Jair | |
|---|---|
| יָאיר | |
 Portrait of Jair from Bartolomeo Gai's Epitome historico-chronologica (1751) | |
| Predecessor | Tola |
| Successor | Jephthah |
| Judges in the Hebrew Bible שופטים |
|---|
| Italics indicate individuals not explicitly described as judges |
| Book of Exodus |
| Book of Joshua |
| Book of Judges |
| First Book of Samuel |
In the Biblical Book of Judges, Jair or Yair (Hebrew: יָאִיר Yā’īr, "he enlightens") was a man from Gilead. He was of the Tribe of Manasseh and also descended from the Tribe of Judah (Numbers 32:39-41, 1 Chronicles 2:21-23). Jair judged Israel for 22 years, after the death of Tola, who had ruled of 23 years. His inheritance was in Gilead through the line of Machir, the son of Manasseh.
According to Judges 10:3–5, Jair had thirty sons, who rode thirty ass colts, and controlled 30 cities in Gilead which came to be known as Havoth-Jair (Judges 10:4; cf. 23 towns in 1 Chronicles 2:22). The word chawwoth ('tent encampments') occurs only in this context (Numbers 32:41; Deuteronomy 3:14; Judges 10:4).
Jair died and was buried in Kamon, which could be a place that Antiochus III conquered, according to Polybius,[1][2] but also could be a symbolic term related to the Greek word for 'furnace'.[3][4]
After his death there were 18 years of infidelity to the God of the Israelites and oppression at the hands of their Philistine and Ammonite neighbours.[5]
King David appointed a Jairite named Ira as his chief ruler or priest after Sheba's rebellion.[6]
- ^ "Polybius • Histories — Book 5". penelope.uchicago.edu. Archived from the original on 2021-12-14. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
- ^ Niehoff, Maren R. (2024). Weyel, Birgit (ed.). Judentum und Hellenismus. Lucas-Preis. Translated by Schumann, Daniel; Chaldekas, Matthew. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. p. 12. ISBN 978-3-16-163536-6.
- ^ Vette, Nathanael (2020-12-28). "The Many Fiery Furnaces of Daniel 3: The Evolution of a Literary Model". Biblical Interpretation. 30 (3): 312–328. doi:10.1163/15685152-2020002. hdl:20.500.11820/e6feee30-9929-4b0a-8733-bc9755dfd675. ISSN 1568-5152. Archived from the original on 2022-12-26. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
- ^ James, M. R. (1915). "Notes on Apocrypha". The Journal of Theological Studies. 16 (63): 403–413. doi:10.1093/jts/os-XVI.4.403. ISSN 0022-5185. JSTOR 23947991.
- ^ Judges 10:6–10
- ^ 2 Samuel 20:26