k. Jair (10:3–5)
k. Jair (10:3–5)
The record concerning Jair appears to connect with the conquest of Gilead, when a predecessor with the same name captured a group of towns in Bashan and renamed them Havvoth-jair, i.e. ‘the tent-villages of Jair’ (Num. 32:39–42; Deut. 3:14, etc.). In this same area, about 12 miles south-east of the Sea of Galilee, Jair exercised his authority, supported by his thirty sons. The mention that they rode on thirty ass-colts (cf. the similar reference to the sons and grandsons of Abdon, 12:14) was a mark of prestige as well as a sign of prosperity.
Camon (AV; or Kamon, RV, RSV), the burial place of Jair, has been identified with some ruins about one mile north-west of the modern village Qumên.