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On Monday 17th February 2025, God woke me up at 2:22am in the morning…

So I went downstairs to check my bible and wrote what I discovered in my journal. Passages of scripture sprang to mind like 2 Timothy 2:2 and Acts 2:22. There were things that I had previously learnt concerning those passages. God then led me to another passage that I knew less about; 1 Chronicles 2:22. This is what is says;

‘Segub was the father of Jair, who ruled twenty-three towns in the land of Gilead’

This intrigued me! Who was this Jair who ruled 23 towns in the land of Gilead?

Who is Jair?

Jair is mentioned in a number of Old Testament passages. Here are a few;

‘The people of Jair, another clan of the tribe of Manasseh, captured many of the towns in Gilead and changed the name of that region to the Towns of Jair’ -Numbers 32:41

We have a vision to plant churches throughout The 12 Regions of Britain. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to change the name of entire regions like Jair did! To have such an impact on a region, that by capturing 23 towns, you can change the very name and nature of that region!

‘Then I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan – Og’s former kingdom – to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (The entire Argob region of Bashan used to be known as the land of the Rephaites. Jair, a leader from the tribe of Manasseh, conquered the whole Argob region in Bashan, all the way to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites. Jair re-named this region after himself, calling it the Towns of Jair, as it is still known today.)’ -Deuteronomy 3:13-14

Jair captured a region that once belonged to giants [The Rephaites]!

‘Moses had assigned the following area to the clans of the half-tribe of Manasseah. Their territory extended from Mahanaim, including all of Bashan, all the former kingdom of King Og, and the sixty towns of Jair in Bashan. It also included the half of Gilead and King Og’s royal cities of Ashtaroth and Edrei. All this was given to the clans of the descendants of Makir, who was Manasseh’s son’ -Joshua 13:29-31

Notice that in Joshua 13:30, there is mention of the sixty towns of Jair in Bashan as opposed to the 23 towns in 1 Chronicles 2:22. Had they lost or forfeited some of their territory at a later date?

I think about these sixty towns of Jair whilst also thinking about the region I live in; The East Midlands region of Britain. In this region there are approximately sixty-four main towns with populations ranging between 10,000 to 300,000 people! What’s it gonna take to conquer this region like Jair did his region?

By the time we get to the Book of Judges, ‘After Tola died, Jair from Gilead judged Israel for twenty-two years. His thirty sons rode around on thirty donkeys, and they owned thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which are still called the Towns of Jair (Havvoth-jair). When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon’ -Judges 10:3-5

So over time the territory of Jair dwindles down from 60 towns to 30 towns to 23 towns.

Where are we at in Britain – are we gaining ground in our regions or are we retreating and losing towns and cities back into enemy control?

Arise, Shine!

Jair’s name means: ‘He Shines’ (it can also mean; ‘He Illuminates’, ‘He’s Enlightened‘, ‘To be or to give light’)

So he named the region of towns – The Towns of Jair or The Towns of Light – The Towns that Shine!

How do we capture and conquer the towns in our region turning them into Cities of Light?

Isaiah exhorts us to; ‘Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip. Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come’ -Isaiah 60:1-5

Does darkness cover your town and thick darkness the peoples?

If so – it’s time for you to arise and shine for your light has come!

We are called to take the light into the darkness!

It takes those who shine their light to conquer the darkness and capture regions!

Lighting Up The Body

In the NLT version of the Bible, Isaiah 60:5 says; ‘Your eyes will shine…’

‘Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep is that darkness!’ -Matthew 6:22-23

‘Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame’ -Psalm 34:5

So fix your eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of faith. We ask Him; ‘Open my eyes, that I may see wonderful things in your law’ -Psalm 119:18

This is why the apostle Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus; ‘I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called – his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance’ -Ephesians 1:18

‘So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal’ -2 Corinthians 4:18

‘Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!” The LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.’ -2 Kings 6:17

Open our eyes to see victory as we conquer and capture the towns of our region through church planting!

‘We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world’ -John 9:4-5

The Descendants of Jair – those who shine their light

What’s even more interesting is that Mordecai is described in Esther 2:15 as a son of Jair!

In 2 Samuel 20:26 Ira, a descendant of Jair, was King David’s personal priest

and in 2 Samuel 2:19 Elkhanah, son of Jair, killed the brother of Goliath, the giant of Gath

By the time King Solomon enters the scene, ‘(the settlements of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead were his, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan and its sixty large walled cities with bronze gate bars)’ -1 Kings 4:13.

So it seems, they regained their 60 Cities of Light in that region!

Then we come across Jairus in the New Testament in Mark 5:22/Luke 8:41. Jairus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Jair. In Mark, Jairus us described as a ruler of the synagogue, while in Judges, Jair is a judge of Israel.

Are we sons of light who shine?

1 Thessalonians 5:5 states; ‘For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night.’

Jesus said, ‘You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden‘ -Matthew 5:14

So arise, shine and take back the land for Christ!

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