Judges 9:35

_AND WHEN ZEBUL THE RULER OF THE CITY HEARD THE WORDS OF GAAL THE SON OF EBED, HIS ANGER WAS KINDLED._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

30-49 Abimelech intended to punish the Schechemites for slighting him now, but God punished them for their serving him formerly in the murder of Gideon's sons. When God uses men as instruments in his hand to do his work, he means one thing, and they another. That, which they hoped would have been for their welfare, proved a snare and a trap, as those will certainly find, who run to idols for shelter; such will prove a refuge of lies....

Verse 35. _STOOD IN THE ENTERING OF THE GATE_] Having probably got some intimation of the designs of Zebul and Abimelech....

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

AND GAUL THE SON OR EBED WENT OUT,.... He rose up early that morning, being a man of vigilance and activity, and perhaps had some intelligence of the preparations of Abimelech, his design against the city, though he did not expect he was so near at hand: AND STOOD IN THE ENTERING OF THE GATE OF THE CITY; to see whether the guards were on their duty within, and whether he could observe any thing without, any approaching danger: AND ABIMELECH ROSE UP, AND THE PEOPLE THAT WERE WITH HIM, FROM LYING IN WAIT; came out of their ambush, and appeared just as Gaul was at the gate....

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....

_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

THE STORY OF ABIMELECH This chapter breaks the regular order of the book, since Abimelech is not thought of as a judge, and the Canaanites are not here regarded as oppressors. The story, however, throws a valuable light on the way in which Israel fell into unfaithfulness, when free from the yoke of foreign oppression. 1-6. The rise of Abimelech....