Judges 9:20

_AND THE BRAMBLE SAID UNTO THE TREES, IF IN TRUTH YE ANOINT ME KING OVER YOU, THEN COME AND PUT YOUR TRUST IN MY SHADOW: AND IF NOT, LET FIRE COME OUT OF THE BRAMBLE, AND DEVOUR THE CEDARS OF LEBANON._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

7-21 There was no occasion for the trees to choose a king, they are all the trees of the Lord which he has planted. Nor was there any occasion for Israel to set a king over them, for the Lord was their King. Those who bear fruit for the public good, are justly respected and honoured by all that are wise, more than those who merely make a figure. All these fruit-trees gave much the same reason for their refusal to be promoted over the trees; or, as the margin reads it, to go up and down for the trees. To rule, involves a man in a great deal both of toil and care. Those who are preferred to public trust and power, must forego all private interests and advantages, for the good of others. And those advanced to honour and dignity, are in great danger of losing their fruitfulness. For which reason, they that desire to do good, are afraid of being too great. Jotham compares Abimelech to the bra...

Verse Judges 9:20. _LET FIRE COME OUT FROM ABIMELECH_] As the thorn or bramble may be the means of kindling other wood, because it may be easily ignited; so shall Abimelech be the cause of kindling a _fire_ of civil discord among you, that shall consume the rulers and great men of your country. A prophetic declaration of what would take place....

This fable and that noted in the marginal reference are the only two of the kind found in Scripture. Somewhat different are the parables of the Old Testament, 2 Samuel 12:1; 2 Samuel 14:5; 1 Kings 20:39. Judges 9:9 HONOUR GOD AND MAN - Alluding to the constant use of oil in the meat-offerings Leviticus 2:1, and in the holy ointment Exodus 30:24. In like manner, the allusion in...

EXPOSITION JUDGES 9:7 ON THE TOP OF MOUNT GERIZIM. Mount Gerizim rises on the south-west side of Samaria or Shechem as a sheer rock about 800 feet in height, facing Mount Ebal, which is separated from it by the narrow valley, "some 500 yards wide," in which Samaria, now Nablus, is built. It was from Mount Gerizim that Joshua, in accordance with the directions given by Moses in Deuteronomy 11:29, caused the blessings of the law to be proclaimed, after the capture of At, while the curses were proclaimed from Mount Ebal (Joshua 8:33, Joshua 8:35). Some explain the name to mean "the mount of t

BUT IF NOT,.... If it appeared that they had not acted uprightly and sincerely in this matter: LET FIRE COME OUT OF ABIMELECH, AND DEVOUR THE MEN OF SHECHEM, AND THE HOUSE OF MILLO; let wrath, rage, and fury, break out from Abimelech like fire, and issue in the destruction of those that made him king, both those of Shechem and of Millo: AND LET FIRE COME OUT FROM THE MEN OF SHECHEM, AND FROM THE HOUSE OF MILLO, AND DEVOUR ABIMELECH; let them be incensed against Abimelech, and seek his ruin, and procure it: the sense is, that he wishes that strife, contention, and quarrels, might arise among them, and they mutually destroy each other; the words are imprecative of evil upon them both, and which had its exact fulfilment....

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

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; his half-brother is the bramble who has accepted the kingship, but who will presently set on fire the cedars of Lebanon. If the Shechemites have acted in good faith to Jerubbaal in choosing Abimelech as king, may they have joy of the choice; but if not, may their king be a devouring fire among them! Judges 9:7. How Jotham got an audience at the top of Gerizim is not said. The language is not to be pressed, and a well- known crag overlooking the town has been pointed out as a natural pulpit. Judges 9:9

_Jotham's fable_ The author of the fable had several points in his mind: (_a_) the contrast between Gideon's refusal of the kingship and the arrogant claim of the son of his concubine; the other sons (or many respectable members of the community) had qualities which entitled them to rule; it was left to the mean -bramble" to claim the rank of king; (_b_) a warning to the Shechemites of the dangerous character of their upstart chief; his protection was worthless if they trusted him, and if they did not he would be their ruin; (_c_) a rebuke of the Shechemites for their ingratitude towards the house of Gideon. The fable, however, is not entirely consistent with the moral drawn from it; especially after Judges 9:15, the connexion is so difficult to trace, that many think that the fable was not composed for the occasion but borrowed from the folk-tales current at the time. This i

LET FIRE COME OUT— This is not an execratory, but a prophetical expression, a prediction of what would follow from their cruel and injurious conduct. Mr. Maundrell gives an account of _Beer,_ to which Jotham fled in his journey to Aleppo, p. 64. He says, that it enjoys a very pleasant situation on an easy declivity, fronting Southward. At the bottom of the hill it has a fountain of excellent water, from which it has its name. At the upper side are the remains of an old church built by the empress Helena. REFLECTIONS.—Jotham alone, of all the sons of Gideon, escaped; and on a day when the men of Shechem were assembled, perhaps the very day that Abimelech is elected, in the plain, from the top of mount Gerizim, whence he could be heard, and yet escape if they attempted to seize him, he gives the Shechemites a reproof for their baseness, and a warning of the consequences of their folly; and...