Tola
To'la (Heb. Tola', תּוֹלָע, a worm, as in Ex 16:20; Sept. θωλά v.r. θωλέ, etc.; Vulg. Thola), the name of two Hebrews.
1. The first-born of Issachar (Ge 46:13; 1Ch 6:1). B.C. 1856. He had six sons (1Ch 7:2), who became progenitors of families known collectively as the Tolaites (Nu 26:23), and these in David's time mustered 22,600 valiant soldiers (1Ch 7:2).
2. Judge of Israel after Abimelech (Jg 10:1-2). He is described in that passage as "the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar." In the Sept. and Vulg. he is made the son of Abimelech's uncle, Dodo (דּוֹדוֹ) being considered an appellative. But Gideon, Abimelech's father, was a Manassite. Tola judged Israel for twenty-three years (B.C. 1319-1296) at Shamir in Mount Ephraim, where he died and was buried. Josephus does not mention him (Ant. 5, 7,.6); but (as Whiston remarks) inasmuch as the total of the years there agree, his name seems to have fallen out of our copies. SEE JUDGE.
