Way of the Sound
3 And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years.
4 And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havothjair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead.
Judges 10:3-4
The standard of the camp of Dan shall be on the north side by their armies: and the captain of the children of Dan shall be Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.
26 And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were threescore and two thousand and seven hundred.
27 And those that encamp by him shall be the tribe of Asher: and the captain of the children of Asher shall be Pagiel the son of Ocran
Numbers 2:25-27
And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.
25 Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.
Deuteronomy 33:24-25
And the coast descended unto the river Kanah, southward of the river: these cities of Ephraim are among the cities of Manasseh: the coast of Manasseh also was on the north side of the river, and the outgoings of it were at the sea:
10 Southward it was Ephraim's, and northward it was Manasseh's, and the sea is his border; and they met together in Asher on the north, and in Issachar on the east
Joshua 17:9-10
Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
17 Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.
Judges 5:16-17
But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him.
35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh; who also was gathered after him: and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
Judges 6:34-35
For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.
10 So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.
11 Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 30:9-11
Didn't I tell you it would only get funnier from here? I'm sure no one found any of this funny at all. Let's see if looking at it a bit different will help. Remember the judge we saw before who was from one place and saw a lot of beautiful things. Then when he was gone, he was caught up again unto the same thing. What an example of a life well-lived for the Lord. Then after him came this one judge from what appears to be much the same place as at first. He hailed from Gilead, right in the middle of it all. The name Gilead invokes a place of rest doesn't it. The issue is though that even the place of rest was too small to hold him and we'll see why in a moment. Along with him went his thirty some sons each riding a donkey apiece. Now I don't know about you, but when have you ever seen a quiet child. Donkeys with all their braying aren't the quietest animals either. Do you know why he dwelt in Gilead all of his days? By all rights, he probably shouldn't have. This man was much too loud. In fact, no one else dared do a thing while he was alive, probably because they were all nursing their headaches caused by the noise.
You know, the Lord can help you have rest even in the midst of the noise. He can also help keep your place. It seems that Asher's worst enemy is mainly themselves and all others that have been offended by sounds out of tune. You know, when a group of people all get together to sing, they have to be in tune with the rest. If they aren't, it's not much of a choir, now, is it? That's why the Lord had to put Asher right next to Dan. Dan had a bit of a tuning problem, even as one of the original twelve tribes. Well, it wasn't a tuning problem. It was more of a following issue, but still. Isn't that funny, putting the tuning issue and the following issue right next to each other. At times, Dan almost got swallowed up and carried off by the peoples around. It's pretty hard to carry someone off though with the noisiest neighbors in the world. Moses himself had to agree at the end of his life. He himself said Asher needed some foot oil to help with all the sounds coming from the heel and toe of those iron and brass shoes. Just think of the sound. It's like your tap-dancing neighbors upstairs clogging at three in the morning, only worse.
That's why when the Lord finally brought Gideon onto the scene to deliver the people from the Midianites, he had to call for them twice. Once he called with the trumpet to get this Abiezer fellow. Then he had to send for everyone else by word of mouth and likely on foot. Only then would the rest of them follow, Asher included. Then again, it wouldn't be the only time the word-of-mouth test failed. It was something that not everyone would get. Asher though, always did. There was that other time when one of the kings sent out messengers to turn the people back to the Lord. Everyone else laughed them to scorn, but for Asher and some few others which had some fear of the Lord left in their heart. Only the Lord can keep you from hearing the wrong thing, misunderstanding it all, and finally chasing yourself.