Judges 9:2

the men of Shechem lit. possessors(plur. of ba-al) i.e. citizensof 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 Judges 8:23. But we need not think of 70 men literally -ruling"; Abimelech wanted to put the case in the worst light possible. If his mother had been a ṣadâḳawife (cf. Judges 8:31), the children would have belonged to her clan and not the father's; this would make the appeal to -bone and flesh" all the stronger, cf. Genesis 29:14 2 Samuel 5:1; 2 Samuel 19:12 f.