And Segub begot Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead;
A long list of names pauses here on one man. Jair, the son of Segub, held twenty-three towns in Gilead. Why does a genealogy stop to count one man's cities? And why is a man of Judah holding land in another tribe's territory?
Jair belongs to two tribes at once. His father's line is Judah; his mother's line is Manasseh. So Scripture names him from either side.
Son of Segub, a descendant of Judah but called "son of Manasseh" from his mother, the daughter of Machir. He is also called one of "the sons of Machir, the father of Gilead." He conquered the territory of Argob with some towns, which he called HAVOTH-JAIR, "the towns of Jair." Numbers 32:41; Deuteronomy 3:14; Joshua 13:30; 1 Kings 4:13; 1 Chronicles 2:22-23.
The towns were not handed to Jair. He took them, and then put his own name on them. That name has a meaning of its own, and one writer ties it to what Jair did.
Among Machir's sons we find Jair active in the conquest of the land. His name means the "enlightener." Bringing in light is the way to conquer Satan's kingdom of darkness. Life comes into the soul with light, if it is true light. So Jair calls the cities he conquers the "lives (havvoth) of Jair." Men call Og's luxury and self-pleasing "life," but Jair shows us what life really is.
Writers differ on what the name Gilead means. One reading sets it against the meaning of Manasseh, the tribe Jair is counted with.
Gesenius takes Gilead to mean "hard, rocky." On the other hand, there seems to be reason for linking it instead with Jacob's Galeed (Genesis 31:47), "a heap of witness." That would put it in striking contrast with Manasseh, the name joined to it, which means "forgetting." A heap of witness exists for the very purpose of making forgetting impossible.
Most of Israel never took full possession of the land. One name with twenty-three towns beside it stands out against that. These genealogies pick out such people more than once.
Here and there these genealogies point out people whose borders God enlarged in the promised land, at a time when most of the nation had failed to fully conquer their inheritance. Jair has already shown this in 1 Chronicles 2. Caleb, Achsah, and Othniel are further examples of this personal energy of faith, which finds its borders enlarged as it relies on God. So it is with us. Our spiritual borders grow in the heavenly places while we are still on earth. To reach this we must own our ruin, which we cannot repair, and the inability we have shown to enlarge our own borders. And we must show humble dependence, which relies on the grace of God alone to have them.
The very next verse records Geshur and Aram taking those towns back. Jair stands with the energetic figures of this chapter, but with a warning attached to him that the others do not carry.
The name of Caleb stands out in this chapter. Linked with it are people of the same quality as Caleb the son of Jephunneh: Othniel, Achsah, Hur, Jair, and the house of Rechab. Jair, though, later lost everything his energy had won at first (1 Chronicles 2:22-23).
Lists like this one look patched together, with names appearing from nowhere and lines breaking off. That impression is not denied — but the conclusion drawn from it is.
Must we conclude from all this that the text of Chronicles is a human and random collection, and that the book therefore has no historical value? That is what the rationalists claim. But thank God, their reasoning is always at fault when it attacks His Word. No enlightened Christian will deny that the genealogies of Chronicles are made up of fragments gathered in the middle of general confusion. Yet they are documents on which God sets His seal of approval.
- Named — Jair's father's line is Judah, his mother's line Manasseh, so Scripture lists him under either tribe. His towns are the Havoth-Jair, "the towns of Jair."
- Light — His name means "enlightener," and bringing in light conquers the kingdom of darkness. He called the cities he won the lives of Jair — real life, not the self-pleasing life men praise.
- Reach — Most of the nation failed to take its full inheritance. God still enlarged the borders of people who relied on Him: Jair, Caleb, Achsah, Othniel. Our own borders grow the same way.
- Loss — Jair later lost everything his energy first won. Ground gained still has to be held.
- Kept — These fragments were gathered out of real confusion, yet God set His seal on them. The record stands, and this one name in it is there on purpose.
and Geshur and Aram took the villages of Jair from them, with Kenath and its dependent towns, sixty cities. All these were sons of Machir the father of Gilead.
Sixty towns in Gilead change hands inside one line of a genealogy. Jair won them and named them; now Geshur and Aram hold them — so how does a family lose what its own energy gained?
The name of these towns simply records who held them.
This means "towns of Jair." They were in "the region of Argob, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites." They were also called "Bashan-havoth-jair." Deuteronomy 3:14. They were small towns of Gilead. Numbers 32:41. The same are called "towns of Jair" in Joshua 13:30; 1 Kings 4:13; 1 Chronicles 2:23.
Kenath also had a history before this verse. One reference work fills that in, and notes how this verse should read:
City of Bashan, taken by Nobah, and called after his own name. It was afterwards re-taken with the villages of Jair by Geshur and Aram, as the passage in Chronicles should read. Numbers 32:42; 1 Chronicles 2:23.
The verse counts all these men as Machir's descendants, yet the chapter is tracing Judah. A marriage explains the double label.
Son of Segub, a descendant of Judah but called "son of Manasseh" from his mother the daughter of Machir. He is also called one of "the sons of Machir, the father of Gilead." He conquered the territory of Argob with some towns, which he called Havoth-jair. Numbers 32:41; 1 Chronicles 2:22-23.
One writer sees a pattern in these genealogies. A few people gained ground when the nation did not, and he brings that home to the reader.
Here and there these genealogies highlight people whose borders God extended in the promised land. At that time the mass of the people had failed to conquer their inheritance fully. Jair has already given evidence of this in 1 Chronicles 2. The names of Caleb, Achsah, and Othniel are likewise examples of this personal energy of faith. Faith like this relies upon God, and God enlarges its borders. So it is with us: our spiritual borders expand in the heavenly sphere while we are upon earth.
The same writer lists Jair with Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and then adds one note drawn from this verse.
Alongside this name stand characters of the same caliber as the son of Jephunneh: Othniel, Achsah, Hur, Jair, and the house of Rechab. Jair, though, later lost everything that his energy had at first acquired. 1 Chronicles 2:22-23.
Gilead lay in the land of the two and a half tribes. One writer follows its later history.
When Israel declined, captivity began with the two and a half tribes. Even in the days of Ahab, Ramoth in Gilead was in the hands of the Syrians. Later those parts were the first to fall captive to Assyria. Just so, the spirit of the world captures the earthly-minded Christian most easily.
Jair is not the only man in this genealogy who gained something. Another writer sets his towns beside a gift given to Bezaleel, from Hur's line.
No doubt every one named here was prominent for some quality or excellence, or for some special blessing given to him that would bring still greater honour. God named Bezaleel, the grandson of Hur, and gave him wisdom for a very special purpose. He taught him to make all the furniture for the tabernacle (Exodus 31). That was greater honour than all the riches of Jair, who had twenty-three cities and took sixty more.
- Named — Havvoth-jair means "towns of Jair," small towns of Gilead in the region of Argob. Nobah had taken Kenath earlier and given it his own name.
- Won — Jair was a descendant of Judah, counted under Manasseh through Machir's daughter. He took Argob and its towns. God enlarged his borders while the nation as a whole failed to take its inheritance.
- Lost — Geshur and Aram took those towns back. Jair lost everything his energy had first gained.
- Why — this land lay east of the Jordan, where captivity began. Gilead fell to Syria and then to Assyria. The spirit of the world captures an earthly-minded believer just as easily.
- Better — God gave Bezaleel, in the same genealogy, wisdom to make the furniture of the tabernacle. That counted for more than Jair's twenty-three cities and sixty more.