This chapter gives an account of two judges of Israel, in whose days they enjoyed peace, Jude 1–5, after which they sinning against God, came into trouble, and were oppressed by their enemies eighteen years, and were also invaded by an army of the Ammonites, Jude 6–9, when they cried unto the Lord…

And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel To save, deliver, and protect Israel; which does not necessarily imply that Abimelech did; for he was no judge of God’s raising up, or the people’s choosing, but usurped a kingly power over them; and was so far from saving and defending them, that he…

And he judged Israel twenty three years, and died He did not take upon him to be king, as Abimelech did, but acted as a judge, in which office he continued twenty three years, and faithfully discharged it, and died in honour: and was buried in Shamir; the place where he executed his office.

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…

And he had thirty sons that rode upon thirty ass colts Which to ride on in those times was reckoned honourable, and on which judges rode in their circuit, and such might be these sons of Jair, who were appointed under him to ride about, and do justice in the several parts of the country, as…

And Jair died, and was buried in Camon. ] A city of Gilead, as Josephus [[19]] calls it; Jerom [[21]], under this word Camon, makes mention of a village in his times, called Cimana, in the large plain six miles from Legion to the north, as you go to Ptolemais; but, as Reland [[22]] observes, this…

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord After the death of the above judges they fell into idolatry again, as the following instances show: and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth; as they had before, (See Gill on Judg. 2:11) (See Gill on Judg.

And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel His anger burned like fire, he was exceedingly incensed against them, nothing being more provoking to him than idolatry, as after mentioned: and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon; that is,…

And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel, &c.] The Philistines on one side, and the children of Ammon on the other; meaning either that year in which Jair died, as Jarchi; or the first year they began to bring them into bondage, as R.

Moreover, the children of Ammon passed over Jordan Not content with the oppression of the tribes on the other side Jordan, which had continued eighteen years, they came over Jordan into the land of Canaan to ravage that, and bring other of the tribes into subjection to them, particularly the three…

And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord In this their distress, seeing nothing but ruin and destruction before their eyes, their land being invaded by such powerful enemies in different quarters; this opened their eyes to a sense of their sins, the cause of it, and brought them to a…

And the Lord said unto the children of Israel By a prophet he sent unto them, as Kimchi and Abarbinel, see , whom Ben Gersom takes to be Phinehas, but he could not be living at this time; or by an angel, a created one, sent on this occasion; or the uncreated one, the Son and Word of God, who might…

The Zidonians also Who were left in the land to distress them, though there is no particular mention of them, and of the distress they gave them, and of their deliverance from it, which yet is not at all to be questioned: and the Amalekites; both quickly after they came out of Egypt, and when they…

Ye have forsaken me, and served other gods Since they had been so remarkably saved, time after time, and delivered from so many powerful enemies, which was dreadful ingratitude: wherefore I will deliver you no more; which is not to be understood absolutely, since after this he did deliver them, but…

Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen For they were their choice, and not what they were obliged to serve through persecution, and by compulsion of others, and whom they needed not, having the Lord Jehovah to be their God; and they are bid not seriously, but in an ironical or sarcastic way,…

And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, we have sinned, &c.] By serving other gods particularly; and they seemed to have a true sense of their sin, and their confessions of it to be ingenuous, by what follows: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; inflict what punishment he…

And they put away the strange gods from among them Which was an evidence of the truth of their repentance, and showed their confessions and humiliations to be genuine: and served the Lord; and him only, both in private and public; in the observance of duties, both moral and ceremonial; in an…

Then the children of Ammon were gathered together By a crier, as Jarchi; they had passed over Jordan, as in and had been distressing three of the tribes of Israel on that side; but now being informed, by an herald at arms, that the children of Israel, on the other side Jordan, were risen up in…

And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another Being thus assembled and encamped: what man is he that will begin to fight with the children of Ammon? for though the forces were assembled together for battle, yet it seems they had no general to command them, and lead them on to it: he…