Tola, Jair and Jephthah
1 ① After Abimelech, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, appeared to save Israel. He was from the tribe of Issachar and lived at Shamir, in the mountains of Ephraim. 2He was judge of Israel for twenty-three years and when he died, he was buried in Shamir.
3After him rose Jair of Gilead who was judge of Israel for twenty-two years. 4He had thirty sons who rode on thirty asses, and had thirty cities which are still called the villages of Jair to this day, in the land of Gilead. 5When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.
6The Israelites again treated Yahweh badly; they served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram and Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned Yahweh and no longer served him. 7The anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, so he gave them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites.
8For eighteen years, all the Isra-elites living on the other side of the Jordan in the Amorite land of Gilead were disturbed and oppressed. 9The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to attack Judah, Benjamin and the people of Ephraim. Israel was in great distress.
10In those years the Israelites called out to Yahweh saying, “We have sinned against you, for we have abandoned Yahweh, our God, to serve the Baals.” 11Yahweh said to the Israelites, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12the Sidonians, Amalek and Midian oppressed you, and you cried out to me, did I not save you from their hands? 13But in spite of this, you have abandoned me and served other gods. So I will not save you again. 14Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen: see if they will save you in the time of your distress.”
15The Israelites answered Yahweh, “We have sinned. Do to us whatever you wish, but save us today.” 16Then they put away the strange gods and served Yahweh. And he could no longer endure the suffering of Israel.
17The Ammonites assembled and went to encamp in Gilead. The Israelites also assembled and they encamped at Mizpah. 18There the people and the leaders of Gilead asked one another, “Who will lead us all to fight against the Ammonites? Whoever he is, we shall make him head of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
- Jdg 10,1 Each tribe had its own problems. There rose up saviors in various places who, after a victory, were honored as Judges for the rest of their lives: Gideon from Manasseh; Tola from Issachar; Jair from the country of Gilead. One notices Yahweh's tireless and ever-forgiving love. As sins increase Yahweh says I will not save you again; and again God could no longer bear the sufferings of Israel. If we complain about God's inaction with regard to oppression and social injustice, it is because we cannot see that the oppressed, as well as the oppressors, share the responsibility and sin.
