So they all cut down the boughs, and he came to the tower and he laid these boughs around, and set fire to them ( Judges 9:40-49 ); And actually cremated the people who had sought refuge there in the tower. On the other hand, is there not real beauty in the obscurity in which Scripture treats a matter so painful? The great point of the preface is that "in those days there was no king in Israel" the opening words of Judges 18:1-31. Jephthah knew little if anything of this; so the result was, that the Ephraimites, in their pride, meddled with this rude warrior, who dealt with them, we may be very sure, not more mildly than with his own daughter. Strife between Abimelech and the Shechemites, ver. Though Abimelech sought a place of leadership in Israel, God did not raise him up as a judge. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. I need not dwell on the deplorable details. "Whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be Jehovah's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering." or that one reign over you--a false insinuation, artfully contrived to stir up jealousy and alarm. And Jotham ran away, and he fled, to Beer, and dwelt there, for the fear of Abimelech his brother. rejoice in Abimelech: But if not, then let fire come forth from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and the fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech ( Judges 9:19-20 ). And be assured that if the people of God fail in their responsibility to God, they are not to be trusted elsewhere. WebJudges 9:15 Commentaries: "The bramble said to the trees, 'If in truth you are anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, may fire come out from I. If through the unction from the Holy One we know all, it is equally true that we all are but learners. i. Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? 6 The Lords spirit empowered him and he tore the lion in two with his bare hands as easily as one would tear a young goat. This makes their behaviour the more remarkable here. Web35 And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entering of the gate of the city: and Abimelech rose up, and the people that were with him, from lying in wait. Could they therefore suppose that such a low-born, uneducated, cruel, and murderous man, could be a proper protector, or a humane governor? The lands might be good pasture, the temptation great, the provocation given by Moab or Ammon very considerable. 2 Samuel 17:18-21). You shall rise early and rush upon the city: Zebul advised Abimelech to organize a surprise attack against the rebels of Shechem. One test of the character of a man is to see how he treats those who disagree with him. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website. Since I understand Jotham to be a prophet, he is presumably relaying a message from God. (2.) Judges 9:8 Thanks. Jehovah listens, and His angel appears to the woman, who summons her husband, when both see the angel as he repeats his message with its solemn injunction. Judges 9 Resources Never indeed is good the fruit of man's will, but of God's. c. Where indeed is your mouth now: When Zebul knew that Gaal was at a disadvantage, he could not resist rebuking him for his proud, arrogant words against Abimelech, an enemy he could not defeat. Let none expect to do ill and fare well. And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains! But Zebul said to him, You see the shadows of the mountains as if they were men. So Gaal spoke again and said, See, people are coming down from the center of the land, and another company is coming from the Diviners Terebinth Tree. Then Zebul said to him, Where indeed is your mouth now, with which you said, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? Are not these the people whom you despised? This is an important principle. WebJudges 9:8-15 New International Version 8 One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. And this is the great point for us that we can and ought to count on. The bramble is a worthless plant, not to be numbered among the trees, useless and fruitless, nay, hurtful and vexatious, scratching and tearing, and doing mischief; it began with the curse, and its end is to be burned. A certain woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelechs head and crushed his skull: At Thebez, a woman dropped a millstone on Abimelechs head and mortally wounded him. In it, 1. And a certain woman took a piece of a millstone ( Judges 9:50-53 ), Now millstones are sort of lava kinds of rock and there are millstones-I've seen them four feet high. Judges 9:1-6 . if a man attempts: to put himself under it for shelter, he will find it will be of no use to him, but harmful, since, the nearer and closer he comes to it, the more he will be scratched and torn by it: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon; signifying, that if they did not heartily submit to his government, and put confidence in him, and prove faithful to him, they should smart for it, and feel his wrath and vengeance, even the greatest men among them, comparable to the cedars of Lebanon; for thorns and brambles catching fire, as they easily do, or fire being put to them, as weak as they are, and placed under the tallest and strongest cedars, will soon fetch them down to the ground; and the words of the bramble, or Abimelech, proved true to the Shechemites, he is made to speak in this parable. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. What a man sows he must reap: if he sows to the flesh, of the flesh he reaps corruption. a. Abimelech took an ax in his hand and cut down a boughWhat you have seen me do, make haste and do as I have done: Though Abimelech was an ungodly and violent man, he did understand some basic principles of leadership. I am not speaking of what men of the world may be, for they may be conscientious and honourable in their own way; but it is different with God's people. His history is of interest primarily because of the light it throws on this period of Israels national life and the continuing decline in Israel. "Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot;" yet here, though fallen lower than ever, we find power put forth under these deplorable circumstances. Please see our Privacy Policy for cookie usage details. Men then, as now, feel not for a lie or a libel of God; they are sensitive when their own rights are touched. If, therefore, they took him for their king, they might rest assured that desolation and blood would mark the whole of his reign. ''Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?" I have been reading/studying the Bible all my life; I am now 74 years old and in a wheelchair. But there follows a second tale of excessive atrocity in a moral way, which begins in Judges 19:1-30. in terms expressly similar to the beginning ofJudges 18:1-31; Judges 18:1-31: "And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehem-judah." WebJudges 9:8-15 : Trees Choosing a King Study King James Version | 8 The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over And he said to God the people were under my rule, because I can really do a good job here, you know. When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was aroused: Zebul, the city manager on behalf of Abimelech, told Abimelech all about Gaal and this rebellion. So it was. (Judges 11:1-40). And Samson called unto Jehovah, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes." They had not done to him according to the deserving of his hands,Judges 9:16; Judges 9:16. The extent of Abimelechs kingdom was very limited; only Shechem, Beth-millo, Arumah (Judges 9:41) and Thebez (Judges 9:50) are mentioned as under his jurisdiction and it is unlikely that it extended beyond a portion of western Manasseh. (Cundall), iii. This again leads to a bitter vengeance of the Philistines on those of Timnath who had served him so ill the very fate befalling them at last, to escape which at first the woman had lent herself to the basest treachery. In all ordinary cases a Nazarite was one who had taken a peculiar vow of separation to God, but lasting only for a short time. b. We have had the power of God acting in deliverance, but man alone is incapable even of a safe vow to Jehovah; and who could fail to foresee the bitter fruit of rashness here? Dear Searching (i.e. Thus Beth-millo may be identical with the tower of Shechem. (Cundall). Not only were they in slavery, but content to be slaves, yea, traitors. The truest deliverance from self is in that work where all was judged, and evil put away for ever. He hereby applauds the generous modesty of Gideon, and the other judges who were before him, and perhaps of the sons of Gideon, who had declined accepting the state and power of kings when they might have had them, and likewise shows that it is in general the temper of all wise and good men to decline preferment and to choose rather to be useful than to be great. (30-33) The role of Zebul, the ruler of the city. The Shechemites who supported him were also destroyed, as Jotham had predicted (50-57). You've been saying who's Abimelech? Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before Jehovah, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Jehovah. And then said Zebul unto him, Okay where's your mouth now, and you said, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? You will never understand the Bible otherwise. "Art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? And the fig tree said unto them, "Should I forsake my sweetness, my good fruit? Gideon had about seventy sons. This was for two reasons: God had not established a hereditary monarchy in Israel, and there were sixty-nine other sons of Gideon (Judges 8:30) who might also want to succeed their father. A very reprehensible action on the part of Jerubbaal, unconscionable. [3.] He knew right well that the presence of the Amorites upon their skirts would be a continual snare and evil. The king of Ammon had no just claim whatever. Now when all the men of the tower of Shechem had heard that, they entered the stronghold of the temple of the god Berith. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. And he took the people, and divided them into three companies, and he laid in wait in the field, and he looked, and, behold, the people were come forth out of the city; he rose up against them, and smote them. You'd never come up for sure.Well now there was this woman in the tower and she had a piece of a millstone. He gives a parable how that the trees of the forest came to the olive tree and they said, "Rule over us. Judges 9 Should I cease giving my oil, Judges 9:9 But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and god to be promoted over the trees? And Abimelech took an ax in his hand and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it 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. So each of the people likewise cut down his own bough and followed Abimelech, put them against the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire above them, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem died, about a thousand men and women. We have here one of the strangest and most humbling of histories recorded in Scripture, and withal singularly marking that very truth that we have so often ere this referred to: how little moral strength keeps pace with physical power as it wrought in and by Samson.