No King in Israel (23)

After four chapters devoted to the history of and repercussions flowing from the life of a single judge (Gideon), we come to a chapter in which the entire life’s work of two judges (Tola and Jair) and the manner in which they each delivered their nation are summed up in a mere five verses. Thirteen more are devoted to setting up the story of the next judge (Jephthah). Sixty-four years covered in eighteen verses.

We might view the relative brevity of these next two accounts as an imbalance of sorts, especially if we are used to reading secular history.

Ink and the Editor

Plutarch’s Lives, for example, covers the history of forty Greek and Roman “greats” in roughly equal text increments, leaving his readers to draw their own conclusions about which of his character studies are merely business as usual and which constitute the great crises and turning points of the era. In his History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides spends comparable quantities of ink across the entire multi-generational period of conflict. The Cambridge Medieval History goes all the way from Constantine to the Plantagenets in roughly equal increments, making for laborious sledding in the later chapters. “Nothing is happening,” this reader frequently complained.

Manifestly, some people and events are far more transformative or revelatory than others, yet secular historians rarely reflect this reality in the depth of coverage they assign to their subjects.

The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is a ruthless editor of any life, event or lesson that does not have a bearing on the spiritual point he is making. We see this in Joshua, where he spends chapters covering a single battle, then just a few verses on the dozens more that followed it. Days turn into multiple pages, while decades zip by in a verse or two. We see the same principle operating between the Testaments, where the Spirit did not deem 400 years of life in Israel worthy of a single inspired word.

Relative Significance

So then, the amount of text devoted to the various Judges is all over the map. Was Jair really so much less important than Samson? Probably not to his family. Perhaps not to the Lord either. Beyond that, we cannot say. We will find out in eternity. All we can conclude is that the Spirit did not deem the things the former did and the way he lived as spiritually urgent or significant to us as the things we can learn from observing the latter.

If we are honest in our self-assessments, most of us would be unlikely to consider our own lives and the lessons we have processed throughout them worthy of extended divine commentary. Again, eternity will tell.

II. Twelve Judges in Chronological Order (continued)

6. Tola

Judges 10:1-2 — A Man of Issachar

“After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. And he judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir.”

Tola was a man of Issachar who lived in Ephraim. We have seen this sort of thing in our last two judges. Leaders often lived and operated some distance away from the family plot God had assigned them. That surely does not reflect on the importance of the tribal divisions of the land in Joshua. These appear intended to encourage extended families to stay together, marrying within the clan and attending to the land assigned to them, at least during the early years of Israel’s history.

The commitment to serve God often sends men and women far from the comforts of home and family. I only recently listened to the stories of a man who grew up a few miles down the road, but felt led to spend the bulk of his life serving the Lord halfway around the world. Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Daniel and many, many others knew what that sort of dislocation felt like. Family is important, surely, but sometimes God has other priorities.

Like many of these, Tola wasn’t buried at home with his relatives. He died and was buried where he served. We know that much about him, though we have no idea in what manner he may have brought about the salvation of God to Israel during those twenty-three years he served. We do not even know which enemy or enemies he fought on Israel’s behalf.

Not important, says the Holy Spirit. On we go.

7. Jair

Judges 10:3-5 — A Man of Gilead

“After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died and was buried in Kamon.”

Calls and Service

Concerning Othniel and Ehud, Judges says, “The Lord raised up a deliverer.” Concerning Barak, Deborah inquired, “Has God not commanded you?” Gideon met the angel of the Lord at the right time and place to call him into service personally. In all these cases, the hand of God in raising up a deliverer for his people is unambiguous. We have no doubt about their calling. On the other hand, both Tola and Jair simply “arose”. That sounds relatively passive.

Some who serve God can point to moments in which they “felt called” and responded. Others simply saw a need and stepped forward to fill a vacuum without any obvious personal word from God to inspire them. Both are acceptable forms of obedience. Both can get the job done.

Home and Away

Unlike Tola, Jair served at home and was buried at home. He was the father of a large, tight family that made a name for themselves, and the Lord apparently allowed him to see his sons grow and prosper nearby. Like Gideon’s seventy, a total of precisely thirty sons seems either calculated or else a minor miracle. That they all rode donkeys was surely a deliberate and memorable affectation.

The record does not enable us to confirm whether Jair was the first judge of Israel from a Transjordan tribe, as it does not document Shamgar’s tribal affiliation. We also cannot say with certainty whether or in what manner Jair delivered Israel from foreign enemies. Tola did, but Jair’s twenty-two year run as judge may have been relatively peaceful.

8. Jephthah

Judges 10:6-18 — Drafted into Service

“The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lord and did not serve him. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.

And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, ‘We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.’ And the Lord said to the people of Israel, ‘Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.’ And the people of Israel said to the Lord, ‘We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.’ So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel.

Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped at Mizpah. And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, ‘Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.’ ”

Looking for Leadership

Our chapter ends with the quest for a leader. Jephthah is the first judge drafted into service by Israel. God certainly empowered the deliverance he would eventually provide, but his call to action was unique. His brothers first rejected him, then begged him to come back and lead them, after which the Spirit of God came upon him. Again, there are different ways into the Lord’s service.

These final thirteen verses of the chapter chronicle yet another sad period of departure from the worship of the Lord in Israel. No sooner does Jair pass from the scene, and the nation reverts to mimicking its pagan neighbors on every side other than the immediate south. Syria, Sidon, Moab, Ammon and the Gaza strip take us roughly clockwise around the circumference of Canaan. Talk about indiscriminate worship! Any god and every god would do. As a result, the Lord condemns his people to ongoing oppression from both sides: Ammonites on the east and Philistines on the west, like a vice.

Impatient Over the Misery

When the need for relief became intense, the people finally cried out to the one God who could actually help. The Lord then points to seven occasions on which he has previously delivered them, and essentially says, “Why should I bother? You always forsake me anyway.” With no promise of deliverance and every indication they may as well give up, the people surprisingly do the right thing for once, putting away their foreign gods. As a result, the Lord then becomes “impatient over the misery of Israel”.

Isn’t that a lovely turn of phrase? Yes, it’s an anthropomorphism, of course; God doesn’t lose his cool the way we do and he certainly doesn’t change his mind, though it may sometimes appear that way to us. Nevertheless, it’s a beautiful way of expressing the intensity of the Lord’s loving concern for repentant sinners in deep distress.

With the Ammonite army encamped within the borders of Gilead, Israel assembled at Mizpah to fight back, but they were still leaderless and willing to follow anyone prepared to do the job. We will see how that came about next week.