Judges 10
10
Tola, the Champion-Deliverer
1After Abimelech died, Yahweh raised up a man of Issachar’s tribe to deliver Israel. His name was Tola # 10:1 The Hebrew word tola, a homonym, can be translated “scarlet” or “worm.” The dried body of the female worm coccus ilicis was crushed (see Isa. 53:5) and then used to dye clothing scarlet or crimson. In those days, scarlet cloth was highly valued (Lam. 4:5). Exodus mentions “scarlet” twenty-six times referring to materials of the tabernacle. In Ps. 22, the psalm of the cross, Jesus identified himself as tola, “a . . . worm” (v. 6). Although it can be translated “worm,” Jesus was saying that he was like the worm that bleeds scarlet, changing the very substance of those his blood touches. “When the female of the scarlet [‘tola’] worm species was ready to give birth to her young, she would attach her body to the trunk of a tree, fixing herself so firmly and permanently that she would never leave again. The eggs deposited beneath her body were thus protected until the larvae were hatched and able to enter their own life cycle. As the mother died, the crimson fluid stained her body and the surrounding wood. From the dead bodies of such female scarlet worms, the commercial scarlet dyes of antiquity were extracted” (Biblical Basis for Modern Science, p. 73, 1985, Henry Morris). The tola worm left a scarlet stain on the tree to which it attached itself, but after three days, the scarlet stain turned white. See Isa. 1:18. Tola is a preview of our splendid Jesus who was like a crushed worm that bled scarlet. son of Puah # 10:1 Puah means “splendid.” and grandson of Dodo. # 10:1 Dodo comes from the root word for “beloved” or “lover.” In Tola we see Jesus, who is now the Lover of our soul. He lived in the village of Shamir # 10:1 Shamir means “sharp point [thorn].” Jewish tradition states that God created the shamir stone as the means by which Moses engraved the names of the twelve tribes onto the stones of the breastplate. (See Tosefta, Soṭah, xv. 1 [ed. Zuckermandel, p. 321]; Soṭah 48b; Yer. Soṭah 24b.) Other traditions hold that shamir was a very small worm that could bore into stone. (See Rashi, Pes. 54a, Grünbaum [“Gesammelte Aufsätze,” p. 32]; Maimonides, commentary on Ab. 5, 6.) in the highlands of Ephraim. 2He was Israel’s champion-deliverer for twenty-three years; then he died and was buried at Shamir.
Jair, the Champion-Deliverer
3After Tola, Yahweh raised up a man from Gilead whose name was Jair. # 10:3 Jair means “he enlightens.” He was Israel’s champion-deliverer for twenty-two years. 4He had thirty sons, who rode on thirty donkeys, and thirty villages belonged to them. # 10:4 Jair’s thirty sons riding on thirty donkeys and owning thirty cities is expressed poetically in the Hebrew. The rarely used word for “donkeys” (burros) is a homonym for the word for “villages.” The information implies a somewhat princely authority given to his sons. These villages are in the region of Gilead and are called Jair’s Villages to this day. 5Jair died and was buried at Kamon. # 10:5 Kamon means “elevation.” It is identified as modern Qamm, on the Jordan-Irbid road.
Oppression by the Ammonites
6The Israelites again did evil in the sight of Yahweh, worshiping the Baals and the Ashtaroths, # 10:6 Or “Astartes.” These idols were local manifestations of the goddess Ishtar, the fertility goddess of the ancient Near East. the gods of Aram, # 10:6 The chief gods of Aram were Hadad and Rimmon. Sidon, # 10:6 Or “Phoenicia.” Moab, # 10:6 The chief god of Moab was Chemosh. and Ammon, # 10:6 The chief god of Ammon was Molech. and the gods of the Philistines. # 10:6 The gods of the Philistines were Dagon and Baal-Zebub. Because Israel entirely abandoned the worship of Yahweh, 7Yahweh became furious with Israel, and he handed them over to the oppression of the Philistines # 10:7 This introduces the oppression of the Philistines, which will not even begin to be resolved until ch. 13 with Samson and would not be finally resolved until the champion-deliverer David. and the Ammonites. 8They crushed and oppressed all the Israelites for eighteen years. They ruled over all the Israelites living east of the Jordan in Gilead, in the land of the Amorites. 9The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan and fought against the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim, leaving Israel distressed.
10Then the Israelites desperately cried out to Yahweh, “We have sinned against you because we have abandoned our God and have worshiped the Baals.”
11Yahweh answered them, # 10:11 Jewish tradition states that a prophet delivered this word to Israel. “Did I not rescue you in the past from the power of the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Midianites? # 10:12 As translated from the Septuagint. The Hebrew is “Maonites.” When they swept over you and oppressed you and when you cried out in desperation to me, did I not deliver you and set you free from their power? 13Because you have abandoned me to serve false gods, I am no longer coming to your rescue! 14Go ahead and pray all you want to these new gods you have chosen. Let’s see if they will come and deliver you in your time of trouble!”
15But the Israelites continued to plead with Yahweh, “Rescue us! We know we are guilty. You can do to us whatever seems good to you, # 10:15 It is always better to throw yourself upon the mercy of God than to be subject to the cruelty of men. See 2 Sam. 24:12–14. but please, come to our rescue!” 16So they threw away the false gods from among them and returned to worshiping Yahweh. At last, Yahweh felt # 10:16 Or “saw.” Israel’s misery and could bear it no longer.
17Then the Ammonites mustered an army and encamped in Gilead, while the Israelites rallied together, and they encamped at Mizpah. 18The commanders of the people of Gilead said to one another, “Whoever starts the fight against the Ammonites, we’ll make him our leader.”
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Judges 10: TPT
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