Tola

Tola is the name of two men in the Hebrew Bible, both linked to the tribe of Issachar. The first is a patriarchal son of Issachar whose name passes into a clan; the second, several centuries later, is a judge who rises after Abimelech to save Israel and rules from Shamir in the hill-country of Ephraim. The same name binds them, but the texts treat them as distinct figures: one stands at the head of a tribal genealogy, the other at the head of a chapter in the deliverer-cycle of Judges.

Son of Issachar

In the migration to Egypt, Tola heads the list of Issachar's sons: "And the sons of Issachar: Tola, and Puvah, and Jashub, and Shimron" (Gen 46:13). At the wilderness census a generation after the exodus, his name has become a clan-name: "The sons of Issachar after their families: [of] Tola, the family of the Tolaites; of Puvah, the family of the Punites" (Num 26:23). The Chronicler repeats the genealogy with the same lead position — "And of the sons of Issachar: Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four" (1Ch 7:1) — so that across Genesis, Numbers, and Chronicles Tola is consistently the firstborn of Issachar and the eponymous head of a tribal subdivision.

The Tolaites in David's Time

The Chronicler extends the line beyond the patriarch into the monarchic period. "And the sons of Tola: Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers' houses, [to wit,] of Tola; mighty men of valor in their generations: their number in the days of David was two and twenty thousand and six hundred" (1Ch 7:2). Six named sons stand as house-heads, the Tolaites are reckoned as warriors, and a Davidic-era muster numbers the clan at 22,600. The genealogical note treats Tola not only as an ancestor but as the source of a continuing warrior-stock within Issachar.

The Judge of Israel

A second Tola, also of Issachar, appears in the deliverer-cycle of Judges. "And after Abimelech, there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in the hill-country of Ephraim" (Jud 10:1). The verse places him immediately after the Abimelech episode, names a three-generation Issacharite pedigree (Tola — Puah — Dodo), and locates his seat in Shamir — not in Issacharite territory but across the boundary in the hill-country of Ephraim. The text uses the same verb of "saving" Israel that runs through the earlier judge-narratives, and names Israel as the object of his deliverance.

Tenure and Burial

The notice closes with a tenure-and-burial formula: "And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir" (Jud 10:2). Twenty-three years of judgeship, no recorded battle, no enemy named — Tola's entry in Judges is a quiet one between the violence of Abimelech before him and the Ammonite oppression that arises after Jair. He is buried where he ruled, in Shamir, the same Ephraimite hill-town from which he had judged.