Judges 9:2

_SPEAK, I PRAY YOU, IN THE EARS OF ALL THE MEN OF SHECHEM, WHETHER IS BETTER FOR YOU, EITHER THAT ALL THE SONS OF JERUBBAAL, WHICH ARE THREESCORE AND TEN PERSONS, REIGN OVER YOU, OR THAT ONE REIGN OVER YOU? REMEMBER ALSO THAT I AM YOUR BONE AND YOUR FLESH._ Whether is better for you ... that all the sons of Jerubbaal ... or that one reign over you? - a false insinuation, artfully contrived to stir up jealousy and alarm. Gideon had rejected with abhorrence the proposal to make himself or any of his family king; and there is no evidence that any of his other sons coveted the title....

1-6 The men of Shechem chose Abimelech king. God was not consulted whether they should have any king, much less who it should be. If parents could see what their children would do, and what they are to suffer, their joy in them often would be turned into sorrow: we may be thankful that we cannot know what shall happen. Above all, we should fear and watch against sin; for our evil conduct may produce fatal effects upon our families, after we are in our graves....

Verse Judges 9:2. _WHETHER IS BETTER FOR YOU, EITHER THAT ALL THE SONS_] This was a powerful argument: Whether will you have seventy tyrants or only _one_! For, as he had no right to the government, and God alone was _king_ at that time in Israel; so he must support his usurped rule by whatever means were most likely to effect it: a usurped government is generally supported by oppression and the sword....

THE MEN OF SHECHEM - literally, “the masters.” Compare Joshua 24:11; 1 Samuel 23:11....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 9:1 THE SON OF JERUBBAAL. Throughout this chapter Gideon is spoken of by the name of Jerubbaal. There must be some cause for this. The simplest and most probable cause is that this whole history of Abimelech is taken from some other source than the preceding chapters. And a considerable difference in the style of the narrative, which is feebler and more obscure, seems to bear out this inference. WENT TO SHECHEM. This revolt from the house of Gideon in favour of Abimelech seems to partake of the nature of an Ephraimite rising against the supremacy of Manasseh. It was doubtless galling to the pride of the great tribe of Ephraim (Judges 8:1, Judges 8:2;...

SPEAK, I PRAY YOU, IN THE EARS OF ALL THE MEN OF SHECHEM,.... Which, though the Targum calls the inhabitants of the place, Ben Melech better interprets it the lords of Shechem, as the phrase will bear to be rendered; for it is more likely he would have this first whispered and suggested to the principal men of the city, before the common people were acquainted with it, and indeed in order to use their influence with them: WHETHER IS BETTER FOR YOU, EITHER THAT ALL THE SONS OF JERUBBAAL, [WHICH ARE] SEVENTY PERSONS, REIGN OVER YOU, OR THAT ONE REIGN OVER YOU? intimating thereby, that though Gideon his father had refused the regal government when offered him, it was but reasonable that his sons, or some one of them, should be tried, whether it would be acceptable to them; nay, he would insinuate, that the sons of Gideon, who were seventy in number, were either contending with one another...

CHAPTER 9 ABIMELECH THE KING AND HIS WICKEDNESS _ 1. The murder of Gideon's sons (Judges 9:1)_ 2. Jotham's parable (Judges 9:7) 3. Scenes of strife and destruction of Shechem (Judges 9:22) 4. Abimelech's end (Judges 9:50) The story of Abimelech is intensely interesting in its typical meaning. Abimelech was the offspring of an unlawful union: the son of Gideon and the concubine in Shechem. He was half Israelite and half Canaanite. Abimelech means “my father was king”; he claims therefore supremacy, lordship over the people Israel on the basis of succession. His father had refused that honor; the bastard offspring

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 the historian. The whole narrative is ancient, though not quite uniform. Here D makes no contribution. Apparently he did not regard Abimelech as worthy to rank among the Judges, and therefore he omitted this section, which was restored to its place by R. JUDGES 9:1. ABIMELECH MADE KING OF SHECHEM.Abimelech probably means the (Divine) King is Father, which throws some light on Gideon's conception of his God. He and other Israelites were already feeling after that great truth of the Divine Fatherhood, which is the heart of Christianity. Shechem ...

MEN. masters, lords, or owners. Hebrew. _baalim._...

_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 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 _ṣadâḳa_wife (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....