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Two Judges In Quiet, Peaceful Times: Tola Of Issachar And Jair The Gileadite
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The Judgeships of Tola and Jair
Jdg_10:1-5
The deliverer’s name was “Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo.” The mention of father and grandfather both, is unusual, and occurs in the case of no other Judge. It was therefore natural, that already at an early date, and also, it would seem, by the Masora, “ben Dodo” was taken appellatively, as meaning “Son of his Uncle or Cousin.” The “his” in that case must refer to Abimelech; and Tola would have to be regarded as the son of a brother or a sister of Gideon. The son of Gideon’s brother, he cannot have been (although this is just the relation indicated by ancient expositions, cf. the ðáôñáäÝëöïí of the LXX.); for he belonged not to Manasseh, but to Issachar. If a sister of Gideon had married a man of the tribe of Issachar, this person might indeed have been called an uncle (dod) of Abimelech. But if such were the relation, is it not more likely that the writer would have said, “Son of the sister of Jerubbaal?” The names Tola and Puah, as borne by sons of Issachar, are already found in Gen_46:13. They became established in the families of that tribe, and frequently recur. It was just so in German families, especially of the Middle Ages. Particular names were peculiar to particular families. (Instead of ôּåּàָä , Puah, we have ôֻּåָּä , Puvah, in Gen_46:13 and Num_26:23, though not in all MSS. 1Ch_7:1 has ôּåּàָä , Puah.) These names indicate a certain industry, which, it may be inferred, must have been carried on in Issachar. Tola ( úּåֹìָö ) is the Kermesworm (coccus ilicis), from which the crimson, or deep scarlet color ( úּåֹìַöַú ùַׁðִé ), of which we read so much in connection with the tabernacle, was derived; and Puah is Chaldee for rubia tinctorum, or madder red (cf. Buxtorff, sub voce). We shall not err, perhaps, if we conjecture that the third name also is added because of its agreement in meaning with the two preceding. For Dodo, if we derive it from ãּåּã , dud, instead of ãּåֹã , dod, cousin, means “pot,” or “vessel,” a prominent utensil in the preparation of dyes. Names of this kind, it is well known, are not unfrequent in the East. Hammer (Namen der Araber) even adduces the name Fihr, which signifies the stone used for grinding perfumes.
He dwelt in Shamir, on Mount Ephraim. The centre of his judicial activity was permanently fixed in Ephraim. As to Shamir, this name (on its import, compare my treatise Schamir, Erf. 1856) may be identified with Shemer, name of the owner of the hill on which king Omri afterwards built Shomeron, Samaria (1Ki_16:24).
Jdg_10:3-5. And after him arose Jair, the Gileadite. Just as Tola was a family-name in Issachar, so was Jair in Gilead. The ancestor of this Jair was the son of Manasseh, whose name was associated with the acquisition of the greatest part of the territory in possession of the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh. Machir, it is stated, Num_32:39-41, took Gilead, and “Jair, son of Manasseh,” the “circles,” which were afterwards called the “circles of Jair.” It has already been pointed out in connection with our explanation of the name Hivite (Chivi), that chavah, (plur. chavoth, Eng. Ver. Havoth), means “circle,” from the form in which those villages to which it is applied were laid out (see on Jdg_3:3). It would, therefore, involve a twofold error to explain Havoth-Jair, as modern expositors do, by making it analogous to such German names as Eisleben and Aschersleben; for, in the first place, chavah does not mean “life” here; and, secondly, in such names as the above, the German leben does not mean vita but mansio.
By these “circles of Jair” we are evidently to understand the whole of the present western Hauran, reaching as far as Jebel Hauran, for Kenath (the present Kenawath) is reckoned among the sixty cities of Jair (1Ch_2:23; 1Ki_4:13). Wetzstein’s conjecture (Hauran, p. 101), that these cities are only sixty tent-villages of the nomadic order, is by no means to be accepted; for the books of Kings and Chronicles are conversant with great cities, with walls and brazen bars, in the region that “pertained to Jair.” The objection that if such cities had existed, the Assyrians could not have subjected the two and a half tribes so readily, is not borne out. In the first place, because the accounts of this conquest are very brief and scanty; and in the second place, because the history of all ages teaches us, that when the Spirit has left a people, neither fortresses nor “steep heights” avail to detain the enemy. At all events, the Assyrian successes do not prove that the architectural remains of the Hauran cannot in their elements be referred back to the time of the Amorites and Israelites. Without at present entering into any discussion of this subject, we hold the contrary to be highly probable, even though, at the places which would here come into consideration, more recent buildings bear the stamp of more recent times. Indeed, it seems to me, that just as it was possible to identify Kenath, Salcah, Golan, etc., so the name Jair also is in existence to this day. I find it in the name of the city called “Aere” by Burckhardt, “Eera” by Seetzen, and “Ire” by Wetzstein. It is still the seat of an influential (Druse) chieftain. Ritter (xv. 944) warns us against confounding it with the Aera which the Itinerary of Antonine puts in the place of the present Szanamein; but it were more proper to say that the repeated occurrence of the name, should be regarded as evidence that the whole region was once called “Jair’s circles.”
The narrator’s remark that the cities of Jair “are sailed Havoth Jair unto this day,” has been supposed to conflict with the statement of the Pentateuch, wherein this name is derived from the first Jair (cf. Hengst., Pent. ii. 193). With regard to some other names of places, such an exchange of one derivation for another, may perhaps be made out; but here it is quite impossible that one should have taken place. The narrator, who keeps the Pentateuch constantly before his eyes, designs only to remind the reader of what was there stated. In themselves, his words would have been entirely insufficient to explain the origin of the designation Havoth-Jair, seeing the discourse was about “cities” ( öֲéָøִéí ). Moreover, the number of these cities, at a later date, was reckoned at sixty, whereas here mention is made of only thirty. The sentence is indeed peculiar on account of the double ìָäֶí ; for which reason a few codices read it but once. But the word does not bear the same sense in both cases. The second ìָäֶí , introduces an explanatory clause; so that the meaning of the sentence is this: “thirty cities belonged to them ( ìָäֶí ), of those( ìָäֶí ) which (the relative àֲùֶׁø is frequently omitted) are called Havoth-Jair unto this day.” The closing words of this sentence (“unto this day”) are evidently a mere verbal citation from Deu_3:14; for no other occasion exists here, where the question is only of Jair’s distinguished position, for their use. Jair, by his strength and virtue, had diffused his family over one half of the entire district, with which his ancient progenitor had long ago associated his own name.
And he had thirty sons, who rode on thirty asses, and had thirty cities. The paronomasia between òֲéָøִéí , asses, and the rare form òַéָøִéí for “cities,” authorizes the conjecture that we have here a sentence from a song of praise in honor of Jair and his prosperous fortune. That which is celebrated is, not that he possessed thirty asses—what would that be to a man who had thirty cities?—but that he was the father of thirty sons, all of whom enjoyed the honor and distinction implied in the statement that they rode upon asses. They rode, that is to say, not merely as men of quality—the usual explanation,—but as chiefs, governors, and judges. It was peculiar to such persons especially that they made use of the ass, as the animal of peace. Their very appearance on this animal, was expressive of their calling to reconcile and pacify. The sons of Jairs judged their thirty cities. This is something not given to all rich fathers; it was a happiness which not even Samuel the Priest was destined to enjoy.
Jair was buried in Camon, doubtless one of the thirty cities of Hauran. The farther and more thorough investigation is carried in the country east of the Jordan, the more instructive will its results become. Perhaps we may take the Sahwed el-Kamh, on Wetzstein’s map, not far from Ire (Jair), for the Camon of the text. However little may be told of many of the Judges of Israel, of their place of burial information is given. The whole land was to be, as it were, a memorial hall, by which the people are reminded of the men who brought help in distress, when they repented, and which may also teach them to know that all men, however valiant, die, and that only the one, eternal God survives in deathless existence. But how inadequate monuments and sepulchres are to preserve energy and piety among the people, that the following section once more teaches.
So, it is not given to every one to live a quiet, peaceful life, undisturbed by political and social alarms. Let him who enjoys it, not envy the fame with which publicity surrounds great names. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength says the prophet (Isa_30:15).
Starke: To govern a nation well in times of peace, is not less praiseworthy than to carry on wars and overcome enemies.—Lisco: Tola saved his people, not indeed by wars and victims, but by right and justice, by the concord and peace which he restored in Israel.
[Scott: The removal of hardened sinners, by a righteous God, often makes way for reformation and public tranquillity, and proves a great mercy to those who survive.—Wordsworth: The time in which they [i. e. Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon] judged Israel amounted to seventy years, but the Holy Spirit does not record a single act done by any one of them; and thus He leads us to look forward and upward to another life, and to that heavenly chronicle which is written with indelible characters in the memory of God Himself, and is ever open to his divine eye.—Tr.]
Footnotes:
On the vessels excavated in the sandstone, which were used in the preparation of the purple dye at Tyre, see Wilde, Voyage in the Mediterranean, Dublin, 1840, ii. 148 ff. quoted by Ritter, xvii. 372.
[In the text, Dr. Cassel renders ìָäֶí by “those,” while here he writes “of those.” The first rendering may be defended, but the second is as doubtful as it is unnecessary. If the intention be to avoid all appearance of conflict with the Pentateuch, this is just as effectually reached by the unimpeachable version of De Wette: Man nennet Jair’s Dörfer bis auf diesen Tag—they are called Jair’s Villages unto this day. éִ÷ְøְàåּ is the indeterminate 3d per. plural, and (as is remarked by Bertheau and Keil) does not at all affirm that the name was now first given. ìָäֶí is the dative of that to which the name is given, and stands first for the sake of emphasis; “they had thirty cities, precisely those cities people call Havoth-Jair.”—Tr.]