Numbers 32:41

That is, the villages of Jair.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Havoth-jair--that is, "tent-villages." Jair, who captured them, was a descendant of Manasseh on his mother's side (Ch1 1:21-22).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 41. Havoth-jair.] That is, the villages or habitations of Jair; and thus they should have been translated. As these two tribes and a half were the first, says Ainsworth, who had their inheritance assigned to them in the promised land, so they were the first of all Israel that were carried captive out of their own land, because of their sins. "For they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after other gods. And God delivered them into the hands of Pul and Tiglath-Pilneser, kings of Assyria, and they brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and Gozan, unto this day." See 1Ch 5:25-26.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(41) And Jair the son of Manasseh . . . —Jair was the son of Segub, the son of Hezron, who married the daughter of Machir, the son of Manasseh (1Ch_2:21-22). Jair was, therefore, the great-grandson of Manasseh, and was one of those Israelites who were reckoned as belonging to their maternal tribe.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

41. Jair the son of Manasseh] This Manassite clan that took Gilead and gave its name to the district Havvôth-Jair (‘the towns of Jair,’ marg. or better ‘the tent villages of J .’) is mentioned in Jdg_10:3-4 as Jair the Gileadite, and is represented as one of the judges of Israel. The territory which the clan occupied is identified in Deu_3:14 with Argob in Bashan (cf. Jos_13:30). But Deu_3:5 is not in agreement with that, because Argob is described as a region of fenced cities with ‘high walls, gates, and bars’; while the clan dwelt in tent villages. And in 1Ki_4:13 the two districts seem to be expressly distinguished.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof,.... Who this Nobah was is not certain, very probably a descendant of Manasseh; it is said (u) he was among those that were born in Egypt, and died after the death of Moses, and was buried beyond Jordan, as it is said, also did Machir and Jair, so that there were none left but Caleb, and Joshua:

and called it Nobah, after his name; but it seems that in later times its ancient name was restored to it; for Jerom (w), says there was a village in Arabia, called Cannatha, which is supposed to be this place; though he also tells us (x), that eight miles from Heshbon; to the south, is shown a desert place called Naba. Pliny (y) places Cannatha in the Decapolis.

(u) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 9. p. 27. (w) Ut supra. (De loc. Heb. fol. 89. M.) (x) De loc. Heb. fol. 93. H. (y) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 18.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The exploits of Jair - he was the conqueror of Argob Deu 3:14 - gave new. luster to his name; and the fame of the family is attested by the history of Jair the Israelite judge, doubtless a descendant; perhaps also by the mention of Jairus Luk 8:41, the ruler of the synagogue at the neighboring city of Capernaum.

Havoth-jair - That is, the villages, or rather groups of tents, or “kraals,” of Jair. Originally they were twenty-three in number 1Ch 2:22 : in the days of the youuger Jair, to whom they probably descended by inheritance, they either had increased to thirty, or were reckoned at that round number Jdg 10:4.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Jair was born of Segub, the son of Esron, by a daughter of Machir, 1 Paralipomenon i. 21. He did not remain in the tribe of Juda, but dwelt in that of his mother, (Calmet) or perhaps he married a descendant of Machir, and obtained these villages. (Selden, Suc. c. xviii.) --- Havoth, means "a circle of cabins or shepherds’ huts," in Arabic. (Bochart)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Jair is called here

the son of Manasseh, partly because he was so by his mother, 1Ch 2:21,22; and partly because he joined himself with the Manassites in this expedition, and settled himself among them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

41. Havoth-jair — Towns of Jair. Jos_13:30, note.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jair the son of Manasseh. This hero of Manasseh is mentioned here for the first time; in Deu_3:14 his conquests are somewhat more fully described. His genealogy, which is instructive and suggestive, is given here.

It will be seen that Segub, the father of Jair, was a Machirite in the female line only. His father Hezron, according to 1Ch_2:21, married the daughter of Manasseh in his old age, when his elder sons were probably already fathers of families. It may probably be conjectured also that Manasseh, who must have inherited exceptional wealth, (cf. Gen_48:17) and had but one grandson, left a large portion to his granddaughter, the young wife of Hezron. It was therefore very natural that Segub should have attached himself to the fortunes of his mother"s tribe. Is it not also very probable that Machir had other daughters, (cf. Gen_1:23) who also inherited large portions from their grandfather, and whose husbands were willing enough to enter into a family which had apparently brighter prospects than any others? If so, it would account at once for the existence of a large family of Machirites not descended from Gilead, and not on the most friendly terms with the rest of the tribe. It is quite possible that many of the more adventurous spirits amongst the tribe of Judah joined themselves to a family whose reputation and exploits they might naturally claim as their own (see on Jos_19:34). The small towns thereof, or, "their villages." Septuagint, taleiv autwn , i.e. the hamlets of the Amorites who dwelt in Argob, (Deu_3:14) the modern district of el Lejja, on the north-western waters of the Yermuk or Hieromax. And called them Havoth-jair. ryaiy tOWj. Septuagint, taleiv Iair , and so the Targums. The word chavvoth only occurs in this connection, and is supposed by some to be the plural of hWj, "life." There does not, however, seem to be anything except the very doubtful analogy of certain German names in favour of the rendering "Jair"s lives." It is more likely the corruption of some more ancient name. There is some discrepancy in subsequent references to the Chavvoth-jair. According to 1Ch_2:22, Jair had twenty-three towns in Gilead; from Jud_1:10:4 it appears that the sons of the later Jair had thirty cities "in the land of Gilead" which went under the name of Chavvoth-jair; while in Jos_13:30 "all the Chavvoth-jair which are in Bashan" are reckoned at sixty. The plausible, though not wholly satisfactory, explanation is, that the conquests of Nobah came to be subsequently included in those of his more famous contemporary, and the vague name of Chavvoth-jair extended to all the towns in that part of Gilead, and of Bashan too (see notes on the passages cited).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The family of Manasseh named after Machir included "Jair the son (i.e., descendant) of Manasseh." Jair, that is to say, was the grandson of a daughter of Machir the son of Manasseh, and therefore a great-grandson of Manasseh on the mother's side. His father Segub was the son of Hezron of the tribe of Judah, who had married a daughter of Manasseh (Ch1 2:21-22); so that Jair, or rather Segub, had gone over with his descendants into the maternal tribe, contrary to the ordinary rule, and probably because Machir had portioned his daughter with a rich dowry like an heiress. Jair took possession of the whole of the province of Argob in Bashan, i.e., in the plain of Jaulan and Hauran (Deu 3:4 and Deu 3:14), and gave the conquered towns the name of Havvoth Jair, i.e., Jair's-lives (see at Deu 3:14).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

חותיהם This is rendered in the Targum by THEIR VILLAGES.

ויקרא אתהן חות יאיר AND HE CALLED THEM “THE VILLAGES OF JAIR” — Because he had no children, he named them after himself, as a memorial.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND JAIR THE SON OF MENASHEH. This man [who was in fact from the tribe of Judah, as will be explained] is [here] traced back by genealogy to his mother’s family [Menasheh], because he took his inheritance together with them [i.e., the children of Menasheh]. And in the Book of Chronicles it says explicitly that he was a son, Verse 22). of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, and his mother was the daughter of Machir the son of Menasheh, as it says, And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead; whom he took to wife when he was threeescore years old, and she bore him Segub. And Segub begot Jair, who had three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead; and it is [further] written, And Geshur and Aram took the hamlets of Jair from them, Kenath, and the villages thereof, even threescore cities. All these were the sons of Machir the father of Gilead., Verse 23. From this [fact that Kenath is here described as being amongst ‘the hamlets of Jair’] it would appear that Nobach [mentioned here in Verse 42] who conquered Kenath and the villages thereof was a son of Jair, [although it is not mentioned here], and therefore these cities were also called ‘the hamlets of Jair.’ is: “Nobach called it [i.e., Kenath and the villages thereof] by his name” [i.e., by the name of Jair — his father — mentioned in the previous verse]; hence these towns also came to be called ‘the hamlets of Jair,’ as they are described in I Chronicles ibid.And the meaning of the verse, And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Menasheh is [not “unto Machir” himself, but unto] his family, for it was his sons who conquered it.. Similarly, And unto Machir I gave Gilead means “unto the Machirites,” for since Machir was an honored man and the chief of all his descendants, therefore his children were called by his name, and in the same way the verses refer to the heads of the tribes in connection with the inheritance [given to their children]: southward it was Ephraim’s, and northward it was Menasheh’s. So also: The land of Tappuah belonged to Menasheh etc., Verse 8. And when Scripture says in the Book of Joshua, And this was the lot for the tribe of Menasheh; for he was the firstborn of Joseph. As for Machir the firstborn of Menasheh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan, Verse 1. it also refers to his sons, who were men of war, for it was they who went to Gilead and conquered it, and therefore Moses gave them a great part of these lands. Perhaps Machir was still alive [at the time of the division of the Land in the days of Joshua], for the decree [against the generation] of the wilderness [resulting from the incident of the spies, that they were to die in the desert] had not been decreed upon him, as he was not amongst those counted by Moses and Aaron, being he was more than sixty years old [at the time of the first census after the exodus], and he enjoyed longevity as did the earlier generations.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.