they can do for you now. You have worshipped them as gods - try if they have now either a divine power or a divine goodness to be employed for you. You paid your homage to them as your kings and lords - try if they will now protect you. You brought your sacrifices of praise to their altars as your benefactors, imagining that they gave you your corn, and wine, and oil, but a friend indeed will be a friend in need; what stead will their favour stand you in now?" Note, It is necessary, in true repentance, that there be a full conviction of the utter insufficiency of all those things to help us and do us any kindness which we have idolized and set upon the throne in our hearts in competition with God. We must be convinced that the pleasures of sense on which we have doted cannot be our satisfaction, nor the wealth of the world which we have coveted be our portion, that we cannot be happy or easy any where but in God. (2.) Their misery and danger in forsaking God. "See what a pass you have brought yourselves to; now you can expect no other than that I should say, I will deliver you no more, and what will become of you then?" Jdg 10:13. This he tells them, not only as what he might do, but as what he would do if they rested in a confession of what they had done amiss, and did not put away their idols and amend for the future. III. A humble submission which Israel hereupon made to God's justice, with a humble application to his mercy, Jdg 10:15. The children of Israel met together, probably in a solemn assembly at the door of the tabernacle, received the impressions of the message God had sent them, were not driven by it to despair, though it was very threatening, but resolve to lie at God's feet, and, if they perish, they will perish there. They not only repeat their confession, We have sinned, but, 1. They surrender themselves to God's justice: Do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee. Hereby they own that they deserved the severest tokens of God's displeasure and were sure he could do them no wrong, whatever he laid upon them; they humbled themselves under his mighty and heavy hand, and accepted of the punishment of their iniquity, which Moses had made the condition of God's return in mercy to them, Lev 26:41. Note, True penitents dare and will refer themselves to God to correct them as he thinks fit, knowing that their sin is highly malignant in its deserts, and that God is not rigorous or extreme in his demands. 2. They supplicate for God's mercy: Deliver us only, we pray thee, this day, from this enemy. They acknowledge what they deserved, yet pray to God not to deal with them according to their deserts. Note, We must submit to God's justice with a hope in his mercy. IV. A blessed reformation set on foot hereupon. They brought forth fruits meet for repentance (Jdg 10:16): They put away the gods of strangers (as the word is), strange gods, and worshipped by those nations that were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel and to the covenants of promise, and they served the Lord. Need drove them to him. They knew it was to no purpose to go to the gods whom they had served, and therefore returned to the God whom they had slighted. This is true repentance not only for sin, but from sin. V. God's gracious return in mercy to them, which is expressed here very tenderly (Jdg 10:16): His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. Not that there is any grief in God (he has infinite joy and happiness in himself, which cannot be broken in upon by either the sins or the miseries of his creatures), nor that there is any change in God: he is in one mind, and who can turn him? But his goodness is his glory. By it he proclaims his name, and magnifies it above all names; and, as he is pleased to put himself into the relation of a father to his people that are in covenant with him, so he is pleased to represent his goodness to them by the compassions of a father towards his children; for, as he is the Father of lights, so he is the Father of mercies. As the disobedience and misery of a child are a grief to a tender father, and make him feel very sensibly from his natural affection, so the provocations of God's people are a grief to him (Psa 95:10), he is broken with their whorish heart (Eze 6:9); their troubles also are a grief to him; so he is pleased to speak when he is pleased to appear for the deliverance of his people, changing his way and method of proceeding, as tender parents when they begin to relent towards their children with whom they have been displeased. Such are the tender mercies of our God, and so far is he from having any pleasure in the death of sinners. VI. Things are now working towards their deliverance from the Ammonites' oppression, Jdg 10:17, Jdg 10:18. God had said, "I will deliver you no more;" but now they are not what they were, they are other men, they are new men, and now he will deliver them. That threatening was denounced to convince and humble them, and, now that it had taken its desired effect, it is revoked in order to their deliverance. 1. The Ammonites are hardened to their own ruin. They gathered together in one body, that they might be destroyed at one blow, Rev 16:16. 2. The Israelites are animated to their own rescue. They assembled likewise, Jdg 10:17. During their eighteen years' oppression, as in their former servitudes, they were run down by their enemies, because they would not incorporate; each family, city, or tribe, would stand by itself, and act independently, and so they all became an easy prey to the oppressors, for want of a due sense of a common interest to cement them: but, whenever they got together, they did well; so they did here. When God's Israel become as one man to advance a common good and oppose a common enemy what difficulty can stand before them? The people and princes of Gilead, having met, consult first about a general that should command in chief against the Ammonites. Hitherto most of the deliverers of Israel had an extraordinary call to the office, as Ehud, Barak, Gideon; but the next is to be called in a more common way, by a convention of the states, who enquired out a fit man to command their army, found out one admirably well qualified for the purpose, and God owned their choice by putting his Spirit upon him (Jdg 11:29); so that this instance is of use for direction and encouragement in after-ages, when extraordinary calls are no longer to be expected. Let such be impartially chosen to public trust and power as God has qualified, and then God will graciously own those who are thus chosen.

Introduction

TOLA JUDGES ISRAEL IN SHAMIR. (Jdg 10:1-5) after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel, Tola--that is, "to save." Deliverance was necessary as well from intestine usurpation as from foreign aggression. the son of Puah--He was uncle to Abimelech by the father's side, and consequently brother of Gideon; yet the former was of the tribe of Issachar, while the latter was of Manasseh. They were, most probably, uterine brothers. dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim--As a central place, he made it the seat of government.

Verse 3

Jair, a Gileadite--This judge was a different person from the conqueror of that northeastern territory, and founder of Havoth-jair, or "Jair's villages" (Num 32:41; Deu 3:14; Jos 13:3; Ch1 2:22).

Verse 4

he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts--This is a characteristic trait of Eastern manners in those early times; and the grant of a village to each of his thirty sons was a striking proof of his extensive possessions. His having thirty sons is no conclusive evidence that he had more than one wife, much less that he had more than one at a time. There are instances, in this country, of men having as many children by two successive wives.

Verse 6

ISRAEL OPPRESSED BY THE PHILISTINES AND AMMONITES. (Jdg 10:6-9) the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord--This apostasy seems to have exceeded every former one in the grossness and universality of the idolatry practised.

Verse 7

Philistines, and . . . the children of Ammon--The predatory incursions of these two hostile neighbors were made naturally on the parts of the land respectively contiguous to them. But the Ammonites, animated with the spirit of conquest, carried their arms across the Jordan; so that the central and southern provinces of Canaan were extensively desolated.

Verse 10

THEY CRY TO GOD. (Jdg 10:10-15) The children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee--The first step of repentance is confession of sin, and the best proof of its sincerity is given by the transgressor, when he mourns not only over the painful consequences which have resulted from his offenses to himself, but over the heinous evil committed against God.

Verse 11

the Lord said . . . Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians--The circumstances recorded in this and the following verses were not probably made through the high priest, whose duty it was to interpret the will of God.

Verse 12

Maonites--that is, "Midianites."

Verse 16

THEY REPENT; GOD PITIES THEM. (Jdg 10:16-18) they put away the strange gods . . . and served the Lord; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel--On their abandonment of idolatry and return to purity of worship, God graciously abridged the term of national affliction and restored times of peace.

Verse 17

the children of Ammon were gathered together--From carrying on guerrilla warfare, the Ammonites proceeded to a continued campaign. Their settled aim was to wrest the whole of the trans-jordanic territory from its actual occupiers. In this great crisis, a general meeting of the Israelitish tribes was held at Mizpeh. This Mizpeh was in eastern Manasseh (Jos 11:3). Next: Judges Chapter 11

Introduction

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 10 This chapter gives an account of two judges of Israel, in whose days they enjoyed peace, Jdg 10:1, 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, Jdg 10:6, 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, Jdg 10:10 and the chapter is concluded with the preparation made by both armies for a battle, Jdg 10:17.

Verse 1

And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel,.... To save, deliver, and protect Israel; which does not necessarily imply that Abimelech did; for he was no judge of God's raising up, or the people's choosing, but usurped a kingly power over them; and was so far from saving and defending them, that he involved them in trouble and distress, and ruled over them in a tyrannical manner, and left them in the practice of idolatry: it only signifies that after his death arose a person next described to which this may well be attributed, that he was raised up as a judge by the Lord; and though we read of no enemies particularly, that he delivered the people from in his days, yet it is not impossible nor unlikely that there might be such, though not made mention of; besides, he might be said to save them, as the word signifies, in that he was an happy instrument of composing those differences and dissensions, which Abimelech had occasioned, and of recovering them from the idolatry they had fallen into in his times, and of protecting them in their liberties, civil and religious: and this was Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; he was of the tribe of Issachar, and bore the same name as the eldest son of Issachar did, as his father Puah had the name of the second son of Issachar, Ch1 7:1 and as for Dodo his grandfather, this is elsewhere mentioned as the name of a man, as it doubtless is here, Sa2 23:9 though some copies of the Targum, the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, render it, the son of his uncle, or father's brother; meaning that his father Puah was the son of Abimelech's uncle, or father's brother, and so was one of the family which was raised up to be a judge after his death; but it is not likely that Gideon, the father of Abimelech, and Puah, the father of this man, should be brethren, when the one was of the tribe of Manasseh, and the other of the tribe of Issachar: and he dwelt in Shamir in Mount Ephraim: that is, when he became judge in Israel he removed to this place, as being in the midst of the tribes, and near the tabernacle of Shiloh, and so fit for a judge to reside in, to whom the people might apply from all parts to have justice and judgment administered to them. It is called Shamir in Mount Ephraim, to distinguish it from another of the same name in the mountain of Judah, Jos 15:48 it seems to have its name from the thorns which grew about it.

Verse 2

And he judged Israel twenty three years, and died,.... He did not take upon him to be king, as Abimelech did, but acted as a judge, in which office he continued twenty three years, and faithfully discharged it, and died in honour: and was buried in Shamir; the place where he executed his office. It is said (t), that in the first year of Tola, the son of Puah, Priamus reigned in Troy. (t) Juchasin, fol. 136. 1.

Verse 3

And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite,.... Who was of the half tribe of Manasseh, on the other side Jordan, which inhabited the land of Gilead, and who is the first of the judges that was on that side Jordan; it pleased God, before the government was settled in a particular tribe, to remove it from one to another, and to honour them all, and to show that though the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, were separated from their brethren by the river Jordan, they were not neglected by the Lord; and generally speaking judges were raised up in all those parts which were most oppressed, and liable to be oppressed by their enemies, as Gilead by the Ammonites; wherefore this, and the next judge that followed him, Jephthah, were of Gilead: and judged Israel twenty two years; protected them from their enemies, administered justice to them, and preserved them in the true religion.

Verse 4

And he had thirty sons that rode upon thirty ass colts,.... Which to ride on in those times was reckoned honourable, and on which judges rode in their circuit, Jdg 5:10 and such might be these sons of Jair, who were appointed under him to ride about, and do justice in the several parts of the country, as Samuel's sons were judges under him, Sa1 8:1, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havothjair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead; or the villages of Jair. There were some of this name that belonged to Jair, a son of Manasseh, in the times of Moses, Num 32:41 and these may be the same, at least some of them; for they were but twenty three he had, whereas these were thirty, Ch1 2:22 and these coming by inheritance to this Jair, a descendant of the former, and he being of the same name, and these cities perhaps repaired and enlarged by him, the name of them was continued and established, for it is not reasonable to suppose, as some have done, that this is the same Jair that lived in the times of Moses, who, if so, must have lived more than three hundred years, an age men did not live to in those times.

Verse 5

And Jair died, and was buried in Camon. A city of Gilead, as Josephus (u) calls it; Jerom (w), under this word Camon, makes mention of a village in his times, called Cimana, in the large plain six miles from Legion to the north, as you go to Ptolemais; but, as Reland (x) observes, this seems not to be the same place, but rather this is the Camon Polybius (y) speaks of among other cities of Peraea, taken by Antiochus. (u) Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7. sect. 6. (w) De loc. Heb. fol. 90. B. (x) Palestina Illustr. tom. 2. p. 679. (y) Hist. l. 5.

Verse 6

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord,.... After the death of the above judges they fell into idolatry again, as the following instances show: and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth; as they had before; see Gill on Jdg 2:11, Jdg 2:13 and, besides these: also the gods of Syria; their gods and goddesses, Belus and Saturn, Astarte and the Dea Syria, Lucian writes of: and the gods of Zidon; the goddess of the Zidonians was Ashtaroth, Kg1 11:5 and it seems they had other deities: and the gods of Moab; the chief of which were Baalpeor and Chemosh, Num 25:3. and the gods of the children of Ammon, as Milcom or Molech, Kg1 11:5. and the gods of the Philistines; as Dagon the god of Ashdod, Beelzebub the god of Ekron, Marnas the god of Gaza, and Derceto the goddess of Ashkalon: and forsook the Lord, and served not him; not even in conjunction with the above deities, as Jarchi and others observe; at other times, when they worshipped other gods, they pretended to worship the Lord also, they served the creature besides the Creator; but now they were so dreadfully sunk into idolatry, that they had wholly forsaken the Lord and his worship at the tabernacle, and made no pretensions to it, but entirely neglected it.

Verse 7

And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,.... His anger burned like fire, he was exceedingly incensed against them, nothing being more provoking to him than idolatry, as after mentioned: and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon; that is, delivered them into their hands, and they became subject and were in bondage to them, as such are that are sold for "slaves"; part of them, that lay to the west of the land of Israel, fell into the hands of the Philistines; and another part, which lay to the east, were oppressed by the children of Ammon, particularly those that were on the other side Jordan came into the hands of the latter.

Verse 8

And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel,.... The Philistines on one side, and the children of Ammon on the other; meaning either that year in which Jair died, as Jarchi; or the first year they began to bring them into bondage, as R. Isaiah: "and from that year", as Kimchi and Ben Melech, that they vexed and distressed them, they continued to vex and distress them eighteen years; or, as Abarbinel interprets it, "with that year", they vexed and oppressed them eighteen years, that is, so many more, or reckoning that into the number of them; and these eighteen years of their oppression are not to be reckoned into the years of Jair's government, and as commencing from the fourth of it, as Bishop Usher, Lightfoot, and others; for it does not appear that there was any oppression in his days, but from the time of his death to the raising up of Jephthah a new judge: and the people oppressed by the children of Ammon during that time were all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan, in the land of the Ammonites, which is in Gilead; even the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

Verse 9

Moreover, the children of Ammon passed over Jordan,.... Not content with the oppression of the tribes on the other side Jordan, which had continued eighteen years, they came over Jordan into the land of Canaan to ravage that, and bring other of the tribes into subjection to them, particularly the three next mentioned, which lay readiest for them, when they were come over Jordan: to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim who lay to the south and the southeast of the land of Canaan, and were the first the Ammonites had to fight with and subdue, when they had crossed Jordan to the east of it: so that Israel was sore distressed; by the Ammonites in the east, threatening those three tribes, mentioned, and the Philistines on the west, who gave disturbance to the tribes that lay nearest them, as Asher, Zebulun, Naphtali, Issachar, and Dan; and this distress was begun the same year in different parts, by different enemies.

Verse 10

And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord,.... In this their distress, seeing nothing but ruin and destruction before their eyes, their land being invaded by such powerful enemies in different quarters; this opened their eyes to a sense of their sins, the cause of it, and brought them to a confession of them: saying, we have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim; had been guilty not only of sins of omission, neglecting the pure of God, but also of sins of commission, even gross idolatry, in serving Baalim, and other gods, before mentioned.

Verse 11

And the Lord said unto the children of Israel,.... By a prophet he sent unto them, as Kimchi and Abarbinel, see Jdg 6:8, whom Ben Gersom takes to be Phinehas, but he could not be living at this time; or by an angel, a created one, sent on this occasion; or the uncreated one, the Son and Word of God, who might appear in an human form, and to whom all that is here said is applicable: did not I deliver you from the Egyptians; by bringing them out of subjection and bondage to them, and by delivering them out of their hands at the Red sea: and from the Amorites; the kings of Sihon and Og, whose countries were taken from them, and put into their hands, when they attempted to stop them in their march to the land of Canaan: from the children of Ammon; when they joined with the Moabites against them, Jdg 3:13. and from the Philistines? in the times of Shamgar, Jdg 3:31.

Verse 12

The Zidonians also,.... Who were left in the land to distress them, though there is no particular mention of them, and of the distress they gave them, and of their deliverance from it, which yet is not at all to be questioned: and the Amalekites; both quickly after they came out of Egypt, Exo 17:13 and when they were come into the land of Canaan, joining the Moabites and the Midianites against them, Jdg 3:13. and the Maonites did oppress you; meaning either the old inhabitants of Maon, a city in the mountains of Judah, near to which was a wilderness of this name, Jos 15:55 or rather a people of Arabia, called by Strabo (z), and Diodorus Siculus (a), Minaeans, the same with Mehunim, mentioned with the Arabians, Ch2 26:7 and who perhaps came along with the Midianites, when they oppressed Israel; though some have thought of the old inhabitants of Bethmeon and Baalmeon, Num 32:38. and ye cried unto me, and I delivered you out of their hands; all those mercies and deliverances are mentioned to aggravate their sins, that notwithstanding the Lord hath so often and eminently appeared for them, yet they deserted him and his worship, and fell into idolatry. Jarchi observes, that here are seven salvations or deliverances mentioned in opposition to the seven sorts of false gods or idols they had served, Jdg 10:6. (z) Geograph. l. 16. p. 528. (a) Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 176.

Verse 13

Ye have forsaken me, and served other gods,.... Since they had been so remarkably saved, time after time, and delivered from so many powerful enemies, which was dreadful ingratitude: wherefore I will deliver you no more; which is not to be understood absolutely, since after this he did deliver them, but conditionally, unless they repented of their idolatries, and forsook them. This is said to bring them to a sense of their sin and danger.

Verse 14

Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen,.... For they were their choice, and not what they were obliged to serve through persecution, and by compulsion of others, and whom they needed not, having the Lord Jehovah to be their God; and they are bid not seriously, but in an ironical or sarcastic way, to call upon them for help in this their time of distress, in whose power it was not to relieve them: let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation; if they can, whom you have served in your prosperity.

Verse 15

And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, we have sinned,.... By serving other gods particularly; and they seemed to have a true sense of their sin, and their confessions of it to be ingenuous, by what follows: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; inflict what punishment he would upon them, as famine or pestilence, they could not but own it would be just and righteous, and what their sins deserved: deliver us only, we pray thee, this day; out of the hands of men; they chose rather to fall into the hands of God; and however he thought fit to deal with them, they entreated that this once he would save them out of the hands of their enemies.

Verse 16

And they put away the strange gods from among them,.... Which was an evidence of the truth of their repentance, and showed their confessions and humiliations to be genuine: and served the Lord; and him only, both in private and public; in the observance of duties, both moral and ceremonial; in an attendance on the service of the sanctuary, and by offering sacrifices to God there, according to his will: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel; which is to be understood after the manner of men; for grief properly does not belong to God, there being no passion in him; but it denotes a carriage or behaviour of his, which shows what looks like sympathy in men; a love and affection for Israel, notwithstanding their ill behaviour to him, and a change of his dispensations Providence towards them, according to his unchangeable will; so Maimonides (b) understands it of the good will and pleasure of God, to cease from afflicting the people of Israel; but Abarbinel is of opinion that this refers to the soul of Israel, which was shortened and contracted, as the word signifies, because of the labour of servitude, the affliction and distress they were in. (b) Moreh Nevochim, par. 1. c. 41.

Verse 17

Then the children of Ammon were gathered together,.... By a crier, as Jarchi; they had passed over Jordan, as in Jdg 10:9 and had been distressing three of the tribes of Israel on that side; but now being informed, by an herald at arms, that the children of Israel, on the other side Jordan, were risen up in defence of their country, rights, and liberties, the children of Ammon came back and crossed over Jordan again: and encamped in Gilead; in the land of Gilead, part of which belonged to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the other part to the half tribe of Manasseh: and the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped at Mizpeh: of which name there were several cities in the land of Israel, on both sides Jordan; this must design a place on the other side Jordan, either in the tribe of Gad or Manasseh, for it seems there was of this name in each, see Gen 31:49.

Verse 18

And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another,.... Being thus assembled and encamped: what man is he that will begin to fight with the children of Ammon? for though the forces were assembled together for battle, yet it seems they had no general to command them, and lead them on to it: he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead, this they ordered to be proclaimed, to encourage some person to take the command of them, and go before them to battle, promising him that he should be judge or governor over all the tribes on that side Jordan. Next: Judges Chapter 11

Verse 1

Of these two judges no particular deeds are mentioned, no doubt because they performed none. Jdg 10:1-2 Tola arose after Abimelech's death to deliver Israel, and judged Israel twenty-three years until his death, though certainly not all the Israelites of the twelve tribes, but only the northern and possibly also the eastern tribes, to the exclusion of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, as these southern tribes neither took part in Gideon's war of freedom nor stood under Abimelech's rule. To explain the clause "there arose to defend (or save) Israel," when nothing had been said about any fresh oppression on the part of the foe, we need not assume, as Rosenmller does, "that the Israelites had been constantly harassed by their neighbours, who continued to suppress the liberty of the Israelites, and from whose stratagems or power the Israelites were delivered by the acts of Tola;" but Tola rose up as the deliverer of Israel, even supposing that he simply regulated the affairs of the tribes who acknowledged him as their supreme judge, and succeeded by his efforts in preventing the nation from falling back into idolatry, and thus guarded Israel from any fresh oppression on the part of hostile nations. Tola was the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, of the tribe of Issachar. The names Tola and Puah are already met with among the descendants of Issachar, as founders of families of the tribes of Issachar (see Gen 46:13; Num 26:23, where the latter name is written פּוּה), and they were afterwards repeated in the different households of these families. Dodo is not an appellative, as the Sept. translators supposed (υἱὸς πατραδέλφου αὐτοῦ), but a proper name, as in Sa2 23:9 (Keri), 24, and Ch1 11:12. The town of Shamir, upon the mountains of Ephraim, where Tola judged Israel, and was afterwards buried, was a different place from the Shamir upon the mountains of Judah, mentioned in Jos 15:48, and its situation (probably in the territory of Issachar) is still unknown. Jdg 10:3-5 After him Jair the Gileadite (born in Gilead) judged Israel for twenty-two years. Nothing further is related of him than that he had thirty sons who rode upon thirty asses, which was a sign of distinguished rank in those times when the Israelites had no horses. They had thirty cities (the second עירים in Jdg 10:4 is another form for ערים, from a singular עיר = עיר, a city, and is chosen because of its similarity in sound to עירים, asses). These cities they were accustomed to call Havvoth-jair unto this day (the time when our book was written), in the land of Gilead. The להם before יקראוּ is placed first for the sake of emphasis, "even these they call," etc. This statement is not at variance with the fact, that in the time of Moses the Manassite Jair gave the name of Havvoth-jair to the towns of Bashan which had been conquered by him (Num 32:41; Deu 3:14); for it is not affirmed here, that the thirty cities which belonged to the sons of Jair received this name for the first time from the judge Jair, but simply that this name was brought into use again by the sons of Jair, and was applied to these cities in a peculiar sense. (For further remarks on the Havvoth-jair, see at Deu 3:14.) The situation of Camon, where Jair was buried, is altogether uncertain. Josephus (Ant. v. 6, 6) calls it a city of Gilead, though probably only on account of the assumption, that it would not be likely that Jair the Gileadite, who possessed so many cities in Gilead, should be buried outside Gilead. But this assumption is a very questionable one. As Jair judged Israel after Tola the Issacharite, the assumption is a more natural one, that he lived in Canaan proper. Yet Reland (Pal. ill. p. 679) supports the opinion that it was in Gilead, and adduces the fact that Polybius (Hist. v. 70, 12) mentions a town called Καμοῦν, by the side of Pella and Gefrun, as having been taken by Antiochus. On the other hand, Eusebius and Jerome (in the Onom.) regard our Camon as being the same as the κώμη Καμμωνὰ ἐν τῷ μεγάΛῳ πεδίῳ, six Roman miles to the north of Legio (Lejun), on the way to Ptolemais, which would be in the plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon. This is no doubt applicable to the Κυαμών of Judith 7:3; but whether it also applies to our Camon cannot be decided, as the town is not mentioned again.

Verse 6

The third stage in the period of the judges, which extended from the death of Jair to the rise of Samuel as a prophet, was a time of deep humiliation for Israel, since the Lord gave up His people into the hands of two hostile nations at the same time, on account of their repeated return to idolatry; so that the Ammonites invaded the land from the east, and oppressed the Israelites severely for eighteen years, especially the tribes to the east of the Jordan; whilst the Philistines came from the west, and extended their dominion over the tribes on this side, and brought them more and more firmly under their yoke. It is true that Jephthah delivered his people from the oppression of the Ammonites, in the power of the Spirit of Jehovah, having first of all secured the help of God through a vow, and not only smote the Ammonites, but completely subdued them before the Israelites. But the Philistine oppression lasted forty years; for although Samson inflicted heavy blows upon the Philistines again and again, and made them feel the superior power of the God of Israel, he was nevertheless not in condition to destroy their power and rule over Israel. This was left for Samuel to accomplish, after he had converted the people to the Lord their God. Israel's Renewed Apostasy and Consequent Punishment - Jdg 10:6-18 As the Israelites forsook the Lord their God again, and served the gods of the surrounding nations, the Lord gave them up to the power of the Philistines and Ammonites, and left them to groan for eighteen years under the severe oppression of the Ammonites, till they cried to Him in their distress, and He sent them deliverance through Jephthah, though not till He had first of all charged them with their sins, and they had put away the strange gods. This section forms the introduction, not only to the history of Jephthah (Judg 11:1-12:7) and the judges who followed him, viz., Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (Jdg 12:8-15), but also to the history of Samson, who began to deliver Israel out of the power of the Philistines (Judg 13-16). After the fact has been mentioned in the introduction (in Jdg 10:7), that Israel was given up into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites at the same time, the Ammonitish oppression, which lasted eighteen years, is more particularly described in Jdg 10:8, Jdg 10:9. This is followed by the reproof of the idolatrous Israelites on the part of God (Jdg 10:10-16); and lastly, the history of Jephthah is introduced in Jdg 10:17, Jdg 10:18, the fuller account being given in Judg 11. Jephthah, who judged Israel for six years after the conquest and humiliation of the Ammonites (Jdg 12:7), was followed by the judges Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, who judged Israel for seven, ten, and eight years respectively, that is to say, for twenty-five years in all; so that Abdon died forty-nine years (18 + 6 + 25) after the commencement of the Ammonitish oppression, i.e., nine years after the termination of the forty years' rule of the Philistines over Israel, which is described more particularly in Jdg 13:1, for the purpose of introducing the history of Samson, who judged Israel twenty years under that rule (Jdg 15:20; Jdg 16:31), without bringing it to a close, or even surviving it. It was only terminated by the victory which Israel achieved under Samuel at Ebenezer, as described in 1 Sam 7. Jdg 10:6-8 In the account of the renewed apostasy of the Israelites from the Lord contained in Jdg 10:6, seven heathen deities are mentioned as being served by the Israelites: viz., in addition to the Canaanitish Baals and Astartes (see at Jdg 2:11, Jdg 2:13), the gods of Aram, i.e., Syria, who are never mentioned by name; of Sidon, i.e., according to Kg1 11:5, principally the Sidonian or Phoenician Astarte; of the Moabites, i.e., Chemosh (Kg1 11:33), the principal deity of that people, which was related to Moloch (see at Num 21:29); of the Ammonites, i.e., Milcom (Kg1 11:5, Kg1 11:33) (see at Jdg 16:23). If we compare the list of these seven deities with Jdg 10:11 and Jdg 10:12, where we find seven nations mentioned out of whose hands Jehovah had delivered Israel, the correspondence between the number seven in these two cases and the significant use of the number are unmistakeable. Israel had balanced the number of divine deliverances by a similar number of idols which it served, so that the measure of the nation's iniquity was filled up in the same proportion as the measure of the delivering grace of God. The number seven is employed in the Scriptures as the stamp of the works of God, or of the perfection created, or to be created, by God on the one hand, and of the actions of men in their relation to God on the other. The foundation for this was the creation of the world in seven days. - On Jdg 10:7, see Jdg 2:13-14. The Ammonites are mentioned after the Philistines, not because they did not oppress the Israelites till afterwards, but for purely formal reasons, viz., because the historian was about to describe the oppression of the Ammonites first. In Jdg 10:8, the subject is the "children of Ammon," as we may see very clearly from Jdg 10:9. "They (the Ammonites) ground and crushed the Israelites in the same year," i.e., the year in which God sold the Israelites into their hands, or in which they invaded the land of Israel. רעץ and רצץ are synonymous, and are simply joined together for the sake of emphasis, whilst the latter calls to mind Deu 28:33. The duration of this oppression is then added: "Eighteen years (they crushed) all the Israelites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites," i.e., of the two Amoritish kings Sihon and Og, who (dwelt) in Gilead. Gilead, being a more precise epithet for the land of the Amorites, is used here in a wider sense to denote the whole of the country on the east of the Jordan, so far as it had been taken from the Amorites and occupied by the Israelites (as in Num 32:29; Deu 34:1 : see at Jos 22:9). Jdg 10:9 They also crossed the Jordan, and made war even upon Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim (the families of the tribe of Ephraim), by which Israel was brought into great distress. ותּצר, as in Jdg 2:15. Jdg 10:10-12 When the Israelites cried in their distress to the Lord, "We have sinned against Thee, namely, that we have forsaken our God and served the Baals," the Lord first of all reminded them of the manifestations of His grace (Jdg 10:11, Jdg 10:12), and then pointed out to them their faithless apostasy and the worthlessness of their idols (Jdg 10:13, Jdg 10:14). וכי, "and indeed that," describes the sin more minutely, and there is no necessity to remove it from the text-an act which is neither warranted by its absence from several MSS nor by its omission from the Sept., the Syriac, and the Vulgate. Baalim is a general term used to denote all the false gods, as in Jdg 2:11. This answer on the part of God to the prayer of the Israelites for help is not to be regarded as having been given through an extraordinary manifestation (theophany), or through the medium of a prophet, for that would certainly have been recorded; but it was evidently given in front of the tabernacle, where the people had called upon the Lord, and either came through the high priest, or else through an inward voice in which God spoke to the hearts of the people, i.e., through the voice of their own consciences, by which God recalled to their memories and impressed upon their hearts first of all His own gracious acts, and then their faithless apostasy. There is an anakolouthon in the words of God. The construction which is commenced with ממּצרים is dropped at וגו וצידונים in Jdg 10:12; and the verb הושׁעתּי, which answers to the beginning of the clause, is brought up afterwards in the form of an apodosis with אתכם ואושׁיעה. "Did I not deliver you (1) from the Egyptians (cf. Ex 1-14); (2) from the Amorites (cf. Num 21:3); (3) from the Ammonites (who oppressed Israel along with the Moabites in the time of Ehud, Jdg 3:12.); (4) from the Philistines (through Shamgar: see Sa1 12:9, where the Philistines are mentioned between Sisera and Moab); (5) from the Sidonians (among whom probably the northern Canaanites under Jabin are included, as Sidon, according to Jdg 18:7, Jdg 18:28, appears to have exercised a kind of principality or protectorate over the northern tribes of Canaan); (6) from the Amalekites (who attacked the Israelites even at Horeb, Exo 17:8., and afterwards invaded the land of Israel both with the Moabites, Jdg 3:13, and also with the Midianites, Jdg 6:3); and (7) from the Midianites?" (see Judg 6-7). The last is the reading of the lxx in Cod. Al. and Vat., viz., Μαδιάμ; whereas Ald. and Compl. read Χαναάν, also the Vulgate. In the Masoretic text, on the other hand, we have Maon. Were this the original and true reading, we might perhaps think of the Mehunim, who are mentioned in Ch2 26:7 along with Philistines and Arabians (cf. Ch1 4:41), and are supposed to have been inhabitants of the city of Maan on the Syrian pilgrim road to the east of Petra (Burckhardt, Syr. pp. 734 and 1035: see Ewald, Gesch. i. pp. 321, 322). But there is very little probability in this supposition, as we cannot possibly see how so small a people could have oppressed Israel so grievously at that time, that the deliverance from their oppression could be mentioned here; whilst it would be very strange that nothing should be said about the terrible oppression of the Midianites and the wonderful deliverance from that oppression effected by Gideon. Consequently the Septuagint (Μαδιάμ) appears to have preserve the original text. Jdg 10:13 Instead of thanking the Lord, however, for these deliverances by manifesting true devotedness to Him, Israel had forsaken Him and served other gods (see Jdg 2:13). Jdg 10:14-16 Therefore the Lord would not save them any more. They might get help from the gods whom they had chosen for themselves. The Israelites should now experience what Moses had foretold in his song (Deu 32:37-38). This divine threat had its proper effect. The Israelites confessed their sins, submitted thoroughly to the chastisement of God, and simply prayed for salvation; nor did they content themselves with merely promising, they put away the strange gods and served Jehovah, i.e., they devoted themselves again with sincerity to His service, and so were seriously converted to the living God. "Then was His (Jehovah's) soul impatient (תּקצר, as in Num 21:4) because of the troubles of Israel;" i.e., Jehovah could no longer look down upon the misery of Israel; He was obliged to help. The change in the purpose of God does not imply any changeableness in the divine nature; it simply concerns the attitude of God towards His people, or the manifestation of the divine love to man. In order to bend the sinner at all, the love of God must withdraw its helping hand and make men feel the consequences of their sin and rebelliousness, that they may forsake their evil ways and turn to the Lord their God. When this end has been attained, the same divine love manifests itself as pitying and helping grace. Punishments and benefits flow from the love of God, and have for their object the happiness and well-being of men. Jdg 10:17-18 These verses form the introduction to the account of the help and deliverance sent by God, and describe the preparation made by Israel to fight against its oppressors. The Ammonites "let themselves be called together," i.e., assembled together (הצּעק, as in Jdg 7:23), and encamped in Gilead, i.e., in that portion of Gilead of which they had taken possession. For the Israelites, i.e., the tribes to the east of the Jordan (according to Jdg 10:18 and Jdg 11:29), also assembled together in Gilead and encamped at mizpeh, i.e., Ramath-mizpeh or Ramoth in Gilead (Jos 13:26; Jos 20:8), probably on the site of the present Szalt (see at Deu 4:43, and the remarks in the Commentary on the Pentateuch, pp. 180f.), and resolved to look round for a man who could begin the war, and to make him the head over all the inhabitants of Gilead (the tribes of Israel dwelling in Perea). The "princes of Gilead" are in apposition to "the people." "The people, namely, the princes of Gilead," i.e., the heads of tribes and families of the Israelites to the east of the Jordan. "Head" is still further defined in Jdg 11:6, Jdg 11:11, as "captain," or "head and captain."

Delivered by a Cry

The Responding Christ

Breaking Strongholds-When the Past Is Your Teacher

(Through the Bible) Judges 8-14

Bristol Conference 1976-17 Studies in the Judges

Revival - America's Only Hope

The Seven Levels of Judgment - Part 2

What Happened?

Peace of Heart

Why Men Rest in Duties

Our Daily Homily - Judges

Introduction

Verse 1

Verse 6

Verse 10

Introduction

Verse 3

Verse 4

Verse 6

Verse 7

Verse 10

Verse 11

Verse 12

Verse 16

Verse 17

Introduction

Verse 1

Verse 2

Verse 3

Verse 4

Verse 5

Verse 6

Verse 7

Verse 8

Verse 9

Verse 10

Verse 11

Verse 12

Verse 13

Verse 14

Verse 15

Verse 16

Verse 17

Verse 18

Verse 1

Verse 6