Judges 10

Tola

1 After the time of Abimelek, a man of Issachar named Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim.

2 He led^[a] Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.

Jair

3 He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years.

4 He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair.^[b]

5 When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.

Jephthah

6 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the LORD and no longer served him,

7 he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites,

8 who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.

9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress.

10 Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.”

11 The LORD replied, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,

12 the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites^[c] oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands?

13 But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.

14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!”

15 But the Israelites said to the LORD, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.”

16 Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.

17 When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.

18 The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, “Whoever will take the lead in attacking the Ammonites will be head over all who live in Gilead.”

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Judges 10 Commentary

Chapter 10

Tola and Jair judge Israel. (1-5) The Philistines and Ammonites oppress Israel. (6-9) Israel's repentance. (10-18)

Verses 1-5 Quiet and peaceable reigns, though the best to live in, yield least variety of matter to be spoken of. Such were the days of Tola and Jair. They were humble, active, and useful men, rulers appointed of God.

Verses 6-9 Now the threatening was fulfilled, that the Israelites should have no power to stand before their enemies, Le. 26:17, Le. 26:37 . By their evil ways and their evil doings they procured this to themselves.

Verses 10-18 God is able to multiply men's punishments according to the numbers of their sins and idols. But there is hope when sinners cry to the Lord for help, and lament their ungodliness as well as their more open transgressions. It is necessary, in true repentance, that there be a full conviction that those things cannot help us which we have set in competition with God. They acknowledged what they deserved, yet prayed to God not to deal with them according to their deserts. We must submit to God's justice, with a hope in his mercy. True repentance is not only for sin, but from sin. As the disobedience and misery of a child are a grief to a tender father, so the provocations of God's people are a grief to him. From him mercy never can be sought in vain. Let then the trembling sinner, and the almost despairing backslider, cease from debating about God's secret purposes, or from expecting to find hope from former experiences. Let them cast themselves on the mercy of God our Saviour, humble themselves under his hand, seek deliverance from the powers of darkness, separate themselves from sin, and from occasions of it, use the means of grace diligently, and wait the Lord's time, and so they shall certainly rejoice in his mercy.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 42

1. S Judges 8:31
2. S Genesis 30:18
3. S Genesis 46:13
4. S Judges 2:16; Judges 6:14
5. Joshua 15:48
6. S Numbers 32:41
7. S Genesis 49:11; S 1 Kings 1:33
8. S Numbers 32:41
9. S Numbers 32:41
10. S Judges 2:11
11. S Judges 2:13
12. Ezekiel 27:16
13. S Genesis 10:15
14. S Genesis 19:38
15. S Numbers 21:29
16. S Genesis 26:1; S Judges 2:12
17. S Deuteronomy 32:15
18. S Deuteronomy 31:17
19. S Deuteronomy 32:30; Judges 2:14; 1 Samuel 12:9
20. S Joshua 12:2
21. ver 17; Judges 11:4
22. Judges 1:22
23. S Judges 3:9
24. S Exodus 9:27; Psalms 32:5; Jeremiah 3:25; Jeremiah 8:14; Jeremiah 14:20
25. Jeremiah 2:27; 1 Samuel 12:10
26. Exodus 14:30
27. S Genesis 14:7
28. Numbers 21:21; S Judges 3:13
29. S Judges 3:31
30. S Genesis 14:7
31. S Joshua 15:55
32. S Judges 4:3; Psalms 106:42
33. S Deuteronomy 32:15
34. Jeremiah 11:10; Jeremiah 13:10
35. Isaiah 44:17; Isaiah 57:13
36. Deuteronomy 32:37; Jeremiah 2:28; Jeremiah 11:12; Habakkuk 2:18
37. 1 Samuel 3:18; 2 Samuel 10:12; 2 Samuel 15:26; Job 1:21; Isaiah 39:8
38. Joshua 24:23; Jeremiah 18:8
39. Isaiah 63:9
40. S Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalms 106:44-45
41. S Genesis 31:49; Judges 11:29
42. Judges 11:8,9

Footnotes 3

[a]. Traditionally "judged" ; also in verse 3
[b]. Or "called the settlements of Jair"
[c]. Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts "Midianites"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 10

This chapter gives an account of two judges of Israel, in whose days they enjoyed peace, Jud 10:1-5, 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, Jud 10:6-9, 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, Jud 10:10-16 and the chapter is concluded with the preparation made by both armies for a battle, Jud 10:17,18.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible