After Abimelech. — his is merely a note of time. Abimelech is not counted among the judges, though it is not improbable that, evil as was the episode of his rebellions, he may have kept foreign enemies in check.
To defend Israel. — Rather, to deliver, as in the margin and elsewhere (Judges 2:16; Judges 2:18; Judges 3:9, &c).
There arose. — The phrase implies a less direct call and a less immediate service than that used of other judges (Judges 2:18; Judges 3:9).
Tola. — The name of a son of Issachar (Genesis 46:13) It means “worm” (perhaps the kermes -worm), and may, like Puah, be connected with the trade in purple dyes. He seems to have been the only judge furnished by this indolent tribe, unless Deborah be an exception. Josephus omits his name.
Puah. — Also a son of Issachar (1 Chronicles 7:1).
The son of Dodo. — The LXX. render it “the son of his uncle,” but there can be little doubt that Dodo is a proper name, as in 1 Chronicles 11:12; 2 Samuel 23:9; 2 Samuel 23:24. It is from the same root as David, “beloved.” Since Tola was of Issachar, he could not be nephew of Abimelech a Manassite.
He dwelt in Shamir. — The name has nothing to do with Samaria, as the LXX. seem to suppose. It may be Sanûr, eight miles north of Samaria.
In mount Ephraim. — As judge, he would have to fix his residence in a town more central than any in his own tribe. There was another Shamir in Judah (Joshua 15:48).