‘After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.  And he judged Israel for twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir’ (Judges 10:1-2).

Once, when I was visiting the college I studied at, I sat in on a lecture by a very eminent theologian. He was teaching the book of Isaiah and we were very keen to note down anything he had to say about useful commentaries on the book. I remember he spoke of one commentary as being ‘solid’ and then added “that probably means it’s as dull as dishwater.” At the start of this chapter we get another interlude, a bit like we did back in chapter 3 Verse 31 where we are introduced to Shamgar, as we are now introduced to two Judges in the space five verses. But does the fact they have so little written about them mean that they were just ‘solid’ judges, reasonable enough, but no one can get that excited about them and can think of much to write about them?

So, what are we to make of Tola and Jair? They’re not recorded as fighting any battles or doing anything spectacular. In fact, there was no mention of an enemy! But we note in verse 1 that Tola: ‘arose to save Israel.’ The conclusion is that Israel needed saving from itself! What they needed was a good ‘solid’ leader after the mayhem of Abimelech’s rule. In the end, Tola may not have been the most spectacular or charismatic leader, but he was God’s man at the time to save a nation that was completely adrift.

The way the text reads, it suggests that Jair’s time as judge may have come directly after the 23 years of Tola’s leadership. Again, he doesn’t have much space devoted to him as we read that during his 22 years as a Judge: ‘he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead’ (v4). Rather interestingly I think that this has almost a ‘spaghetti western’ feel to it, with his sons on their donkeys acting as a kind of ‘posse’ keeping law and order in the area. There’s question over whether he had Gideon’s failing of multiple wives (due to his many sons) but once again this is ‘solid’ leadership and a time of peace and stability.

The fact that there was such a long time of peace suggests that, whatever failings, these men were faithful the Lord. Yet, we’re back to the ‘same old same old’ by the time we get to verses 6-7. Once again Israel is up to her old tricks, forsaking the worship of the Lord and going after other gods. In the end, after 45 years of peace we have to conclude that Israel has learned absolutely nothing! So, not surprisingly, Israel is in deep trouble as: ‘the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites,  and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed’ (vs7-9). The word: ‘crushed’ in verse 9 illustrates that Israel was helpless, their enemies just did what they wanted to do and there was nothing that Israel could do about it!

So not surprisingly, this being the ‘same old same old’ Israel does what it usually did and cried out to the Lord. However, this time the Lord’s response was far from encouraging. It could be paraphrased “You just don’t get it, time after time I’ve saved you, but you seem to have such a short memory you go off and do the same thing again. That’s all the thanks I get. Well this time you’ve gone too far! Why don’t you cry out to some of those gods you’ve been serving and see if they will save you” (vs11-14).

But then: ‘the people of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.” So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel’ (vs15-16). Like the parent of a child who has done wrong the Lord punished Israel for their own good. But like a loving parent, he didn’t enjoy doing it, and the word: ‘impatient’ Informs us he is now going to act on their behalf. The passage actually ends on what I think is a good note. Some argue that Israel is displaying symptoms suggesting a lack of faith in the face of the Ammonites attacking (v18), but after the repentance of verses 15 and 16 it could suggest that they’re waiting on the Lord to raise up a saviour to liberate them!