4. The judgeships of Tola and Jair 10:1-5

No great military feats marked the judgeships of these two men. Their ministries appear to have consisted primarily in administering civil duties.

"The passages on the minor judges' do not conform to the editorial plan of the stories of the great judges', or to that of Jg. as a whole. Hence it would seem that they have been included, perhaps selectively, simply to supplement the number of the judges to the conventional number of twelve, thus possibly to make the judges as representative of all Israel."²⁰⁸

 Tola's judgeship 10:1-2

Tola (meaning "worm"in Hebrew) "arose to save Israel"from the tribe of Issachar sometime after Abimelech died. One of Issachar's sons was also named Tola (Gen. 46:13; Num. 26:23; 1 Chron. 7:1-2). The writer did not record how the judge Tola rose to power or exactly when. Specifically, no mention of Yahweh raising him up appears, as was true also of Abimelech. Nevertheless this brief notation of his contribution to Israel's national life pictures him as a worthy individual who enjoyed an orderly and stable tenure. He judged Israel 23 years.

 Jair's judgeship 10:3-5

The only unusual feature of Jair's life, other than that he came from Transjordan, was that he maintained a network of 30 cities over which his 30 sons ruled in Gilead. His name means "may [God] enlighten."An ancestor named Jair appears to have settled the same area shortly after the Israelites defeated Sihon and Og (Num. 32:41). The fact that his sons each rode on a donkey marked them as having distinguished rank in times when the Israelites had no horses.²⁰⁹Only the wealthy and prominent in Israel rode on donkeys at this time.

"The ass was highly esteemed as a riding beast and many times carried with it special recognition (Judg. 1:14; 1 Sam. 25:20)."²¹⁰

The fact that Jair fathered 30 sons suggests that he practiced polygamy (cf. Gideon, 8:30). Jair judged Israel for 22 years. Kamon stood about 12 miles southeast of the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee).

We see in this brief record of Jair's life continuing tendencies in Israel toward the lifestyle of the surrounding pagan nations and away from fidelity to Yahweh and His law.