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Judges Chapter
Ten
Judges 10
Outlines
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 10
This
chapter gives an account of two judges of Israel, in whose days they enjoyed
peace, Judges 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, Judges 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, Judges 10:10 and the
chapter is concluded with the preparation made by both armies for a battle, Judges 10:17.
Judges 10:1 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.
YLT
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,
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, 1 Chronicles 7:1
and as for Dodo his grandfather, this is elsewhere mentioned as the name of a
man, as it doubtless is here, 2 Samuel 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, Joshua 15:48 it
seems to have its name from the thorns which grew about it.
Judges 10:2 2 He judged Israel twenty-three years; and he died and was
buried in Shamir.
YLT
2and he judgeth Israel
twenty and three years, and he dieth, and is buried in Shamir.
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 saidF20Juchasin, fol. 136. 1. , that in
the first year of Tola, the son of Puah, Priamus reigned in Troy.
Judges 10:3 3 After him arose Jair, a
Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years.
YLT
3And there riseth after him
Jair the Gileadite, and he judgeth Israel twenty and two years,
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.
Judges 10:4 4 Now he had thirty sons who
rode on thirty donkeys; they also had thirty towns, which are called “Havoth
Jair”[a] to this
day, which are in the land of Gilead.
YLT
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;
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, Judges 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, 1 Samuel 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, Numbers 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, 1 Chronicles 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.
Judges 10:5 5 And Jair died and was
buried in Camon.
YLT
5and Jair dieth, and is
buried in Kamon.
And Jair died, and was buried in Camon. A city of
Gilead, as JosephusF21Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7. sect. 6. calls it; JeromF23De
loc. Heb. fol. 90. B. , 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 RelandF24Palestina Illustr.
tom. 2. p. 679. observes, this seems not to be the same place, but rather this
is the Camon PolybiusF25Hist. l. 5. speaks of among other cities of
Peraea, taken by Antiochus.
Judges 10:6 6 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.
YLT
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;
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 Judges 2:11, Judges 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, 1 Kings 11:5 and it
seems they had other deities:
and the gods of Moab; the chief of which were
Baalpeor and Chemosh, Numbers 25:3.
and the gods of the children of Ammon, as Milcom or
Molech, 1 Kings 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.
Judges 10:7 7 So the anger of the Lord was hot against
Israel; and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands
of the people of Ammon.
YLT
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,
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.
Judges 10:8 8 From that year they
harassed and oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years—all the
children of Israel who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land
of the Amorites, in Gilead.
YLT
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.
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.
Judges 10:9 9 Moreover the people of
Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah also, against Benjamin,
and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.
YLT
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.
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.
Judges 10:10 10 And the children of Israel
cried out to the Lord,
saying, “We have sinned against You, because we have both forsaken our God and
served the Baals!”
YLT
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.'
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.
Judges 10:11 11 So the Lord said to the
children of Israel, “Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and
from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the Philistines?
YLT
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?
And the Lord said unto the children of Israel,.... By a
prophet he sent unto them, as Kimchi and Abarbinel, see Judges 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, Judges 3:13.
and from the Philistines? in the times of Shamgar,
Judges 3:31.
Judges 10:12 12 Also the Sidonians and
Amalekites and Maonites [b] oppressed
you; and you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand.
YLT
12And the Zidonians, and
Amalek, and Maon have oppressed you, and ye cry unto Me, and I save you out of
their hand;
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, Exodus 17:13 and
when they were come into the land of Canaan, joining the Moabites and the
Midianites against them, Judges 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, Joshua 15:55 or
rather a people of Arabia, called by StraboF26Geograph. l. 16. p.
528. , and Diodorus SiculusF1Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 176. , Minaeans,
the same with Mehunim, mentioned with the Arabians, 2 Chronicles 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, Numbers 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, Judges 10:6.
Judges 10:13 13 Yet you have forsaken Me
and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more.
YLT
13and ye -- ye have forsaken
Me, and serve other gods, therefore I add not to save you.
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.
Judges 10:14 14 “Go and cry out to the
gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.”
YLT
14Go and cry unto the gods on
which ye have fixed; they -- they save you in the time of your adversity.'
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.
Judges 10:15 15 And the children of Israel
said to the Lord,
“We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day,
we pray.”
YLT
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.'
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.
Judges 10:16 16 So they put away the
foreign gods from among them and served the Lord. And His soul
could no longer endure the misery of Israel.
YLT
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.
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
MaimonidesF2Moreh Nevochim, par. 1. c. 41. 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.
Judges 10:17 17 Then the people of Ammon
gathered together and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled
together and encamped in Mizpah.
YLT
17And the Bene-Ammon are
called together, and encamp in Gilead, and the sons of Israel are gathered
together, and encamp in Mizpah.
Then the children of Ammon were gathered together,.... By a
crier, as Jarchi; they had passed over Jordan, as in Judges 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 Genesis 31:49.
Judges 10:18 18 And the people, the
leaders of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin
the fight against the people of Ammon? He shall be head over all the
inhabitants of Gilead.”
YLT
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.'
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.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)