Judges 10:1

TOLA; JAIR; AND THE INTRODUCTION FOR SAMSON AND JEPHTHAH

VI. TOLA

This character, of course, is one of the minor judges, concerning whom these short verses reveal all that is known concerning him.

"And after Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Isaachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in the hill-country of Ephraim. And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir."

It is somewhat unusual to find the names of BOTH the father and the grandfather in this type of account, and here it might be due to the fact that Dodo was one of David's "mighty men" (2Sam. 23:9,24,1 Chronicles 11:12,27:7). Also, if the reference here is to one of David's mighty men, it would indicate a long skip in the genealogy between Dodo and Puah, as is customary in Biblical genealogies.

"Shamir" (Judges 10:1-2). "There was also another Shamir in the Highlands of Judah (Joshua 15:48)."[1]

There have been several speculative reasons proposed as explanations of why so little is said of this judge. However, there is no satisfactory resolution of the question. Perhaps the best view is that the period of his judgeship was a time of relative quiet and peacefulness. It may be presumed that during his judgeship, Israel avoided the idolatry that later led to their distress.

VII. JAIR

Here is another of the so-called minor judges, concerning whom these short verses relate all that is certainly known of him.