Judge Jair

Jair the Gileadite judged Israel for 22 years (Judges 10:3–5). The Bible records one memorable detail: he had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys and held 30 towns in Gilead, east of the Jordan, called Havvoth-jair, "the tent-villages of Jair". He was buried at Kamon, a site some identify with Qamm in northern Jordan.

The verse contains a Hebrew pun: the word ayarim means both "donkeys" and "towns", so his 30 sons rode 30 ayarim and owned 30 ayarim. Riding donkeys was a sign of rank in this period, as in the Song of Deborah's call to "you who ride on white donkeys" (Judges 5:10). The name Havvoth-jair is older still: Numbers 32:41 and Deuteronomy 3:14 credit an earlier Jair, son of Manasseh, with capturing these villages in Moses' time, so the judge may have belonged to that clan.