Jair (Hebrew: יָאִיר Yā’īr, “he enlightens”) was the eighth Judge of Israel. He ruled twenty-two years the death of Tola. His account recorded in Judges 10:3-5.
3 He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel 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. 5 When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.
Jair was a man from Gilead of the Tribe of Manasseh, on the east of the River Jordan. He is the first of the judges that was on that side Jordan.
He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. It appears that there was both peace and prosperity during the time that Jair governed Israel; he had, it seems, provided for his family, and given a village to each of his thirty sons; which were, in consequence, called Havoth Jair or the villages of Jair. Their riding on thirty ass colts seems to intimate that they were persons of consideration, and kept up a certain dignity in their different departments.