Judges 9:23-57
am 2771, bc 1233 God That is, God permitted the evil spirit of jealousy, treachery, and discord, to break out between Abimelech and the Shechemites. Judg 9:15, Judg 9:20; 1Sam 16:14-16, 1Sam 18:9-10; 1Kgs 12:15, 1Kgs 22:22-23; 2Chr 10:15; 2Chr 18:19-22; Isa 19:2, Isa 19:14; 2Thess 2:11-12 An Ex, Is, 258 dealt Judg 9:16; Isa 33:1; Matt 7:2 That the 1Sam 15:33; 1Kgs 2:32; Esth 9:25; Ps 7:16; Matt 23:34-36 aided him in the killing of Heb. strengthened his hands to kill, Sooner or later, God will make inquisition for blood, and will return it on the heads of those that shed it. Accessories will be reckoned with, as well as principals, in that and other sins. The Shechemites, who countenanced Abimelech's pretensions, aided and abetted him in his bloody project, and avowed the fact by making him king after he had done it, must fall with him, fall by him, and fall first. Those that combine together to do wickedly, are justly dashed in pieces one against another. Blood cannot be a lasting cement to any interest. Josh 8:4, Josh 8:12-13; Prov 1:11-12 brethren Gen 13:8, Gen 19:7 merry or, songs, Isa 16:9-10, Isa 24:7-9; Jer 25:30; Amos 6:3-6 the house Judg 9:4, Judg 16:23; Exod 32:6, Exod 32:19; Dan 5:1-4, Dan 5:23 did eat Isa 22:12-14; Luke 12:19-20, Luke 17:26-29 cursed Lev 24:11; 1Sam 17:43; Ps 109:17 Who is Abimelech 1Sam 25:10; 2Sam 20:1; 1Kgs 12:16 Hamor Gen 34:2, Gen 34:6 would to God The very words and conduct of a sly, hypocritical demagogue. 2Sam 15:4; 1Kgs 20:11; Ps 10:3; Rom 1:30-31 And he said Rather, "and I would say to Abimelech," as the LXX renders; for as Dr. Wall observes, this was probably not said in the presence of Abimelech; but at an intemperate feast, in his absence, when he boasted he would challenge him. Increase thine army 2Sam 2:14-17; 2Kgs 14:8, 2Kgs 18:23; Isa 36:8-9 kindled or, hot, Judg 9:30 privily Heb. craftily, or, to Tormah they fortify Under pretence of repairing the walls and towers, they were actually putting the place in a state of defence, intending to seize on the government as soon as they found Abimelech coming against them. Judg 9:31 by night Job 24:14-17; Ps 36:4; Prov 1:11-16, Prov 4:16; Rom 3:15 as thou shalt find Heb. as thine hand shall find, Lev 25:26 *marg. 1Sam 10:7, 1Sam 25:8; Eccl 9:10 Gaal Of this person we know no more than is here recorded. He was probably one of the descendants of the Canaanites, who hoped, from the state of the public mind and their disaffection to Abimelech, to cause a revolution, and thus to restore the ancient government as it was under Hamor, the father of Shechem. Josephus says he was a man of authority, who sojourned with them, with his armed men and kinsmen; and that the Shechemites desired that he would allow them a guard during the vintage. the people Judg 9:44 seest the shadow Doubdan states, that in some parts of the Holy Land there are many detached rocks scattered up and down, some growing out of the ground, and others fragments broken off from rocky precipices, the shadow of which, it appears, Josephus thought might be most naturally imagined to look like troops of men at a distance, rather than that of the mountains; for he represents Zebul as saying to Gaal, that he mistook the shadow of the rocks for men. Ezek 7:7; Mark 8:24 middle Heb. navel Meonenim or, the regarders of the times, Deut 18:14 Judg 9:28-29; 2Sam 2:26-27; 2Kgs 14:8-14; Jer 2:28 he fled before 1Kgs 20:18-21, 1Kgs 20:30 Arumah This place appears from the next verse to have been near Shechem; and is perhaps the same as Ruma, a village of Galilee, mentioned by Josephus, Bell. 1. iii. c. 7. Zebul Judg 9:28, Judg 9:30 rushed forward Judg 9:15, Judg 9:20; Gal 5:15 he took Judg 9:20 beat Deut 29:23; 1Kgs 12:25; 2Kgs 3:25; Ps 107:34 *marg. Ezek 47:11; Zeph 2:9; Jas 2:13 sowed Salt in small quantities renders land extremely fertile; but too much of it destroys vegetation. Every place, says Pliny, in which salt is found is barren, and produces nothing. Hence the sowing of a place with salt was a custom in different nations to express permanent desolation. Sigonius observes, that when Milan was taken, ad 1162, the walls were razed, and it was sown with salt. And Brantome informs us, that it was an ancient custom in France, to sow the house of a man with salt, who had been declared a traitor to his king. Charles IX., king of France, the most base and perfidious of human beings, caused the house of Admiral Coligni (whom he and the Duke of Guise caused to be murdered, with thousands more of Protestants, on the eve of St. Bartholomew, 1572), to be sown with salt! an hold Judg 9:4, Judg 9:27, Judg 8:33; 1Kgs 8:26; 2Kgs 1:2-4; Ps 115:8; Isa 28:15-18, Isa 37:38 Zalmon Ps 68:14 What ye Judg 7:17-18; Prov 1:11-12 me do Heb. I have done put them Judg 9:15, Judg 9:20; Gal 5:15; Jas 3:16 Thebez According to Eusebius, thirteen miles from Shechem, towards Scythopolis. Judg 9:50 Judg 9:48-49; 2Kgs 14:10, 2Kgs 15:16 woman Judg 9:15, Judg 9:20; 2Sam 11:21, 2Sam 20:21; Job 31:3; Jer 49:20, Jer 50:45 and all to An antiquated expression, meaning "full intention" to complete an object. "All to," observes Dr. Johnson, "is a particle of mere enforcement." The original is wattaritz eth gulgalto, which is simply as the LXX render και εκλασε το κρανιον αυτου, "and she brake his skull." Plutarch relates, that Pyrrhus was killed at the siege of Thebes, by a piece of a tile, which a woman threw upon his head. Draw thy 1Sam 31:4-5 And his young man It was a disgrace to be killed by a woman. 2Sam 18:16, 2Sam 20:21-22; 1Kgs 22:35-36; Prov 22:10 God rendered Both the fratricide Abimelech and the unprincipled men of Shechem had the iniquity visited upon them of which they had been guilty. Man's judgment may be avoided; but there is no escape from that of God. How many houses have been sown with salt in France, by the just judgment of God, for the massacre of the Protestants on the eve of St. Bartholomew! See note on Judg 9:45. Judg 9:24; Job 31:3; Ps 9:12, Ps 11:6, Ps 58:10-11, Ps 94:23; Prov 5:22; Matt 7:2; Acts 28:4; Gal 6:7; Rev 19:20-21 upon them Judg 9:20, Judg 9:45; Josh 6:26; 1Kgs 16:34
Copyright information for
TSK