This post follows the Bible reading plan available at oaktreechurch.com/soap.
Chapter ten contains two short stories showing the duplicity of the Israelites at this time. In Judges 10:1-5 we find two more judges, Tola and Jair, who ruled Israel for a total of 45 years. Nothing is mentioned about idolatry or wickedness, just the judges. On the other hand, after those two, Israel again turned from Jehovah, choosing to worship gods from a variety of nations, so God handed them over to the Philistines and Ammonites (Judges 10:6-9). After eighteen years of oppression, it seems that it became especially bad “that eighteenth year,” specifically toward those Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead. When the people cried to God for help, he pushed back. “Did I not deliver you from Egypt, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Sidonians, Amalek, and Midian when they oppressed you?” (Judges 10:11-12) Since they had continued to turn away from him, what obligation did he have to deliver them again? However, rather than just asking for help or even saying that they had sinned, this time “they threw away the foreign gods they owned and worshiped the LORD,” so he did deliver them again (Judges 10:15-16).