This is gonna be a short entry. Here’s where we are on the list of Judges so far:
- Othniel, heroic city-conqueror
- Ehud, left-handed, fat king slayer
- Shamgar, axe wielding giant-slayer
- Deborah, Palm tree prophetess
- Gideon, a.k.a. “The Feller”
- Tola
- Jair
TOLA
We know nothing of Tola’s deeds. He’s not even mentioned by Josephus.
But the family names… rather interesting.
We have already encountered the word tola WAY back in Exodus when we talked about how the scarlet dye was collected from the crimson grub worm. Remember that? Tola or tolah is the name of that scale parasite. Not sure I wanna conjecture on the conditions surrounding his birth for him to have been given the name Tola. 😬
His father is Puah.
Puah means “blast”, but not in the 1980’s sense of having a good time. But rather in the sense of a blast of wind.
Tola’s granddad? Dodo. 🦤 You can’t make this stuff up. But the meaning is fabulous: Dodo means “loving.” So now all you married people can start making dodo jokes with your spouse. 😆
It comes from dowde which in Hebrew technically means “boil” but figuratively means “love” (cause love feels like you’re boiling??? 🤷♀️ I have no idea), and it’s spelled Dalet-vav-Dalet. 🚪+🚪 It’s a picture of adjoining rooms by connected doors.
Use your imagination. Boiling love. I bet little Dodo was born 9 months after those connecting doors were put in. 🤣
They were from the tribe of Issachar which means “he will bring a reward.”
Let’s see what happens if we line up all these name meanings.
Scarlet worm
Blast of wind
Loving
He will bring a reward
Well… would ya look at that! There’s the whole New Covenant Age of Grace in 4 names.
Jesus died on the cross as the scarlet worm.
The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost in a blast of wind.
Christ is the faithful friend and loving Lord and Bridegroom of the Church.
He will bring a reward with Him when He returns.
So…
6. Tola, The Scarlet Worm
Oh- and verse 1 says that Tola arose to “save” Israel. It doesn’t say how. And the word for “save” is yasha, as in yashuah (Jesus).
JAIR
Jair means “enlightener.” He seems to have been one of those guys who believes in working smarter, not harder. He had 30 equestrian sons. Josephus comments that they were “very skillful in riding on horses.”
🌴🌴🌴 🐎
But the Hebrew says they were donkeys. 🫏
🧔🏽♂️👨🏽🦱👳🏽♂️ Thirty sons who rode
🐴🐴🐴 Thirty donkeys and ruled
🏘️🏘️🏘️ Thirty towns.
It sounds like that riddle…
As I was going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives, Each wife had seven sacks, Each sack had seven cats, Each cat had seven kits: Kits, cats, sacks, and wives, How many were there going to St Ives?
The Septuagint has it as 32 of each, rather than 30. Uh- Jair’s sons, that is. Not the man from St Ives.
Hmmm. Now let me see…
Sons
Donkey Colts
Cities
🤔
Son
Colt
City
32
After 32 years of life, the Son of God rode a donkey’s colt into a city as its king (ruler).
Coincidence???
I doubt it.
Enlightening indeed.
7. Jair, “The Enlightener” (with a very efficient equestrian family)
The remainder of this short chapter goes something like this:
😈🗿Idolatry
😓🗡️Oppression
😰💀 Distress
🙏 Pray!!!
📣 Then the LORD talks to them, probably through a prophet.
🗿🚫Repent!! And pray some more. 🙏
⛺️🥷⛺️🥷⛺️🥷 More bad guys show up.
😰 Uh oh.
To The Reader 