Tola, son of Puah (a tribe of Issachar) rose to save Israel (v1,2) and led them for 23 years. It was apparently totally uneventful. All we read was he died and was buried. There is nothing worthy of note.
He was followed by Jair of Gilead (v3-5) who led them for 22 years. All we are told is that he had thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys and controlled 30 towns in Gilead. He died and was buried. Again, nothing worthy of note. He gave each son a donkey. I don’t see the significance of that except perhaps he spoiled them and if he had lived today perhaps, they would have been given a Rolls Royce or a Ferrari or some other posh car!
We are not told of the influence that Tola or Jair had over those forty-five years except that after them Israel did evil in the eyes of The LORD (v6). Maybe it wasn’t too bad whilst they ruled but it is evident that it was far worse afterwards. They served Baals, Astoreths, gods of Aram, Sidon and Moab, gods of the Ammonites and of the Philistines. They forsook The LORD and no longer served Him.
God became angry (v7) and sold them into the hands of the Ammonites and Philistines who shattered and crushed them for 18 years and they made inroads back into the land of Israel and thus Israel was in great distress. (v9) They cried out to The LORD saying, “We have sinned”, but The LORD replied that they had done this before, and He had saved them and yet they have still gone back to false gods. Strange that God refused to listen, but is it? He knew whether their repentance was genuine or mere empty words – ‘I’m sorry and I won’t do it again!’
Aren’t we like that? However much God does for us we can always get side-tracked and forget Him and go after the things of the world that are opposed to God. Pleasures do attract, however legitimate they may be. The old life rears its ugly head and the devil tempts us, often with success and we do not possess our spiritual possessions. It maybe that God often lets us see if these other ‘gods’ can really satisfy. (v14) The answer is always, ‘No’.
Repentance does come, not just ‘sorry’ but they got rid of the idols (v16) and God, in His great mercy, “…. could no longer endure the misery of Israel.” God’s soul was grieved for their misery. An amazing statement! Without true repentance God would do nothing.
We, as God’s people, need revival. We are lying desolate to a large extent and we must come to God in true repentance. For the Non-Christian – repentance is a once for all act to be saved. To the Christian, however, it is a regularly repeated act because we so often sin and become entangled with the world. Worldliness, materialism, putting other things before God are often evident and pile into our lives and the only result is misery. (v15) Pleasure lasts for a season but not for ever even after initial and perhaps a great deal of enjoyment. When we fail to give God His proper place in our lives we are the losers and God waits for us to ‘put the idols away’ and turn to Him in true repentance. How we need to do this? NOW! To use the words used here, “LORD, we have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray.” (v15)
Just as Gideon had to remove the idol (chapter 6) and he had to replace it with proper worship of God. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people who are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked way; then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.”
It is interesting to note where Israel met – Mizpah. In Genesis 31:49,50 Laban and Jacob raised a heap of stones at Mizpah and these words were spoken, “May the LORD watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me!”
This is often said as a blessing, but really, I think it meant that they didn’t trust each other out of their sight, so The LORD was to watch that they didn’t encroach over each other’s borders. Do we trust each other? This was the result when two powerful schemers Jacob and Laban clashed with each other. Each was really saying ‘I don’t trust you out of my sight’. Let us trust one another, let us support each other, let us live in unity with each other, let us work together to do The LORD’s will, let us put aside petty scheming to achieve our own ends, let us be ONE in The LORD!
The world needs Jesus Christ and we may be the only bible many will ever read – your life and mine. Jesus said (John 13:35) “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another.” “Love one another, as I have loved you.”
