11 And the Lord said to the children of Israel, Were not the Egyptians and the Amorites and the children of Ammon and the Philistines
So that day the Lord gave Israel salvation from the hands of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the sea's edge.
And Israel sent men to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, Let me go through your land: we will not go into field or vine-garden, or take the water of the springs; we will go by the highway till we have gone past the limits of your land. And Sihon would not let Israel go through his land; but got all his people together and went out against Israel into the waste land, as far as Jahaz, to make war on Israel. But Israel overcame him, and took all his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the country of the children of Ammon, for the country of the children of Ammon was strongly armed. And Israel took all their towns, living in Heshbon and all the towns and small places of the Amorites.
So they overcame him and his sons and his people, driving them all out: and they took his land for their heritage.
Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, *** I took you out of Egypt, guiding you into the land which I gave by an oath to your fathers; and I said, My agreement with you will never be broken by me: And you are to make no agreement with the people of this land; you are to see that their altars are broken down: but you have not given ear to my voice: what have you done? And so I have said, I will not send them out from before you; but they will be a danger to you, and their gods will be a cause of falling to you.
Then for forty years the land had peace, till the death of Othniel, the son of Kenaz. Then the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord made Eglon, king of Moab, strong against Israel, because they had done evil in the Lord's eyes. And Eglon got together the people of Ammon and Amalek, and they went and overcame Israel and took the town of palm-trees. And the children of Israel were servants to Eglon, king of Moab, for eighteen years. Then when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man; and the children of Israel sent an offering by him to Eglon, king of Moab.
When Jacob and his sons had come into Egypt, and were crushed by the Egyptians, the prayers of your fathers came up to the Lord, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who took your fathers out of Egypt, and he put them into this place.
And you saw the trouble of our fathers in Egypt, and their cry came to your ears by the Red Sea; And you did signs and wonders on Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land; for you saw how cruel they were to them. So you got yourself a name as it is today. By you the sea was parted before them, so that they went through the sea on dry land; and those who went after them went down into the deep, like a stone into great waters.
He gave to destruction all the first sons of Egypt; the first-fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham; But he took his people out like sheep, guiding them in the waste land like a flock. He took them on safely so that they had no fear; but their haters were covered by the sea.
But he was their saviour because of his name, so that men might see his great power. By his word the Red Sea was made dry: and he took them through the deep waters as through the waste land. And he took them safely out of the hands of their haters, and kept them from the attacks of those who were against them. And the waters went over their haters; all of them came to an end.
He overcame great nations, and put strong kings to death; Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan;
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Commentary on Judges 10 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 10
Jud 10:1-5. Tola Judges Israel in Shamir.
1. after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel, Tola—that is, "to save." Deliverance was necessary as well from intestine usurpation as from foreign aggression.
the son of Puah—He was uncle to Abimelech by the father's side, and consequently brother of Gideon; yet the former was of the tribe of Issachar, while the latter was of Manasseh. They were, most probably, uterine brothers.
dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim—As a central place, he made it the seat of government.
3. Jair, a Gileadite—This judge was a different person from the conqueror of that northeastern territory, and founder of Havoth-jair, or "Jair's villages" (Nu 32:41; De 3:14; Jos 13:3; 1Ch 2:22).
4. he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts—This is a characteristic trait of Eastern manners in those early times; and the grant of a village to each of his thirty sons was a striking proof of his extensive possessions. His having thirty sons is no conclusive evidence that he had more than one wife, much less that he had more than one at a time. There are instances, in this country, of men having as many children by two successive wives.
Jud 10:6-9. Israel Oppressed by the Philistines and Ammonites.
6. the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord—This apostasy seems to have exceeded every former one in the grossness and universality of the idolatry practised.
7. Philistines, and … the children of Ammon—The predatory incursions of these two hostile neighbors were made naturally on the parts of the land respectively contiguous to them. But the Ammonites, animated with the spirit of conquest, carried their arms across the Jordan; so that the central and southern provinces of Canaan were extensively desolated.
Jud 10:10-15. They Cry to God.
10. The children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee—The first step of repentance is confession of sin, and the best proof of its sincerity is given by the transgressor, when he mourns not only over the painful consequences which have resulted from his offenses to himself, but over the heinous evil committed against God.
11. the Lord said … Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians—The circumstances recorded in this and the following verses were not probably made through the high priest, whose duty it was to interpret the will of God.
12. Maonites—that is, "Midianites."
Jud 10:16-18. They Repent; God Pities Them.
16. they put away the strange gods … and served the Lord; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel—On their abandonment of idolatry and return to purity of worship, God graciously abridged the term of national affliction and restored times of peace.
17, 18. the children of Ammon were gathered together—From carrying on guerrilla warfare, the Ammonites proceeded to a continued campaign. Their settled aim was to wrest the whole of the trans-jordanic territory from its actual occupiers. In this great crisis, a general meeting of the Israelitish tribes was held at Mizpeh. This Mizpeh was in eastern Manasseh (Jos 11:3).