TYPES OF CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2001 James Melough
JAIR
“And after him (Tola) arose
Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years,” Jgs 10:3.
Jair means he will
enlighten; and Gilead, heap of witness: rolling for ever. No one
will have difficulty seeing in Jair a figure of the true “Enlightener,” “the
light of men .... the light of the world.” Nor is it difficult to read the
lesson of his being a Gileadite, for Gilead was the name of a person as well
as a place, and while the place Gilead is a figure of Calvary (itself
the eternal witness to God’s love), the person Gilead is an equally
clear figure of the Lord Jesus Christ, the living and eternal Witness to that
love.
He and Jephthah are the only
judges mentioned in relation to the east side of Jordan; and since that east
side speaks of our literal experiences here in the body (as the western side
does of our spiritual experiences here on earth), the lessons appear to
have primary application to our daily lives in the midst of earthly
circumstances.
“And he had thirty sons that
rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called
Havoth-Jair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead,” Jgs 10:4.
Inasmuch as thirty is a
multiple of three (the number of resurrection), the repeated references to
thirty assure us that the spiritual lesson is related to resurrection. The
picture is clearly of Christ in resurrection glory, Jair’s thirty sons (the
perpetuation of his own life) being the symbolic figure of the eternal
perpetuation of the Lord’s life.
As noted in earlier studies,
the ass represents the body as the servant of the old nature, the wild ass
portraying it without moral restraint; the bridled or saddled ass portraying
it under some measure of moral restraint, as in the case of the moral, but
unconverted man.
It is to be noted, however,
that these thirty asses upon which Jair’s thirty sons rode were colts,
i.e. they were young second generation asses, but the second born is always
the figure of the converted man, as the first born is of what we are by
natural birth. These sons represent Christ’s “sons,” i.e., believers (those
who are spiritually “second generation,” those who have had a second birth).
The same truth is emphasized in that the sons were themselves second
generation.
Their having thirty cities
over which they ruled, continues to remind us that Jair is a figure of Christ
ruling, today over the churches; tomorrow, over the world. The rule of Jair’s
sons, however, was but the extension of his rule. In those sons men
saw the representatives of Jair. The spiritual lesson is easily read. The
world is to see in us those who are Christ’s sons. As they, the second
generation of Jair, rode on second generation ass colts, so are we who are the
“second generation” of Christ, to manifest that fact in our lives. The “deeds
done in the body” are to confirm the testimony of the lip. It is dishonoring
to Christ when a spiritually “second generation” man is found “riding” on a
“first generation ass,” i.e., when a believer allows himself to be carried
along by the dictates of the old nature rather than the new.
It is interesting to note that
the Lord Himself rode into Jerusalem, not on an ass, but on an ass’s colt
(Mk 11:1-10). As that ass’s colt carried Him into Jerusalem, which represents
peace, so will the man who “rides on the ass’s colt,” that is, keeps the body
in subjection to the new nature rather than the old, also be brought into the
enjoyment of the peace of God which passeth all understanding.
The collective name of the
thirty cities, Havoth-Jair means villages of Jair: lives of Jair, it
being generally recognized that the latter meaning is the more accurate. This
confirms what we have been considering relative to ourselves as being the
representatives of Christ. Each believer’s life is to be the living
expression of Christ’s, as it is written, “I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave himself for me,” Ga 2:20. The fact that the cities were also in “the
land of Gilead” continues to remind us that here on earth we are to be
witnesses for Christ.
“And Jair died, and was buried
in Camon,” Jgs 10:5.
Jair’s death, like that of
Tola, continues to warn of the brevity and uncertainty of life, and of the
need to live that life for Christ.
As might be expected in a
section that so strongly emphasizes resurrection, His burial place has special
significance, for Camon means rising up: standing. All who die in
faith will rise again at the resurrection of life, but only because Christ, by
dying, conquered death, emerging from that dread realm to assure His servant
John, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for
evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death,” Re 1:18.