Judges 10:3-5

Jair’s judgeship 10:3-5

The only unusual feature of Jair’s life, other than that he came from Transjordan, was that he maintained a network of 30 cities over which his 30 sons ruled in Gilead. His name means "may [God] enlighten." An ancestor named Jair appears to have settled the same area shortly after the Israelites defeated Sihon and Og (Numbers 32:41). The fact that his sons each rode on a donkey marked them as having distinguished rank in times when the Israelites had no horses. [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, p. 372.] Only the wealthy and prominent in Israel rode on donkeys at this time.

"The ass was highly esteemed as a riding beast and many times carried with it special recognition (Judges 1:14; 1 Samuel 25:20)." [Note: Davis and Whitcomb, pp. 119-20.]

The fact that Jair fathered 30 sons suggests that he practiced polygamy (cf. Gideon, Judges 8:30). Jair judged Israel for 22 years. Kamon stood about 12 miles southeast of the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee).

We see in this brief record of Jair’s life continuing tendencies in Israel toward the lifestyle of the surrounding pagan nations and away from fidelity to Yahweh and His Law.

The ministries of these two minor judges teach two lessons, one negative and the other positive. Negatively, they did not change any of the previous problems in Israel but seem to have maintained the status quo. [Note: Tammi J. Schneiders, Judges, p. 158.] Positively, they indicate God’s gracious blessing of His apostate people in spite of themselves.

"Elsewhere in the Old Testament, children are gifts from God; they indicate God’s blessing. So amid the increasing chaotic and violent stories that indicate the Israelites are abandoning God, the two lists of minor judges suggest that God is not abandoning the Israelites (see Judges 2:1, where God says, ’I will never break my covenant with you.’)." [Note: McCann, p. 77.]