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Jueces 10

VBL · Chapter 10/21

1Después del tiempo de Abimelec, Tola, hijo de Fuvá, hijo de Dodóde la tribu de Isacar, entró en escena para salvar a Israel. Vivía en la ciudad de Shamir, en la región montañosa de Efraín.

2Dirigió a Israel como juez durante veintitrés años. Luego murió y fue enterrado en Shamir.

3Después de Tola vino Jair, de Galaad, quien dirigió a Israel como juez durante veintidós años.

4Tenía treinta hijos que montaban treinta asnos. Tenían treinta ciudades en la tierra de Galaad, que hasta hoy se llaman las Ciudades de Jair.

5Jair murió y fue enterrado en Camón.

6Una vez más los israelitas hicieron lo que era malo a los ojos del Señor. Adoraron a los baales y a los astoretas, así como a los dioses de Harán, Sidón y Moab, y a los dioses de los amonitas y los filisteos. Rechazaron al Señor y no lo adoraron.

7Entonces el Señor se enojó con Israel, y los vendió a los filisteos y a los amonitas.

8Ese año y durante dieciocho años más acosaron y oprimieron a los israelitas, a todos los israelitas que vivían al este del Jordán, en Galaad, la tierra de los amorreos.

9Los amonitas también cruzaron el Jordán para atacar a Judá, Benjamín y Efraín, causando terribles problemas a Israel.

10Los israelitas clamaron al Señor por ayuda, diciendo: “Hemos pecado contra ti, rechazando a nuestro Dios y adorando a los baales”.

11El Señor respondió a los israelitas: “¿No los salvé de los egipcios, los amorreos, los amonitas, los filisteos,

12los sidonios, los amalecitas y los maonitas? Cuando te atacaron y clamaste a mí por ayuda, ¿no te salvé de ellos?

13Pero ustedes me han rechazado y han adorado a otros dioses, así que no volveré a salvarlos.

14Ve y pide ayuda a los dioses que has elegido. Deja que ellos te salven en tu momento de angustia”.

15Los israelitas le dijeron al Señor: “¡Hemos pecado! Trátanos de la manera que creas conveniente, ¡sólo que por favor sálvanos ahora!”.

16Así que se deshicieron de los dioses extranjeros que tenían y adoraron al Señor. Y el Señor no pudo soportar más la miseria de Israel.

17Los ejércitos amonitas habían sido convocados y estaban acampados en Galaad. Los israelitas se reunieron y acamparon en Mizpa.

18Los comandantes del pueblo de Galaad se pusieron de acuerdo entre ellos: “El que dirija el ataque contra los amonitas se convertirá en gobernante de todos los que viven en Galaad”.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

After the minor judges Tola and Jair, Israel again serves foreign gods and is oppressed by the Ammonites. The people cry out to God, who initially responds with harshness, but has compassion when they truly repent.

Explanation

God's initial response to Israel's cry is surprisingly blunt: 'go and cry out to the gods you have chosen' (v.14), a way of confronting the people with the futility of serving idols that cannot save. This confrontation is not a final rejection, but a call to genuine repentance, which proves real when the people actually remove the foreign gods from among them, not merely speak words of repentance. The closing statement, that God's 'soul was grieved for the misery of Israel' (v.16), uses intense emotional language to describe divine compassion, showing that even God's discipline is born of deep love, not indifference.

Fun facts

  • Jair had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys and possessed thirty towns called 'Havvoth-jair' — a sign of considerable prosperity and social status for the time.
  • The list of foreign gods served by Israel in this chapter (the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and the Philistines) shows how spiritually eclectic the nation had become, absorbing influences from every neighboring people.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Jueces 10:1After Abimelech, Tola, of the tribe of Issachar, rises up to save Israel; he lives in Shamir, in the mountains of Ephraim.
  2. Jueces 10:2Tola judges Israel for twenty-three years, dies, and is buried in Shamir. The text moves past him quickly, without recounting any great battle.
  3. Jueces 10:3After Tola, Jair the Gileadite rises up and judges Israel for twenty-two years.
  4. Jueces 10:4Jair has thirty sons who ride on thirty donkeys and own thirty cities, called Havoth-jair right up to the time the book was written, a sign of a large and influential family.
  5. Jueces 10:5Jair judged Israel for 22 years and had thirty sons, each with his own city in Gilead, a mark of wealth and power in the time of the judges.
  6. Jueces 10:6Israel again does what is evil in the sight of the Lord, now serving an even longer list of foreign gods: the Baalim, Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, of Zidon, of Moab, of Ammon, and of the Philistines.
  7. Jueces 10:7The Lord’s anger burns against Israel, and He sells them into the hand of the Philistines and of the Ammonites, widening the oppression to two fronts at once.
  8. Jueces 10:8That same year, an eighteen-year oppression begins over the Israelites living on the other side of the Jordan, in the land of the Amorites, in Gilead.
  9. Jueces 10:9The Ammonites even cross the Jordan to attack Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim as well, leaving all Israel in great distress.
  10. Jueces 10:10Israel cries out to the Lord, admitting its own sin of forsaking God to serve the Baalim.
  11. Jueces 10:11God answers by reminding them that He has already delivered Israel before, from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines.
  12. Jueces 10:12God continues the list, reminding them that He also delivered the people from the Zidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites when they cried out before.
  13. Jueces 10:13Despite so many deliverances, the people always go back to abandoning God for other gods, and so He warns that this time He will not deliver them anymore.
  14. Jueces 10:14God answers the people’s cry by telling them, with a certain irony, to go and cry out for help to the gods they chose to serve. It is a hard way of exposing the inconsistency of turning to Him only when the other gods fail.
  15. Jueces 10:15Even so, Israel keeps pleading, admitting their sin and asking God to do with them whatever He pleases, as long as He delivers them now, in this moment of distress.
  16. Jueces 10:16After the people rid themselves of the foreign gods, the text describes God as grieved over Israel’s suffering, one of the few times in the Bible where the narrative shows this kind of stirring even before deliverance is granted.
  17. Jueces 10:17The Ammonites gather together and camp in Gilead, while the Israelites gather together and camp in Mizpeh, preparing for the confrontation.
  18. Jueces 10:18The leaders of Gilead ask one another who will lead the attack against the Ammonites, promising that whoever does will become head over all the inhabitants of the region. It is this question that opens the way for Jephthah in the next chapter.

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