Bible Commentaries
Judges 10

Verses 1-18

Following the death of Abimelech there seems to have been a period of forty years' quietness under the dictatorship of Tola and Jair.

After this there appears to have broken out a period characterized by an almost utter abandonment of the people to idolatry. The list of the forms which this idolatry took is appalling.

Judgment came this time through the Philistines and the men of Ammon and continued for eighteen years.

At last, sore distressed, they cried to God, and for the first time in the history it is recorded that God refused to hear them, reminding them of how repeatedly He had delivered them and they had returned to evil courses.

In the message of His anger, however, there was, as is always the case, clearly evident a purpose of deliverance. He recalled them to a recognition of His power by bidding them seek deliverance from the gods whom they had worshiped. They knew full well the helplessness of these gods in such an hour of distress. The very heart of Jehovah flames out in this connection in a remarkable statement. "His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel."