j. Tola (10:1, 2)
j. Tola (10:1, 2)
With Tola we are introduced to the second of the minor judges, the others being Shamgar (3:31), Jair (10:3–5), Ibzan, Elon and Abdon (12:8–15). Scant detail concerning these men has been preserved, with the inevitable consequence that they appear as very nebulous characters in comparison with Gideon, Deborah, Abimelech, Jephthah and Samuel. Sometimes they are regarded as being concerned with judicial affairs, the arbiters of disputes within or between the tribes, or the custodians and interpreters of the casuistic laws. It may be that they were the leaders in Israel during the periods of rest when no foreign domination threatened. But the statement concerning Tola, that he arose to defend Israel (AV), warns against reading too much into the little extant information concerning these men. The likelihood is that if spectacular deeds had been performed by these men some traces of them would have survived, but we cannot go beyond this and say that, in fact, no such exploits were wrought. In the case of Tola little has survived apart from his name and a few essential facts. In Genesis 46:13 and Numbers 26:23 Tola and Puah are connected with the tribe of Issachar. The location of Shamir is uncertain; an identification with Samaria is hazardous, since the latter was in the tribal portion of Manasseh, not Ephraim, and its establishment is noted in the reign of Omri, king of Israel (1 Kgs 16:24).