Chapter 10 gives us a brief look at the two judges who ruled after Abimelek and then we find the Israelites falling into idolatry again. But we also find them repenting again.
"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. He led Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir." (Judges 10:1-2) We don't know when or how the Lord called Tola to lead Israel but during his years in office it appears as if the land enjoyed peace. Some scholars interpret the Bible saying that Tola "rose to save Israel" means he had to put down some type of enemy incursions when he first took office but others feel it refers to the administration of Tola being the exact opposite of that of Abimelek. Abimelek was a ruthless, wicked, heathen leader. Tola, presumably, was a man who followed godly principles. In leading Israel in the right ways, Tola helped Israel to heal from the dark days of Abimelek's rule.
"He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years. He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair. When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon." (Judges 10:3-5) Gilead was located in East Manasseh. By this we know that Jair was of the half-tribe of Manasseh that settled on the same side of the Jordan River as the Reubenites and the Gadites. As with Tola, we are not provided any details regarding when and how the Lord called Jair to be judge of Israel. In Jair's time, as well as in Tola's time, there was apparently peace. There was also prosperity as evidenced by Jair's ability to maintain multiple households; to have sired thirty sons (and a number of daughters as well, I'm sure) he had to have taken many wives. He had founded or had so greatly improved thirty towns that they were named "Havvoth Jair" meaning "the settlements of Jair". His sons all rode donkeys, which were animals used primarily by kings and members of royal families. The donkey was the luxury automobile, if you will, of ancient times.
As we've discussed many times before, peace and prosperity often have the result on a person's spiritual life that conflict and hardship do not. Peace and prosperity can make a person spiritually lazy. Peace and prosperity can make a person's life so easy that they call upon the Lord less and less frequently. Peace and prosperity can make a person bored and restless, so that they begin casting about for more and more variety in their amusements. It does not have to be this way; we can commit to the daily habit of watching and praying so that we do not fall into temptation. (Matthew 26:41, Mark 14:38) But I think most people, including myself, would have to admit that we pray more in hard times than in prosperous times. Praying less during times of prosperity is probably what led to these conditions: "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." (Judges 10:6a)
Previously we found the people serving only the gods of the Canaanites: Baal and Ashtoreth. But now, as trade with other nations has increased, they become familiar with and attracted to the ways of many other cultures. As usual, when the Lord's people get on the wrong track, He sends correction. "And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer served Him, He became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, 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. The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, 'We have sinned against You, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.'" (Judges 10:6b-10)
It's as if He said, "If you like the Philistines and the Ammonites and their gods so much, I'm going to give you all of them you can stand." He will do a similar thing later in the Bible when idolatry has taken hold again. In the days of the prophet Jeremiah the Lord will warn the people that because of their fondness for foreign gods He is going to allow them to be overcome by foreign people and taken captive to a foreign nation. There they will see all the false idols they can stand to look at. Why? Because it's a trait of our carnal nature to sometimes have to become thoroughly sick of something before we are willing to turn away from it. Our false gods (whatever form they may take) have to fail to come through for us enough times, and have take us out into the wilderness to leave us high and dry enough times, and have to cause us to feel lonely and unfulfilled enough times that we can't stand the sight of them any longer. When we become sick as a dog with wrong living, it's then that we can't cast down our idols quickly enough. It's then that we give our hearts wholly to the living God in whom we will find help, fulfillment, and a companionship that satisfies our souls.
In our passage today the people have reached that point. In tomorrow's passage the Lord will hear their cries for help and raise up a new judge to deliver them from their enemies.
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