Judges 10:5

And Jair died, and was buried in Camon.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) In Camon.—There seems to have been a Kamon six miles from Megiddo (Euseb. Jer.), but it is far more probable that this town was in Gilead, as Josephus says (Antt. v. 6, § 6), and there is a Kamon mentioned as near Pella by Polybius (Hist. v. 70, § 12).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-5 Quiet and peaceable reigns, though the best to live in, yield least variety of matter to be spoken of. Such were the days of Tola and Jair. They were humble, active, and useful men, rulers appointed of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Jair the Gileadite was probably the same person as is named in Numbers 32:41; Deuteronomy 3:14, as having given the name of "Havoth-jair" to certain villages in Bashan.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts—This is a characteristic trait of Eastern manners in those early times; and the grant of a village to each of his thirty sons was a striking proof of his extensive possessions. His having thirty sons is no conclusive evidence that he had more than one wife, much less that he had more than one at a time. There are instances, in this country, of men having as many children by two successive wives.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Jair died, and was buried in Camon. A city of Gilead, as Josephus (u) calls it; Jerom (w), under this word Camon, makes mention of a village in his times, called Cimana, in the large plain six miles from Legion to the north, as you go to Ptolemais; but, as Reland (x) observes, this seems not to be the same place, but rather this is the Camon Polybius (y) speaks of among other cities of Peraea, taken by Antiochus.

(u) Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7. sect. 6. (w) De loc. Heb. fol. 90. B. (x) Palestina Illustr. tom. 2. p. 679. (y) Hist. l. 5.

Geneva Study Bible

And Jair died, and was buried in Camon.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. Kamon] Probably E. of Jordan, and perhaps identical with the Kamûn mentioned by Polybius next after Pella as taken by Antiochus the Great (10:70, 12). Buhl thinks of Ḳumçm, W. of Irbid (Geogr., p. 256).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Jair... was buried in Careen. A city of Gilead according to Josephus, and probability. Polybius mentions a Camoun among other trans-Jordanic places, but its site has not been verified by modern research. Eusebius and Jerome place it in the plain of Esdraelon, but without probability. The careful mention of the place of sepulture of the judges and kings is remarkable, beginning with Gideon (Judges 8:32; Judges 10:2, 5; Judges 12:9, 10, 12, 15; Judges 16:31; 1 Samuel 31:12; 2 Samuel 2:10, etc.).

CHAPTER 10:6-18 Judges 10:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

After him Jair the Gileadite (born in Gilead) judged Israel for twenty-two years. Nothing further is related of him than that he had thirty sons who rode upon thirty asses, which was a sign of distinguished rank in those times when the Israelites had no horses. They had thirty cities (the second עירים in Judges 10:4 is another form for ערים, from a singular עיר equals עיר, a city, and is chosen because of its similarity in sound to עירים, asses). These cities they were accustomed to call Havvoth-jair unto this day (the time when our book was written), in the land of Gilead. The להם before יקראוּ is placed first for the sake of emphasis, "even these they call," etc. This statement is not at variance with the fact, that in the time of Moses the Manassite Jair gave the name of Havvoth-jair to the towns of Bashan which had been conquered by him (Numbers 32:41; Deuteronomy 3:14); for it is not affirmed here, that the thirty cities which belonged to the sons of Jair received this name for the first time from the judge Jair, but simply that this name was brought into use again by the sons of Jair, and was applied to these cities in a peculiar sense. (For further remarks on the Havvoth-jair, see at Deuteronomy 3:14.) The situation of Camon, where Jair was buried, is altogether uncertain. Josephus (Ant. v. 6, 6) calls it a city of Gilead, though probably only on account of the assumption, that it would not be likely that Jair the Gileadite, who possessed so many cities in Gilead, should be buried outside Gilead. But this assumption is a very questionable one. As Jair judged Israel after Tola the Issacharite, the assumption is a more natural one, that he lived in Canaan proper. Yet Reland (Pal. ill. p. 679) supports the opinion that it was in Gilead, and adduces the fact that Polybius (Hist. v. 70, 12) mentions a town called Καμοῦν, by the side of Pella and Gefrun, as having been taken by Antiochus. On the other hand, Eusebius and Jerome (in the Onom.) regard our Camon as being the same as the κώμη Καμμωνὰ ἐν τῷ μεγάΛῳ πεδίῳ, six Roman miles to the north of Legio (Lejun), on the way to Ptolemais, which would be in the plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon. This is no doubt applicable to the Κυαμών of Judith 7:3; but whether it also applies to our Camon cannot be decided, as the town is not mentioned again.