Tola

1.The eldest son of Issachar, and head of a family, Gen 46:13 ; Num 26:23 .\par 2. Of the tribe of Issachar, judge of Israel, at Shamir in Mount Ephraim, for twenty-three years after the death of Abimelech, Jdg 10:1,2 .\par

To’la.

1. The first-born of Issachar, and ancestor of the Tolaiters. Gen 46:13; Num 26:23; 1Ch 7:1-2. (B.C. about 1700).

2. Judge of Israel, after Abimelech. Jdg 10:1-2. He is described as, "the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar." Tola judged Israel for twenty-three years, at Shamir in Mount Ephraim, where he died and was buried. (B.C. 1206-1183).

1. Issachar’s firstborn (Gen 46:13; Num 26:23; 1Ch 7:1-2). Ancestor of the Tolaites, 22,600 men of valor in David’s time.

2. Next judge of Israel after Abimelech (Jdg 10:1). Son of Puah, of Issachar. Judged for 23 years at Shamir in Mount Ephraim; here he died and was buried.

[To’la]

1. Son of Issachar. Gen 46:13; Num 26:23; 1Ch 7:1-2.

2. Son of Puah, of the tribe of Issachar: he judged Israel twenty-three years at Shamir in Mount Ephraim. Jdg 10:1-2.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Schulim Ochser

1. A son of Issachar who had journeyed to Egypt with Jacob (Gen. xlvi. 13). In the census of the people made by Moses and the high priest Eleazar after the plague the Tolaites appear as a tribe (Num. xxvi. 23), and during the reign of David they could put 22,600 warriors in the field (I Chron. vii. 2).

2. The son of Puah. He became judge in Israel after the death of Abimelech. He dwelt in Shamir in the plateau of Ephraim, apparently residing in the extreme northern portion near the borders of Issachar. He was judge for twenty-three years, and was buried in his native city of Shamir (Judges x. 1-2).

TOLA.—The first of the five minor Judges (Jdg 10:1-2). In Gen 46:13, Num 26:23, 1Ch 7:1 he appears as the son of Issachar; Tola was apparently the name of the leading clan of the tribe. It means ‘a worm,’ from which came a crimson dye (Exo 16:20, Isa 1:18); and was perhaps an animal name due to totemism. Shamir, his home and birthplace, is unidentified.

C. W. Emmet.

tō´la (תּולע, tōlā‛, “worm” or “scarlet stuff”):

(1) One of the four sons of Issachar (Gen 46:13; 1Ch 7:1), mentioned among those who journeyed to Egypt with Jacob (Gen 46:8 f), and in the census taken by Moses and Eleazar, as father of the Tolaites (Num 26:23) whose descendants in the reign of David included 22,600 “mighty men of valor” (1Ch 7:2).

(2) One of the Judges, the son of Puah, a man of Isaachar. He dwelt in the hill country of Ephraim in the village of Shamir, where after judging Israel 23 years he was buried (Jdg 10:1, Jdg 10:2). In the order of succession he is placed between Abimelech and Jair. It is interesting to note that both Tola and Puah are names of colors, and that they occur together both in the case of the judge and in that of the sons of Isaachar. They may therefore be looked upon as popular typical or ancestral names of the Issachar tribe, although current critical theories seek an explanation in a confusion of texts.