1 After the time of Abimelek, a man of Issachar named Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. 2 He led Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.
After the reign of the anti-judge Abimelek, a judge named Tola rises to lead Israel back into alignment with God. It is safe to say that Israel was already skidding to a halt with God in the reign of Gideon. Through Gideon’s ill-conceived idea to create an ephod from the gifts of his fellow Israelites, Israel fell into apostasy by worshipping it. Gideon, a man who did not call himself king but acted like one, spawned Abimelek, meaning “My Father, a King”, who terrorized Israel for 3+ years. We don’t know much about Tola, but he was a man who descended from Issachar (Genesis 46:13, Numbers 26:23) and was able to bring Israel into a fairly long stretch of peace (23 years). It is also interesting to note that Tola lived in Ephraim. Gideon always had trouble with Ephraim and it is poetic justice that a judge from Ephraim would be able to end the Gideon-Abimelek cycle.
Jair 3 He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years. 4 He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair. 5 When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.
Jair, from Gilead, is the next judge in succession. He rules for about the same amount of time as Tola. The difference is in the scant amount of information we’re given: he had a large amount of sons who controlled the towns of Gilead. The sons (and donkeys)signify that Jair was a man of wealth and position. He used that position to redirect a slipping Israel back into alignment with God.
Jephthah 6 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer served him, 7 he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, 8 who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. 9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress. 10 Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.”
We see an Israel that is further slipping into decay. There are seven different gods listed in this section, starting with Baal and Asherah, which were a consistent problem for Israel. Why was Baal a persistent issue? Because Baal was the weather and crops god of the Canaanites and Asherah was a fertility god. Remember, the Canaanites were the people the Israelites were to purge from the promised land. Instead, they lived among them and the people ultimately corrupted them.
But Israel’s sin here seems to go beyond just Baal worship. They’ve branched out in different territories to worship different gods. The gods listed are synonymous with the nations that surround Israel. Israel’s sin is worshipping other gods, but their sin is also compromise. They’ve compromised with the people and nations around them to keep the peace and have utterly destroyed the foundation of their faith.
So God sells them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites. This is how God operates with Israel during the times of the Judges. They wander away, he brings in an outside force to control Israel, and its Israel’s duty to rediscover God in the process. Once they do, then God will send a savior, a judge. Israel must come to their senses, search their heart, and understand that it isn’t the oppressive force that is the problem, but their relationship with God.
Israel cries out to God. But God does not respond the way he normally does.
11 The Lord replied, “When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12 the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? 13 But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. 14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!”
Is there something lacking in Israel’s cry to God? God doesn’t seem to want to help them anymore. Perhaps the issue is that Israel simply wanted to get out of their situation and the repentance wasn’t authentic. God used this to test the tenacity of the people, to see where their faith truly lay.
15 But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” 16 Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord. And he could bear Israel’s misery no longer.
We see the plea again, but this time it is alongside action. Before, Israel cried out for help, but there didn’t seem to be any real movement away from their acquired gods. But now, there is a move to repentance. Here also, we see that God hears the true misery of Israel. KJV has a better translation of the last line: His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.
17 When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah. 18 The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, “Whoever will take the lead in attacking the Ammonites will be head over all who live in Gilead.”
The Israelites jump into action, ahead of God’s appointment of a leader. Is this them doing it their way, or understanding that God needed to see their repentance and faith that God would send a leader?