Judges 10:1-2·~1 min
Tola
After Abimelech, Tola appears as a deliverer from Issachar who lives in Ephraim and judges Israel for twenty-three years before dying and being buried there. The account is spare, giving duration and place rather than episode.
A1fter the time of Abimelech, a man of Issachar, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose up to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. 2Tola judged Israel twenty-three years, and when he died, he was buried in Shamir.
Section summaryTola rises after Abimelech to save Israel and judges for twenty-three years from Shamir in Ephraim. The notice is brief and quiet, marking a stretch of settled leadership without enlarging the story.
Role in the chapterThis opening section resets the book after Abimelech's disorder. It shows that deliverance can come in a restrained form before the narrative turns back to Israel's larger instability.