Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Judges
Chapter 10: His Soul Was Grieved for the Misery of Israel
After two quiet judges, Israel plunges deeper than ever, serving the gods of seven nations at once. When they cry out, God does something startling: He refuses. 'Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen.' But when they truly repent and put away their idols, the heart of God cannot hold out, His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Judges chapter 10. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Chapter 10 sets the stage for Jephthah, but it is above all a window into the heart of God, stern against sin, yet moved to grief by His people's misery. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Tola, Jair, and the Great Relapse (Judges 10:1-9)
Two quiet judges give years of peace, but Israel then falls further than ever, serving the gods of seven peoples and forsaking the LORD.
They Forsook the LORD, and Served Not Him
"And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim. And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir. And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years. And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havothjair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died, and was buried in Camon. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him. And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed."
Word Study
"forsook," Hebrew azab (עָזַב), "to leave, abandon, forsake, let go." The word lands with terrible weight: "they forsook the LORD, and served not him." It is not that Israel added other gods to the LORD; they abandoned Him entirely, serving Baal, Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, Zidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia, seven peoples' idols, while serving the true God "not" at all. This is spiritual adultery in its fullest form. The same verb voices God's own lament through the prophets: "my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13), the verb again being azab. To forsake the living God for idols is to trade the fountain for a cracked and empty pit. Yet, wondrously, the God whom they forsook will not finally forsake them.
Explanation
Two "minor" judges bridge the years: Tola of Issachar, who "arose to defend Israel" for twenty-three years, and Jair the Gileadite, whose thirty sons on thirty colts with thirty cities speak of prosperity and prominence. But peace breeds forgetfulness. After Jair, Israel falls further than at any point yet, cataloguing seven foreign pantheons and "forsook the LORD, and served not him." God's anger sells them to the Philistines and the Ammonites, and for eighteen years Ammon crushes the eastern tribes and then crosses Jordan to press Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim, "so that Israel was sore distressed." The deeper the apostasy, the heavier the yoke.
Gospel Focus
Notice how the pattern deepens. Each cycle in Judges sinks lower, and here Israel does not merely add idols but abandons God altogether. Sin is never static; it always wants more ground. The heart that leaves "the fountain of living waters" is never satisfied by the broken cistern but keeps digging more, the gods of seven nations were not enough. This is why the gospel calls not for reform but for return, to forsake the idols and come back to the Fountain. "Let the wicked forsake his way... and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him" (Isaiah 55:7). The only cure for a forsaking heart is to be found and reclaimed by the God we abandoned.
I Will Deliver You No More (Judges 10:10-16)
God at first refuses their cry and sends them to their chosen gods, but when they truly repent and put away their idols, His heart cannot bear their misery.
His Soul Was Grieved
"And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. And the children of Israel said unto the LORD, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel."
Word Study
"his soul was grieved," Hebrew tiqtsar naphsho (תִּקְצַר נַפְשׁוֹ), literally "his soul was shortened" for the misery of Israel. The idiom means to become impatient of, unable to bear, cut short in endurance, His very soul could no longer endure the sight of their suffering. This is one of the most tender revelations of God in all Scripture. He had just said, in righteous judgment, "I will deliver you no more"; but when they truly repented and put away their idols, His soul "was shortened" for their misery, His compassion overwhelmed His just refusal. It is the same divine heart the prophets reveal: "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?... mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together" (Hosea 11:8). The God who cannot look on sin cannot bear to see His people suffer, and mercy triumphs. That grieving, yearning heart came in flesh in the One who "wept" over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41).
Explanation
Israel cries out and even confesses, "We have sinned." But God, who reads the heart, knows this first cry is shallow, a plea to escape pain, not to forsake sin. So He answers with holy irony: I have delivered you again and again, yet you keep forsaking me; "go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen." It is a stern refusal meant to bring them to real repentance, and it works. Their second response is different: "do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee", they submit to God's judgment, ask only for deliverance, and, crucially, "put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD." Repentance moved from words to deeds. And at that, God's "soul was grieved for the misery of Israel." He could hold out no longer.
Gospel Focus
True repentance is more than crying under the consequences of sin; it is putting the sin away. Israel's first cry got no deliverance; their second, joined to actually removing the idols, moved the heart of God. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9), but confession that clings to the idol is only regret. And see the glory of God's character here: even after saying "I will deliver you no more," His grieving love broke through the moment they turned. God's justice is real, but His mercy runs deeper; "his compassions fail not" (Lamentations 3:22). The same heart that was "grieved for the misery of Israel" is the heart that sent His Son, and that still yearns over every sinner who will put away the idol and come home.
The Search for a Deliverer (Judges 10:17-18)
With Ammon encamped for war, the leaderless princes of Gilead ask who will step forward, setting the stage for Jephthah.
What Man Is He That Will Begin?
"Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpeh. And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another, What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."
Word Study
"Mizpeh," Hebrew Mitspah (מִצְפָּה), "watchtower," from a root meaning "to watch, keep watch." Israel assembles at Mizpeh, "the watchtower," the very name of the place where Jacob and Laban had set up a heap and prayed, "The LORD watch between me and thee" (Genesis 31:49). It is fitting that a repentant, endangered people should gather at "the watchtower," for the LORD is Himself the true watchtower of His people. Though the leaderless princes ask "what man" will lead them, the real watchman had already turned His grieving heart toward them. The believer's confidence is the same: "he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4). When we gather in our extremity, we gather under the eye of the God who watches, and He will not fail to raise up deliverance in His time.
Explanation
The chapter ends poised on a question. Ammon masses for war in Gilead; Israel gathers at Mizpeh; but there is no leader. The princes of Gilead can only ask, "What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be head." The reward, headship over all Gilead, dangles before whoever will step up. It is a cliffhanger that will be answered in the next chapter by the unlikeliest of men: Jephthah, the rejected son of a harlot, cast out by his brethren, whom God will raise to be Israel's deliverer. God's grieving mercy has already decided to save; now He will provide the man.
Gospel Focus
"What man is he that will begin?" is a question that echoes through redemption's story. Again and again a lost people needed a deliverer, and no man was found worthy, until the Man came. Isaiah heard God "wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation" (Isaiah 59:16). The judges of this book were all partial answers, flawed men raised for a season. But the cry for a champion is only fully answered in Jesus Christ, the Man who stepped forward to fight our true enemy and become "head over all things to the church" (Ephesians 1:22). When heaven asked who would go, the Son said, "Lo, I come." He is the Deliverer every dark chapter of Judges was waiting for.
Chapter 10 in Review
Judges 10 spans the quiet years of Tola and Jair and then Israel's deepest fall yet, forsaking the LORD entirely to serve the gods of seven nations. Sold to the Philistines and Ammonites and "sore distressed," they cry out, but God, reading their shallow hearts, at first refuses: "Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen." Only when they truly repent, submitting to God and putting away their idols, does the great turn come: "his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel." The chapter ends with a leaderless people at the watchtower of Mizpeh, asking who will step forward to save them.
For the Apostolic reader, this chapter unveils the heart of God. He is stern against sin and will not be manipulated by a cry that clings to the idol; real repentance puts the sin away. Yet His mercy runs deeper than His judgment: even after "I will deliver you no more," His soul could not bear their misery. That same grieving, yearning heart wept over Jerusalem in the flesh and sent the true Deliverer, the Man who stepped forward when no other could.
- Sin deepens; Israel did not add idols to God but "forsook the LORD, and served not him."
- God will not be moved by a cry that only wants relief; true repentance puts away the idols.
- "His soul was grieved", God's mercy overwhelmed even His just refusal when they truly turned.
- "What man is he that will begin?", the cry for a deliverer is fully answered only in Christ.
Questions for Reflection
- Is your repentance only regret over consequences, or do you actually "put away the strange gods"?
- Does it move you that God's "soul was grieved" over the misery of His wayward people?
- The princes asked "what man?" Have you found your Deliverer in the Man, Christ Jesus?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- Tola and Jair; the great relapse; forsaking the fountain: Judges 10:1-9; Jeremiah 2:13; Isaiah 55:7.
- God's refusal and His grieving mercy; true repentance: Judges 10:10-16; Hosea 11:8; 1 John 1:9; Lamentations 3:22; Luke 19:41.
- The search for a deliverer answered in Christ: Judges 10:17-18; Genesis 31:49; Psalm 121:4; Isaiah 59:16; Ephesians 1:22.