JUDGES 9. THE KINGSHIP AND FALL OF ABIMELECH. The story of Gideon's half-Canaanite son does not equal the finest parts of the book in dramatic interest, but the glimpse which it affords of the relations subsisting between the mixed races of Palestine in the time of the Judges is of great value to th... [ Continue Reading ]
JUDGES 9. THE KINGSHIP AND FALL OF ABIMELECH. The story of Gideon's half-Canaanite son does not equal the finest parts of the book in dramatic interest, but the glimpse which it affords of the relations subsisting between the mixed races of Palestine in the time of the Judges is of great value to th... [ Continue Reading ]
JOTHAM'S FABLE. Only in an apologue could Jotham, the sole survivor of Abimelech's massacre, express what was in his bitter, broken heart. The point of his fable is easily caught. His father and his brothers were the fruitful trees olive, fig-tree and vine who declined to rule over the other trees;... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SEDITION OF THE SHECHEMITES. The statement that Abimelech was prince over Israel is an exaggeration, and the chronological note is probably by R. Judges 9:23. The Shechemites soon tired of the government of their brother (Judges 9:3). God sent an evil spirit between the king and his subjects; _... [ Continue Reading ]
ABIMELECH DESTROYS SHECHEM. These verses seem to contain a second, independent account of the attack on Shechem, the sequel to Judges 9:22. Judges 9:43. Abimelech adopts the same tactics whereby his father routed the Midianites (Judges 7:16). Judges 9:44. Read, with the LXX, the company that was w... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DEATH OF ABIMELECH. He went on burning and destroying till from the tower of Thebez (p. 30) a woman threw a mill-stone which crashed through his skull. That he might not be said to have died by a woman's hand he begged his armour-bearer to give him the _coup de grace._ His death scene is strikin... [ Continue Reading ]