Fatherhood and Leadership
Sometimes the best kind of leaders are the ones who don't make the "headlines" of the Biblical narrative. Tola and Jair are two of that kind of leaders. After the long stories of Gideon and Abimelech which cover four chapters between them, we have exactly 5 verses dedicated to two longstanding judges mentioned in Judges 10. Judges 10:1–5 (ESV) After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. 2 And he judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir. 3 After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. 4 And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. 5 And Jair died and was buried in Kamon. We would be tempted to overlook these men. In my former daily readings when I read through the Bible in a year, I would have rushed rig...