Ja'ir (Son of Manasseh, captured villages in Gilead)
Conqueror of the Villages of Gilead
La conquistaWarriorLeaderc. 1400 B.C.
Ja'ir was a descendant of Manasseh, Joseph's son, through Manasseh's grandson Machir. He is known for capturing several villages in the Gilead region east of the Jordan during the conquest of Canaan, and these villages were called Havvoth-Jair (the tent-villages of Ja'ir). His conquests were an important part of Israel's settlement in Transjordan.
41Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, went and captured their settlements and named them Havvoth Jair.[^1]
[^1]: Havvoth Jair means "the settlements of Jair."
14Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and he named that part of Bashan after himself, Havvoth Jair, which it is called to this day.
As part of the distribution of the land east of the Jordan, Ja'ir's descendants received their portion in Gilead and Bashan, in accordance with Moses' allocations.
13The rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh—the whole region of Argob, all of Bashan. It used to be called the land of the Rephaim.
14Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and he named that part of Bashan after himself, Havvoth Jair, which it is called to this day.
Havvoth-Jair, the sixty cities in the Gilead region, were confirmed as part of the inheritance of the half-tribe of Manasseh during the land distribution after the conquest.
30Their territory extended from Mahanaim and included all Bashan, the entire kingdom of Og king of Bashan—all the settlements of Jair in Bashan, sixty towns—
First Chronicles describes Jair's ancestry: his father Segub was the son of Hezron from the tribe of Judah, who married the daughter of Machir, linking Jair to both Judah and Manasseh.
23But Geshur and Aram captured the settlements of Jair from them, along with Kenath and its surrounding villages—sixty towns. All these were descendants of Machir, the father of Gilead.
During King Solomon's reign, Havvoth-Jair continued to be regarded as an important district with its own administrator, demonstrating the lasting significance of Jair's conquests.
13Ben-Geber, in Ramoth Gilead—the settlements of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead were his, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan, sixty large cities with walls and bronze bars on their gates;