1. Judges 10:1 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

How do the notices of Tola and Jair cohere with that of the other minor judges?

Judges 10:1 (ESV)

1 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.

Judges 10:3 (ESV)

3 After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years.

The notices of all six of the minor judges are introduced by a variation of the formula “after him X did such and such” (Judges 3:31; Judges 10:1, Judges 10:3; Judges 12:8, Judges 12:11, Judges 12:13). The case of Tola is the only instance where a proper name is used—“after Abimelech”—which stresses the importance of Tola’s work in resolving unrest caused by Abimelech within Israel.