Judges 10:3

And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite,.... Who was of the half tribe of Manasseh, on the other side Jordan, which inhabited the land of Gilead, and who is the first of the judges that was on that side Jordan; it pleased God, before the government was settled in a particular tribe, to remove it from one to another, and to honour them all, and to show that though the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, were separated from their brethren by the river Jordan, they were not neglected by the Lord; and generally speaking judges were raised up in all those parts which were most oppressed, and liable to be oppressed by their enemies, as Gilead by the Ammonites; wherefore this, and the next judge that followed him, Jephthah, were of Gilead: and judged Israel twenty two years; protected them from their enemies, administered justice to them, and preserved them in the true religion.

Jdg 10:3-4 . Jair, a Gileadite — Of Gilead, beyond Jordan. He had thirty sons — Who, it seems, were itinerant judges, and went from place to place, as their father’s deputies, to administer justice. That rode on thirty ass- colts — It was customary for the noblest persons to ride on those beasts, and that not only in Judea, but likewise in Arabia, and other countries, even among the Romans. Thirty cities, called Havoth-jair — That is, the villages of Jair. These villages were so called before this time from another Jair, but the old name was revived and confirmed upon this occasion.

Verse 3. - Jair . We read of Jair the son of Segub, the son of Machir's daughter by Hezron, in 1 Chronicles 2:21-23 , and are there told that he had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead (called Havoth-jair), which were included in the territory of the sons of Machir. The same information is given in Numbers 32:40-42 , and in Deuteronomy 3:14, 15 , in both which passages Jair is styled the son of Manasseh, and is stated to have called the cities after his own name, Havoth-jair. In the present verse we are also told that Jair the judge was a Gileadite, and that he had thirty sons who had thirty cities in Gilead called Havoth-jair. The question arises, Can these two be the same person? If they are, Deuteronomy 3:14 must be a later parenthetical insertion, as it has very much the appearance of being. The notice in Numbers 32:41 must also refer to later times than those of Moses, and we must understand the statement in 1 Chronicles 2:22 , that "Segub begat Jair," as meaning that he was his lineal ancestor, just as in Matthew 1:8 we read that "Joram begat Ozias," though three generations intervened between them.

If, on the other hand, they are not the same, we must suppose that Jair in our text was a descendant of the other Jair, and may compare the double explanation of the name Havoth-jair with the double explanation of Beer-sheba given Genesis 21:31 ; Genesis 26:31-33 ; the threefold explanation of the name Isaac, Genesis 17:17 ; Genesis 18:12 ; Genesis 21:6 ; and the double explanation of the proverb, "Is Saul among the prophets?" given in 1 Samuel 10:11, 12 ; 1 Samuel 19:23, 24 . The Hebrew name Jair is preserved in the New Testament under the Greek form of Jairus ( Mark 5:22 ). Judges 10:3

3 . Jair, the Gileadite ] Called ‘the son of Manasseh’ in Numbers 32:41 , Deuteronomy 3:14 , cf. Joshua 13:30 ; in 1 Chronicles 2:21 ff. he is the great-grandson of Machir. Gilead was the name applied generally to the country E. of the Jordan, between the south end of the Sea of Tiberias and the north end of the Dead Sea.

(3) Jair, a Gileadite. —In Numbers 32:41 we are told of a Jair, the son of Manasseh, who “took the small towns” of Gilead, and called them Havoth-jair. This earlier Jair, with Nobah, plays a splendid part in Jewish legend, which is only alluded to in Scripture (see Deuteronomy 3:14 ). In what relation the Jair of these verses stood to him we cannot, in the uncertain data of the chronology, decide. The Jair of Numbers 32:41 was descended from Judah on the father’s side, and on the mother’s was a great-grandson of Manasseh.

After him Jair the Gileadite (born in Gilead) judged Israel for twenty-two years. Nothing further is related of him than that he had thirty sons who rode upon thirty asses, which was a sign of distinguished rank in those times when the Israelites had no horses. They had thirty cities (the second עירים in Judges 10:4 is another form for ערים, from a singular עיר equals עיר, a city, and is chosen because of its similarity in sound to עירים, asses). These cities they were accustomed to call Havvoth-jair unto this day (the time when our book was written), in the land of Gilead. The להם before יקראוּ is placed first for the sake of emphasis, "even these they call," etc. This statement is not at variance with the fact, that in the time of Moses the Manassite Jair gave the name of Havvoth-jair to the towns of Bashan which had been conquered by him ( Numbers 32:41 ; Deuteronomy 3:14 ); for it is not affirmed here, that the thirty cities which belonged to the sons of Jair received this name for the first time from the judge Jair, but simply that this name was brought into use again by the sons of Jair, and was applied to these cities in a peculiar sense. (For further remarks on the Havvoth-jair, see at Deuteronomy 3:14 .) The situation of Camon, where Jair was buried, is altogether uncertain.