9 _Abimelech's kingdom and fall_ This chapter seems to be derived from a single source, with the exception, perhaps, of Judges 9:26, the account of Gaal's revolt, which Moore proposes to assign to J. There are no traces of the Deuteronomic editor here, for the reason suggested above. Historically t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shechem_ now Nâblus (the Roman Flavia Neapolis), 30 miles N. of Jerusalem, 5 miles S.E. of Samaria, situated in a narrow, fertile valley, at the entrance to which rise the two mountains, Ebal on the N. and Gerizim (Judges 9:7) on the S. The town lies on the watershed (1870 ft.) between the Mediterr... [ Continue Reading ]
_the men of Shechem_ lit. _possessors_(plur. of _ba-al_) i.e. _citizens_of S.; so throughout this chap., cf. Judges 20:5; 1 Samuel 23:11 f. etc. _all the sons of Jerubbaal_ Evidently Gideon had exercised some kind of authority in Ophrah and its neighbourhood which his sons claimed to inherit; see on... [ Continue Reading ]
_the house of Baal-berith_ In Judges 9:46 El-bĕrîth = _God of the covenant_; see Judges 8:33 _n._Temples in antiquity had their own treasuries into which offerings and fines were paid; they also served the purpose of banks for public and private money, cf. Malachi 3:10; Malachi 3:10-12. _vain and l... [ Continue Reading ]
_upon one stone_ as if they were sacrificial victims (cf. 1 Samuel 14:33 f.); perhaps also to avoid promiscuous blood-shed. For this Oriental manner of inaugurating a new reign cf. 2 Kings 10:1 ff; 2 Kings 11:1. Jotham escaped, like Joash 2 Kings 11:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and all the house of Millo_ Follow marg. _and all_ BETH-MILLO, the name of a place not of a family Judges 9:20, cf. 2 Kings 12:20, in the neighbourhood of Shechem, but not the tower of S. mentioned in Judges 9:46. The name suggests that the place was called after the temple which stood there, _bêth... [ Continue Reading ]
_the top of mount Gerizim_ is 979 ft. above the town: the language is not to be pressed.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jotham's fable_ The author of the fable had several points in his mind: (_a_) the contrast between Gideon's refusal of the kingship and the arrogant claim of the son of his concubine; the other sons (or many respectable members of the community) had qualities which entitled them to rule; it was le... [ Continue Reading ]
_The trees went forth_ Cf. 2 Kings 14:9. Fables of trees that speak and act like human beings spring from the instinct for personification, which is a characteristic of an early stage of civilization; they were current not only among the Hebrews, but among the Babylonians and Assyrians. Part of a fa... [ Continue Reading ]
_my fatness_ i.e. the oil from the crushed berry, almost a necessity of life in Palestine, where it takes the place of butter. _wherewith by me they honour_ For _by me_read _by it_(LXX. cod. B, Vulgate, Targ.) i.e. WHEREBY THEY HONOUR GODS AND MEN, parallel to _cheereth gods and men_in Judges 9:13;... [ Continue Reading ]
_fig_ One of the commonest trees in Palestine, and cultivated from very early days; cf. on Judges 9:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
_my sweetness_ The early ripe fig, especially, was and is esteemed for its flavour; see Isaiah 28:4; Jeremiah 24:2; Hosea 9:10; Micah 7:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the vine_ The old phrase -to sit each under his vine and fig-tree," denoting peaceful occupation of the land, shews how widely spread and ancient was the cultivation of the vine in Palestine; 1 Kings 4:25; Micah 4:4 etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
_my wine_ MUST (Micah 6:15, Vulgate _mustum_), the unfermented juice as it comes from the wine-press 1 [41]; but also the fermented juice, as is implied here and in Hosea 4:11 (-taketh away the heart"); cf. Genesis 27:37; Zechariah 9:17. [41] In 19 passages out of 38 _tîrôsh_-must" is associated wi... [ Continue Reading ]
_the bramble_ LXX, Vulgate rhamnus, the common, worthless thornbush, the very opposite of the noble trees just mentioned.... [ Continue Reading ]
_put your trust in my shadow_ TAKE REFUGE IN …: an absurdity which sharpens the point of the moral. _let fire come out_ A fire will sometimes spread from a thornbush to the monarchs of the forest (cf. Isaiah 9:18); the base bramble thus becomes the starting-point of all the ruin. So the fable poin... [ Continue Reading ]
_his maidservant_ This goes beyond Judges 9:1 and Judges 8:31, which imply that Abimelech's mother was not a slave but a freewoman.... [ Continue Reading ]
_rejoice ye_etc.] Ironical: -much joy may you have in each other," cf. Judges 9:15 a.... [ Continue Reading ]
_but if not_etc.] -Your chief will be fatal to you and you to him," cf. Judges 9:15 b. This was Jotham's -curse"; the fulfilment comes in Judges 9:44 ff., Judges 9:56 f.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Beer_ Unknown; a common name = _a well_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Shechemites turn against Abimelech_ 22 _.was prince over Israel_ Strictly, as the whole ch. implies, only over Shechem and its neighbourhood (Ophrah, Thebez). The words are an editorial generalization. The title of _king_is purposely avoided.... [ Continue Reading ]
_God sent an evil spirit_ i.e. an infatuation which led to their destruction, and so carried out the punishment which God determined. Where we speak of secondary causes, the ancients thought of the direct intervention of God; cf. 1 Samuel 16:14; 1 Kings 22:21 ff., Amos 3:6. _Elohim_is thought to ind... [ Continue Reading ]
_liers in wait for him_ They hoped to catch A., who apparently was non-resident, and failing him, they plundered his friends. From the heights round Shechem the roads are easily watched. Probably in their original context Judges 9:22 were followed by Judges 9:42; on being told of the treason, A. at... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gaal stirs up the Shechemites: Abimelech defeats them_ 26 _.Gaal the son of Ebed_ i.e. _of a slave_; but pronounce throughout _Obed_, with LXX. cod. B (Ιωβηλ for Ιωβηδ) and Vulgate; a common name. Gaal is described as a new-comer, whether an Israelite or a Canaanite is not clear. Judges 9:26 seem... [ Continue Reading ]
_held festival_ HELD A MERRY-MAKING. The marg. _offered a praise offering_is based upon the special sense of the word in Leviticus 19:24; here, more generally, a vintage feast like the one described in Judges 21:19 ff. Cf. the orgiastic feasts held by the Carthaginians, no doubt in the temples; _Nor... [ Continue Reading ]
_who is Shechem?_ i.e. what is Abimelech's kingdom, that we should be bound to obey him? does it belong to him of right? _is not … serve ye_ As it stands the text does not make sense; read the imperat. _serve ye_as a perf., _they served_, and translate DID NOT THE SON OF J. AND Z. HIS OFFICER SERVE... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he said_ Read with a slight change AND I WOULD SAY, so LXX; cf. Judges 9:38.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Zebul the ruler of the city_ He ruled as the representative of Abimelech; cf. for the title (_sar_) 1 Kings 22:26; 2 Kings 23:8. He had no force at his disposal; all he could do was to warn his master of Gaal's treason and advise an immediate attack.... [ Continue Reading ]
_craftily_ The form of the Hebr. word is suspicious and the meaning unsuitable; read IN ARUMAH, mentioned as Abimelech's dwelling-place in Judges 9:41. _they constrain the city_ An attempt to translate the unusual construction of the Hebr. verb, which means _besiege_(so Verss.). But the text is at... [ Continue Reading ]
_set upon make a dash upon, rush forward against_, from a place of hiding, cf. Judges 9:44; Judges 20:37. _as thou shalt find occasion_ For the idiom (see marg.) cf. 1 Samuel 10:7; 1 Samuel 25:8; Ecclesiastes 9:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the middle of the land_ THE NAVEL OF THE LAND; this is the traditional meaning of the word, Talm., LXX ὀμφαλός, Vulgate umbilicus. The word only occurs again in Ezekiel 38:12 of the mountains of Israel, apparently as central and prominent in the earth. Some hill near Shechem was called the Navel, p... [ Continue Reading ]
_thy mouth_ i.e. thy boastful mockery; cf. Isaiah 57:4; Psalms 35:21; Job 16:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_wounded_ i.e. mortally, so SLAIN, 1 Samuel 31:1; 1 Chronicles 5:22; 2 Chronicles 13:17; cf. Judges 16:24. _the entering of the gate_ Cf. Judges 9:44. The city gateway (_sha-ar_) was a large building and covered a considerable space, cf. Joshua 20:4; 1 Kings 22:10; it included a high entrance (_péth... [ Continue Reading ]
_Arumah_ Unknown; el--Örme (the initial letter is different), 2 m. S.E. of Nâblus, has been suggested. This verse evidently brings the narrative to an end.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the people went out_ Perhaps to lie in wait for passers by, if we connect this verse with Judges 9:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Abimelech destroys Shechem and Migdal-Shechem_ After the Shechemites have suffered the severe defeat just described, and Abimelech has retired and dwelt at Arumah, it is incredible that, on the next morning, the people should come out of the city as if nothing had happened, and that Abimelech shou... [ Continue Reading ]
_three companies_ Cf. Judges 7:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the companies that were_ Read THE COMPANY THAT WAS, with Vulgate and some mss. of LXX; _rushed forward_, as the same word in Judges 9:33 is to be rendered.... [ Continue Reading ]
_sowed it with salt_ Usually explained as a symbolic act shewing that A. had reduced the city to a salt, uninhabitable desert; cf. Deuteronomy 29:23; Jeremiah 17:6; Psalms 107:34; Job 39:6. More probably the strewing of salt had a religious significance (cf. Ezekiel 43:24) and denoted the sacrificia... [ Continue Reading ]
_the tower of Shechem_ MIGDAL-SHECHEM or TOWER OF SHECHEM, not the citadel of S., but an unwalled village in the neighbourhood, marked by a tower, cf. Judges 8:9; Judges 8:17. _the hold of the house of El-berith_) The rendering _hold Judges 9:49_, i.e. an underground excavation, suits the only other... [ Continue Reading ]
_mount Zalmon_ An unknown hill hard by; in Psalms 68:14 it is the name of a hill on the E. of the Jordan. _an axe_ The Hebr. has _the axes_; the plur. cannot be explained (note _in his hand_), and must be corrected to the sing., LXX. cod. A, Vulgate; read HIS AXE.... [ Continue Reading ]
_upon them_ See Judges 9:46 _n._... [ Continue Reading ]
_.The end of Abimelech_ 50 _.Thebez_ 2 Samuel 11:21, probably the modern Ṭûbâs, about 10 m. N.E. of Nâblus on the road to Bçsân; so Eusebius, _On. Sacr._, 262, 44. Perhaps Thebez had been subject to Abimelech and had joined the revolt of Shechem.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and all they of the city_ (even) ALL THE CITIZENS OF THE CITY, the same word as that translated _men_in Judges 9:2 (see note), Judges 9:23; Judges 9:26 etc.; _and_should be omitted, unless _citizens_means -the chief men," which is not the case elsewhere in this chapter.... [ Continue Reading ]
_upper millstone_ lit. -millstone of riding"; i.e. the upper stone of a mill turned by a handle, the lower stone being stationary. In Palestine the grinding of corn for the household was, and still is, done by the women (Ecclesiastes 12:3, St Matthew 24:41); this explains how a woman came to use suc... [ Continue Reading ]
_armourbearer_ Cf. Jdg 7:10 f., 1 Samuel 31:4. _and kill me and dispatch me_, i.e. give the death stroke; cf. 1 Samuel 14:13; 1 Samuel 17:51, especially 2 Samuel 1:9 f. The first aspirant to kingship and the first real king in Israel met their deaths in the same way.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the men of Israel_ Though A. was only half an Israelite, his force was made up of Israelites; he put himself at the head of the Israelite enterprise against the Canaanites such were the natives of Thebez; and with his death united action of this kind seems to have ceased.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the curse of Jotham_ See Judges 9:20. The writer has a strong sense that God controls history, and that His control is just, Judges 9:56.... [ Continue Reading ]