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TOLA AND JAIR
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1
Judges 10:1-5

1 Chronicles 12:23-40

 

“…In returning and rest

shall ye be saved…”

 

TOLA AND JAIR
 
After the death of Abimelech, we are introduced to two judges Tola and Jair. These two accounts are very interesting in their lack of information on actions and events. Gideon’s account was filled with details and, from them, many lessons. After Gideon, the depiction of the darkness and corruption brought by Abimelech is also graphic, though the period was not a very long one. Then comes Tola and Jair, to whom five verses summarise their lives. In the five verses, a total of up to forty-five years are accounted for. Men normally talk of “the calm before the storm,” but in Tola and Jair we seem to find the calm that followed the storm.
 
“Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim” (Judg 10:1). After Abimelech, who in treachery usurped power and leadership by appealing to “bone and flesh” (Judg 9:2), Tola, a man of Issachar who dwelt in mount Ephraim, judged Israel.
 
Nepotism and the ensuing despotism had led to civil war. It is to this that the account of Tola is tied. There is nothing about what Tola did or how he ruled for twenty-three years. In a time when men looked for help from their own “bone and flesh,” God sent help and peace. What went through the minds of the people after Abimelech is not known, but what is told to us is that two judges delivered Israel, not from outside threats and marauding invaders, not by sword and shield, bows and arrows, for none of that is mentioned. However, what is made clear is that under their rule there was peace.
 
“And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years” (Judg 10:3). Jair, a Gileadite, was the first judge from across the Jordan. This perhaps shows the extent of peace that followed the ugly times under Abimelech. Like Gideon, Jair had many sons, thirty in number. Though Tola and Jair’s acts are not highlighted, they were men like the judges before them. They were evidence that God’s grace abounds toward all His people.
 
THOUGHT: Even in times of peace and rest, God’s grace is our strength.
PRAYER: Father, grant us peace through the leaders whom Thou appoints us.

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