JUDGES 10:4; Judges 12:14

Q: This verse says, “He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys,” and Judges 12:14 says “He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys.” What was being conveyed? Why was it important that the number of sons/grandsons matched the number of donkeys?

The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (p. 215) cautions that “we must take care not to read our own attitudes toward the donkey into the biblical materials.” Thus, possessing or riding on a donkey denoted that one had a certain amount of prestige in the community; it was even regarded as a sign of kingship at times. The fact that the number of sons or grandsons matched the number of donkeys merely indicates that the judge was wealthy enough to afford one donkey for each of his offspring.

“The reference to his 30 sons riding on 30 donkeys and owning 30 towns suggests the peacefulness of the times and the prosperity and prestige enjoyed by the judge [Jair]. It also hints at the unpreparedness of the Gileadites for the disaster about to fall on them. Jair's pampered sons will be of little use when the Ammonites invade!” (Barry Webb, The Book of Judges, p. 298-9)

From a literary point of view, the mention of thirty sons of Jair (and their donkeys) is matched by the thirty sons and daughters of Izban and the thirty grandsons of Abdon (and their donkeys). Satterthwaite sees a deliberate contrast between these minor judges and their progeny with the situation of the central character in the cycle, Jephthah, and his loss of his only child. (Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books, p. 588)