Chapter 10

After Abimilech God raised up Tola, son of Puah, son of Dodo.  What a pedigree...

He judged for 23 years, and then died.  Vs 1 says he came from Issachar, and he "arose to save Israel", but we are given no info as to what or who he saved them from.

Next was Jair, who judged for 22 years.  Jair was from Gilead, which I believe is on the east side of the Jordan, where Manasseh and others had decided to stay.  So that would seem to indicate that God was still looking after these people also, though they were not in Israel proper.Jair had 30 sons who rode around on 30 donkeys.  We are not told why they did this.

After Jair, the people turned against God again by serving the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and the Philistines.  Seems like they wanted to serve any god but God.  Why?  Because inanimate gods have slack rules and low standards.

So God lets the Ammonites and the Philistines overcome them, and oppress them.  This verse:

8 and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan (So I was right about where Gilead was) in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. [Jdg 10:8 ESV]

That's a long way for the Philistines to go to oppress them.  And there was a big portion of Israel that they would have had to cross to get to Gilead.

Note that this oppression was only against the people who had settled east of the Jordan.  Perhaps Jair had kept them in check during his time as judge because he was from Gilead, and lived there.  The rebellion against God occurs after Jair dies.

Then this:

9 And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed. [Jdg 10:9 ESV]

So the Philistines and the Ammonites were oppressing Gilead, and now the Ammonites - who already live East of the Jordan, cross the river and attack central Israel.  They are trying to expand their oppression.

13 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. 14 Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress." [Jdg 10:13-14 ESV]

Couple of things...These are words from God that you never want to hear.  He rarely gets to this point, but when he does, he stays here for a long time.  Second, note that God doesn't say he is going to personally punish them for what they've done.  He's just not going to intervene in the due course of things.  God protects, or He withdraws protection.  Is this how it works with individuals, nations, or both?  There is the big question of whether God sends bad things as punishments.  Surely in the covenant of Sinai God made it clear that there would be curses on Israel if they didn't keep their part of the covenant.  But it never says that God will do the cursing.  In this case, God isn't proactively punishing Israel, He is just withdrawing his supernatural protection over them.  They are a weak, divided, selfish, stiff-necked people, and if God isn't protecting them, they are not a strong people at all.  Look at Ephraim, always whining about not being invited to fight!

In this case, the people truly repent of what they've done, and ask God to do with them whatever he wants, but to please deliver them from their oppressors.  They ask to receive God's justice, no matter what that might be, instead of man's oppression.  David did this same thing later when God says as his punishment either David's enemies will triumph, or God will send pestilence.  David says he would always prefer God's justice to man's.  They don't just ask, they act.  This verse:

16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel. [Jdg 10:16 ESV]

The Ammonite army gathers for war against Israel at Gilead.  Israel also gathers, but they  have no leader - no general to lead them into battle.  They need to pick a leader.