Judges 9:27

_AND THEY WENT OUT INTO THE FIELDS, AND GATHERED THEIR VINEYARDS, AND TRODE THE GRAPES, AND MADE MERRY, AND WENT INTO THE HOUSE OF THEIR GOD, AND DID EAT AND DRINK, AND CURSED ABIMELECH._ They went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards ... and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink. This is an instance of what is universally admitted, that wine was used in the sacred feasts of the pagan. AND CURSED ABIMELECH - i:e., expressed their malevolence to him in the songs they sung on that occasion in the temple (Harmer, 4:, p. 149)....

22-29 Abimelech is seated in the throne his father refused. But how long does this glory last? Stay but three years, and see the bramble withered and burned. The prosperity of the wicked is short and fickle. The Shechemites are plagued by no other hand than Abimelech's. They raised him unjustly to the throne; they first feel the weight of his sceptre....

Seditious and lawless acts Judges 9:25 now broke out into open rebellion. It was at an idolatrous feast in the house of Baal-berith, on occasion of the vintage, and when they were excited with wine, that the rebellion was matured. Those present began to “curse Abimelech,” to speak insultingly of him, and to revile him (compare Leviticus 20:9; 2 Samuel 19:21; Isaiah 8:21). Gaal, the son of Ebed, who was watching the opportunity, immediately incited them to revolt from the dominion of Abimelech, offering himself to be their captain; adding a message of defiance to Abimelech, addressed, probably, to Zebul, who was pr

EXPOSITION JUDGES 9:22 HAD REIGNED. The Hebrew word here used is quite a different one from that in Judges 9:8, Judges 9:10, Judges 9:12, Judges 9:14, and elsewhere, where the reign of a king is designated. It means to exercise dominion, to be a chief or captain over a people. The use of it here suggests that though, as we read in Judges 9:6, the Canaanite men of Shechem and the house of Millo had made him their king, yet he was not made king b

Ver. 27 AND THEY WENT INTO THE FIELDS, AND GATHERED THEIR VINEYARDS,.... Before they kept within the city, and durst not stir out to gather in the vintage, the time being come, for fear of the troops of Abimelech; for their lying in wait for him, and the robberies committed being made known to him, he had prepared to raise some forces, and attack them, of which they had had information; but now being encouraged with the protection of Gaal, they ventured out to gather their grapes in their vineyards without fear: AND TRODE THE GRAPES, AND MADE MERRY: sung songs and danced, as was usual at the ingathering of the fruits of the earth, and treading the winepress, Isaiah 16:10 though Abendana thinks this joy and merriment were made to their idol, to whom they gave the praise of their vintage, they should have done to the true God, and what follows may seem to confirm it:...

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

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; _cf._ the evil spirit from the Lord that possessed Saul (1 Samuel 16:14; 1 Samuel 18:10), and misled the prophets of Ahab (1 Kings 22:19); and recall the classical saying, _Quem Deus vult perdere_,_ prius dementat._...

_Gaal stirs up the Shechemites: Abimelech defeats them_ 26 _.Gaal the son of Ebed_ i.e. _of a slave_; but pronounce throughout _Obed_, with LXX. cod. B (Ιωβηλ for Ιωβηδ) and Vulgate; a common name. Gaal is described as a new-comer, whether an Israelite or a Canaanite is not clear. Judges 9:26 seem to be parallel to Judges 9:22; both narrate the rise of treason in Shechem, and both lead up to parallel accounts of Abimelech's retaliation....

DID EAT AND DRINK— They probably offered sacrifices, and afterwards feasted together upon those sacrifices. REFLECTIONS.—For a time the wickedness of Abimelech seemed to prosper, and three years he enjoyed in peace his ill gotten dignity; but the triumphing of the wicked is short, like sunshine before the thunder-storm. For, 1. There was a spirit of dissention sworn between him and the Shechemites; God, in just judgment for the blood which was shed, visiting their sins upon them by the hands of one another. They who set up Abimelech, now, tired of his government, conspire to slay him; so tottering is that throne which has been established by cruelty and bloodshed. _Note;_ (1.) They, who have once acted a perfidious part are seldom or never again to be trusted. (2.) Blood will cry for vengeance. (3.) Conspiracies in iniquity have usually but feeble bands. (4.) They who promise themselves...

_The Conspiracy of Gaal Judges 9:22-49_ 22 When Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel, 23 Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech: 24 That the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them; and upon the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brethren, 25 And the men of Shechem set liers in wait for him in the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that came along that way by them: and it was told Abimelech. 26 And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brethren, and went over to Shechem: and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him. 27 And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house o