Jair the Gileadite was a judge of Israel during the period that followed the conquest of Canaan, known almost entirely from the brief notice preserved in the Book of Judges (Judges 10:3-5). A man of Gilead, the highland region east of the Jordan associated with the tribe of Manasseh, he succeeded the judge Tola and led Israel for twenty-two years.
The scriptural account remembers him chiefly through the prominence of his household: he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys and held thirty towns in the land of Gilead, a cluster of settlements that came to be called Havvoth-jair. He is commemorated in the Orthodox Church among the Holy Forefathers, the righteous ancestors and leaders of Israel honored corporately on the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ.
Timeline 3 moments
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After the judgeship of TolaBecomes judge of IsraelJair the Gileadite arose to judge Israel following Tola, who had judged for twenty-three years. His own tenure lasted twenty-two years.
During his judgeshipHis household of thirtyAccording to Judges 10:4, Jair had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys and held thirty towns in the land of Gilead, settlements that came to be known as Havvoth-jair.
At his deathBurial at KamonWhen Jair died he was buried in Kamon.
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Scriptural Witness
Jair appears within the catalogue of judges in Judges 10, where his notice immediately follows that of Tola of Issachar and precedes the account of Jephthah. The text places him in Gilead, the territory east of the Jordan, and a genealogical tradition preserved at 1 Chronicles 2:21-23 connects the family and towns of Jair to the line of Manasseh through Machir; that parallel passage reckons the associated settlements as twenty-three rather than thirty.
Beyond the duration of his rule, his burial place, and the notice of his thirty sons and their towns, Scripture records no specific deeds, battles, or sayings. The Orthodox tradition honors him not through an individual hagiography but as one of the righteous forefathers of Israel, commemorated collectively on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers before the feast of the Nativity.
Among the Holy Forefathers, commemorated on the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ. Individual veneration is not clearly attested; flagged for clergy review.
Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints
