Judges 10:1-18
10:1-2 After Abimelech comes the judge Tola. He judges the children of Israel for twenty-three years and then passes away. Remember that the children of Israel are 12 tribes. Each tribe is named after Jacob's children. Jacob's named was changed to Israel by God, Genesis 32. Remember also that Jacob was the child of Isaac and Rebekah; Isaac was the child of Abraham who began this covenant with God.
God promised Abraham that he would extend his posterity to a nearly uncountable size, Genesis 15, and we see that here as the children of Israel (Abraham's descendants) grow throughout generation after generation.
10:3-5 After Tola comes the judge Jair. He judges the children of Israel for twenty-two years. God is continuing to provide leadership and protection for this group because, although the fail tremendously, they continue to reunite with God.
10:6-9 The children of Israel continue the cycle Judges so acutely points out: the continue to break and then reaffirm their covenant with God. They continue to abandon God and their values. Instead, they becomes slaves to their selfish desires, obedient to their anger and give into the temptation of living corruptly like the nations surrounding them. They, figuratively, walk out of the sphere of God and render themselves vulnerable to oppression.
10:10 The children of Israel realize that they have strayed away from God - once again - and call to Him for rescue. It's important to note that they do take responsibility for their wrong-doing. They genuinely regret it and wish to change. But they refuse to learn the ultimate lesson.
10:11-14 God is frank with them: you abandoned Me; ask for help from the inanimate gods you have put your trust in. Although our idols in our time might not look like theirs - we have them, too. We put out faith in money and vanity, power and anger, thinking that those things will deliver us peace and happiness. They inevitable fail. God wants us to understand that so we will stop revering that which cannot help us and does not love us.
10:15-16 Our compassionate God always hears us and answers us. The children of Israel remove idolatry from their lives, action instead of words, and completely submit to His will. For it isn't that God has the arrogant desire to tell us what to do... it's just that He knows what to do. Submitting to Him is submitting to the order of peace.
This verse tells us that God could no longer endure the misery of Israel... if we were not convinced from other scripture, we can understand here that God feels as we feel. He lives these emotions with us. He is not just compassionate, He's empathetic. He yearns to rescue us and protect us.
10:17-18 The children of Israel declare that the person who is able to battle their oppressor, the Ammonites, will be head over Gilead's inhabitants.
