1After Abimelech, Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, arose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. 2He judged Israel twenty-three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir.
3After him Jair, the Gileadite, arose. He judged Israel twenty-two years. 4He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts. They had thirty cities, which are called Havvoth Jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. 5Jair died, and was buried in Kamon.
6The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned Yahweh, and didn’t serve him. 7Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the children of Ammon. 8They troubled and oppressed the children of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the children of Israel that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9The children of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was very distressed. 10The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, saying, “We have sinned against you, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baals.”
11Yahweh said to the children of Israel, “Didn’t I save you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? 12The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I saved you out of their hand. 13Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore I will save you no more. 14Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress!”
15The children of Israel said to Yahweh, “We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems good to you; only deliver us, please, today.” 16They put away the foreign gods from among them and served Yahweh; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
17Then the children of Ammon were gathered together and encamped in Gilead. The children of Israel assembled themselves together and encamped in Mizpah. 18The people, the princes of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
Each year, on what is commonly called Palm Sunday, because of the Palm branches placed on the road when Jesus came into Jerusalem on a donkey, in fulfillment of Scripture, is reminiscent of the time when king Solomon also rode a donkey, found in 1 Kings 1:33: "The king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon." There are instances of royalty or rulers riding donkeys (see Judg 5:8-10; 10:4; 12:14, and 2 Sam 16:2), but the example of Solomon is the only one of a king who does so and in peace. Reflecting Solomon, the Davidic throne from which Jesus came, Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9-10:
9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion!
Shout, daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King comes to you!
He is righteous, and having salvation;
lowly, and riding on a donkey,
even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the horse from Jerusalem.
The battle bow will be cut off;
and he will speak peace to the nations.
His dominion will be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
When King David's son Solomon became king, he rode a donkey, and Jesus, also the son of David, does the same. The choice of a king riding a horse reflects going to war, but when the king brings peace, he rides in on a donkey, appropriate for Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Not only does Zechariah's prophecy declare the coming Messiah as the Prince of Peace, but the angels heralded this at His birth more than thirty years earlier in Bethlehem: “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).