MPV Commentary

1 After Abimelech, Tola arose to save Israel - a name that signifies deliverance from both internal strife and external threats.

Tola was the son of Puah, making him the uncle of Abimelech through his father's side and the brother of Gideon. However, they belonged to different tribes: Issachar for Tola and Manasseh for Gideon. It is likely that they were uterine brothers, sharing the same mother.

Tola settled in Shamir, a strategic location in Mount Ephraim, which he used as his base of operations.

3 Jair, a Gileadite, was a different individual from the judge who conquered and founded Havoth-jair (Numbers 32:41; Deuteronomy 3:14; Joshua 13:3; 1 Chronicles 2:22).

4 Jair had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. This practice was common in Eastern cultures at that time, and his grant of a village to each son demonstrates the extent of his wealth. The fact that he had thirty sons does not necessarily mean he had multiple wives or more than one wife at a time; there are instances where men have many children from successive marriages.