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Judges 10:3-4 (ANIV)
Jair
3 He [Judge Tola] was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel for twenty-two years. 4 He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair. [1] 5 When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.

[1]
Or, called the settlements of Jair

DRAWING NOTES:

TIME OF DAY:
Unspecified in the Bible narrative, I have set this scene at dawn

LIGHTING NOTES:
The rising sun (behind the figure) illuminates this scene with pale yellow light, casting shadows towards the viewer.

CHARACTERS PRESENT:
Jair of Gilead.

RESEARCH/ADDITIONAL NOTES:
A particular photo reference on the internet of Gilead around the river Zarqa (biblical River Yarmouk) inspired me regarding the background landscape of this scene. I decided to add clouds flushed with red, pink and orange hues representing sunrise clouds to add to the drama of the rising sun.

The name Jair translates to “he enlightens”, “one giving light “ or “whom God enlightens”. The few things we know about this seventh judge was that he and his sons controlled 30 towns in Gilead, a place east of the river Jordan, and south east of the Sea of Galilee, the 1st region given to the tribe of Manasseh.
It is supposed that Jair’s noble status is evidenced by his large progeny of 30 sons and the fact that they each rode a donkey; a symbol of their status in the Israelite communities. Since Jair is proposed as being rich I decided to cloth him is purple robes, that colour being particularly expensive to manufacture in ancient times.

Here’s the landscape without the figure in the foreground.

Background of Judges 10 – Jair, Israel’s seventh judge

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Background of Judges 10 – Jair, Israel’s seventh judge

Incidentally, it was another man (also named Jair), who originally occupied the land of Gilead. Deuteronomy 3:14 (NIV) explains, “Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maakathites; it was named after him, so that to this day Bashan is called Havvoth Jair.²”

Jair’s burial place, Kamon, may be modern Qamm in Gilead.

[2] Or, called the settlements of Jair.