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Judges 9

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1Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying,

2“Please speak in the ears of all the men of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are seventy persons, rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”

3His mother’s brothers spoke of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words. Their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, “He is our brother.”

4They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal Berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and light fellows, who followed him.

5He went to his father’s house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone: but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.

6All the men of Shechem assembled themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem.

7When they told it to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said to them, “Listen to me, you men of Shechem, that God may listen to you.

8The trees set out to anoint a king over themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’

9“But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I leave my fatness, with which they honor God and man by me, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?’

10“The trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and reign over us.’

11“But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?’

12“The trees said to the vine, ‘Come and reign over us.’

13“The vine said to them, ‘Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?’

14“Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘Come and reign over us.’

15“The bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’

16“Now therefore, if you have dealt truly and righteously, in that you have made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands

17(for my father fought for you, and risked his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian;

18and you have risen up against my father’s house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy persons, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother);

19if you then have dealt truly and righteously with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you;

20but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech.”

21Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and lived there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

22Abimelech was prince over Israel three years.

23Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech,

24that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.

25The men of Shechem set an ambush for him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who came along that way by them, and Abimelech was told about it.

26Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers, and went over to Shechem; and the men of Shechem put their trust in him.

27They went out into the field, harvested their vineyards, trod the grapes, held festival, and went into the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech.

28Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Isn’t he the son of Jerubbaal? Isn’t Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem, but why should we serve him?

29I wish that this people were under my hand! Then I would remove Abimelech.” He said to Abimelech, “Increase your army, and come out!”

30When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled.

31He sent messengers to Abimelech craftily, saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem; and behold, they incite the city against you.

32Now therefore, go up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field.

33It shall be that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, you shall rise early, and rush on the city. Behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against you, then may you do to them as you shall find occasion.”

34Abimelech rose up, and all the people who were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies.

35Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city. Abimelech rose up, and the people who were with him, from the ambush.

36When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Behold, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains.” Zebul said to him, “You see the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.”

37Gaal spoke again and said, “Behold, people are coming down by the middle of the land, and one company comes by the way of the oak of Meonenim.”

38Then Zebul said to him, “Now where is your mouth, that you said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Isn’t this the people that you have despised? Please go out now and fight with them.”

39Gaal went out before the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech.

40Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and many fell wounded, even to the entrance of the gate.

41Abimelech lived at Arumah; and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers, that they should not dwell in Shechem.

42On the next day, the people went out into the field; and they told Abimelech.

43He took the people, and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the field; and he looked, and behold, the people came out of the city. So, he rose up against them, and struck them.

44Abimelech and the companies that were with him rushed forward, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city; and the two companies rushed on all who were in the field, and struck them.

45Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and killed the people in it. He beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.

46When all the men of the tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered into the stronghold of the house of Elberith.

47Abimelech was told that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together.

48Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an ax in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done!”

49All the people likewise each cut down his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them at the base of the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire on them; so that all the people of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.

50Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it.

51But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women of the city fled there, and shut themselves in, and went up to the roof of the tower.

52Abimelech came to the tower, and fought against it, and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

53A certain woman cast an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, and broke his skull.

54Then he called hastily to the young man his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword, and kill me, that men not say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’ His young man thrust him through, and he died.”

55When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they each departed to his place.

56Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father, in killing his seventy brothers;

57and God repaid all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads; and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came on them.

Commentary

Chapter 9 The apostasy of Israel after the death of Gideon is punished, not as the former apostasies by a foreign invasion, or the oppressions of any neighbouring power, but by intestine broils among themselves, which in this chapter we have the story of; and it is hard to say whether their sin or their misery appears most in it. It is an account of the usurpation and tyranny of Abimelech, who was base son to Gideon; so we must call him, and not more modishly his natural son: he was so unlike him. We are here told, I. How he thrust himself into the government at Shechem, his own city, by subtlety and cruelty, particularly by the murder of all his brethren (v. 1-6). II. How his doom was read in a parable by Jothan, Gideon’s youngest son (v. 7–21). III. What strifes there were between Abimelech and his friends the Shechemites (v. 22–41). IV. How this ended in the ruin of the Shechemites (v. 42–49), and of Abimelech himself (v. 50–57). Of this meteor, this ignis fatuus of a prince, that was not a protector but a plague to his country, we may say, as once was said of a great tyrant, that he came in like a fox, ruled like a lion, and died like a dog. "For the transgression of a land, such are the princes thereof."Verses 1-6 We are here told by what arts Abimelech got into authority, and made himself great. His mother perhaps had instilled into his mind some towering ambitious thoughts, and the name his father gave him, carrying royalty in it, might help to blow up these sparks; and now that he has buried his father nothing will serve his proud spirit but he will succeed him in the government of Israel, directly contrary to his father’s will, for he had declared no son of his should rule over them. He had no call from God to this honour as his father had, nor was there any present occasion for a judge to deliver Israel as there was when his father was advanced; but his own ambition must be gratified, and its gratification is all he aims at. Now observe here,I. How craftily he got his mother’s relations into his interests. Shechem was a city in the tribe of Ephraim, of great note. Joshua had held his last assembly there. If that city would but appear for him, and set him up, he thought it would go far in his favour. There he had an interest in the family of which his mother was, and by them he made an interest in the leading men of the city. It does not appear that any of them had an eye to him as a man of merit, who had any thing to recommend him to such a choice, but the motion came first from himself. None would have dreamed of making such a one king, if he had not dreamed of it himself. And see here, 1. How he wheedled them into the choice, v. 2, 3. He basely suggested that Gideon having left seventy sons, who made a good figure and had a good interest, they were designing to keep the power which their father had in their hands, and by a joint-influence to reign over Israel. "Now," says he, "you had better have one king than more, than many, than so many. Affairs of state are best managed by a single person," v. 2. We have no reason to think that all or any of Gideon’s sons had the least intention to reign over Israel (they were of their father’s mind, that the Lord should reign over them, and they were not called of him), yet this he insinuates to pave the way to his own pretensions. Note, Those who design ill themselves are commonly most apt to suspect that others design ill. As for himself, he only puts them in mind of his relation to them (verbum sapienti—A word to the wise is sufficient): Remember that I am your bone and your flesh. The plot took wonderfully. The magistrates of Shechem were pleased to think of their city being a royal city and the metropolis of Israel, and therefore they inclined to follow him; for they said, "He is our brother, and his advancement will be our advantage." 2. How he got money from them to bear the charges of his pretensions (v. 4): They gave him seventy pieces of silver; it is not said what the value of these pieces was; so many shekels are less, and so many talents more, than we can well imagine; therefore it is supposed they were each a pound weight: but they gave this money out of the house of Baal-berith, that is, out of the public treasury, which, out of respect to their idol, they deposited in his temple to be protected by him; or out of the offerings that had been made to that idol, which they hoped would prosper the better in his hands for its having been consecrated to their god. How unfit was he to reign over Israel, because unlikely to defend them, who, instead of restraining and punishing idolatry, thus early made himself a pensioner to an idol! 3. What soldiers he enlisted. He hired into his service vain and light persons, the scum and scoundrels of the country, men of broken fortunes, giddy heads, and profligate lives; none but such would own him, and they were fittest to serve his purpose. Like leader like followers.II. How cruelly he got his father’s sons out of the way.1. The first thing he did with the rabble he headed was to kill all his brethren at once, publicly and in cold blood, threescore and ten men, one only escaping, all slain upon one stone. See in this bloody tragedy, (1.) The power of ambition what beasts it will turn men into, how it will break through all the ties of natural affection and natural conscience, and sacrifice that which is most sacred, dear, and valuable, to its designs. Strange that ever it should enter into the heart of a man to be so very barbarous! (2.) The peril of honour and high birth. Their being the sons of so great a man as Gideon exposed them thus and made Abimelech jealous of them. We find just the same number of Ahab’s sons slain together at Samaria, 2 Ki. 10:1, 7. The grand seigniors have seldom thought themselves safe while any of their brethren have been unstrangled. Let none then envy those of high extraction, or complain of their own meanness and obscurity. The lower the safer.2.

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Translations8 · 5

AMHEVG የይሩበኣል ልጅ አቤሜሌክም ወደ ሴኬም ወደ እናቱ ወንድሞች ሄደ፥ ለእነርሱም ለእናቱ አባት ቤተ ሰቦችም ሁሉ፦ አማርኛ ENGNIV Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to his mother's brothers in Shechem and said to them and to all his mother's clan, English BCV ኣቢሜሌክ ወዲ የሩበዓል ድማ ናብ ሴኬም ናብ ኣኮታቱ ኸይዱ፥ ንኣኣቶምን ንዅሎም እቶም ዓሌት ኣቦ እኖኡን ከምዙይ በሎም፦ ትግርኛ GAZBIB Abiimelek ilmi Giidewon isa “Yiruub-Ba'aal” jedhamee, eessumman isaa fi qomoo haadha isaatii warra Sheekem keessa jiraa… Afaan Oromoo BCV GIZ ወሖረ አቢሜሌክ ወልደ ሮበዓም ውስተ ስቂማ ኀበ አኀወ እሙ ወተናገሮሙ ለኵሉ አዝማደ ቤተ እሙ። giz GAZGAZ Abiimelek ilmi Giidewon isa “Yiruub-Ba'aal” jedhamee, eessumman isaa fi qomoo haadha isaatii warra Sheekem keessa jiraa… Afaan Oromoo BCV aksum ኣቢሜሌክ ወዲ የሩበዓል ድማ ናብ ሴኬም ናብ ኣኮታቱ ኸይዱ፥ ንኣኣቶምን ንዅሎም እቶም ዓሌት ኣቦ እኖኡን ከምዙይ በሎም፦ ትግርኛ AMHNIV የይሩባኣል ልጅ አቤሜሌክ ወደ እናቱ ወንድሞች ወደ ሴኬም ሄደ። እነርሱንና የእናቱን ጐሣዎች በሙሉ እንዲህ አላቸው፤ አማርኛ