Judges 9:6

_AND ALL THE MEN OF SHECHEM GATHERED TOGETHER, AND ALL THE HOUSE OF MILLO, AND WENT, AND MADE ABIMELECH KING, BY THE PLAIN OF THE PILLAR THAT WAS IN SHECHEM._ All the men of Shechem ... and all the house of Millo - i:e. a mound or rampart; so that the meaning is, all the men in the house or temple; namely, the priests of Baal. MADE ABIMELECH KING BY THE PLAIN OF THE PILLAR - rather, by the oak near a raised mound, so that the ceremony of coronation might be conspicuous to a crowd....

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 9:6. _AND ALL THE HOUSE OF MILLO_] If _Millo_ be the name of a _place_, it is nowhere else mentioned in the sacred writings. But it is probably the name of a _person_ of note and influence in the city of Shechem - _the men of Shechem and the family of Millo_....

Millo must have been a fortified place close to, but separate from, Shechem, and perhaps the same as the tower of Shechem mentioned in Judges 9:46. The building or enlarging of the better-known Millo, at Jerusalem was one of Solomon’s great works 1 Kings 9:15, 1 Kings 9:24. The population dwelling in Millo though perhaps numerically small, had great weight from possessing the stronghold. Their giving Abimelech the title of king indicates the strong Canaanite influence at Shechem. All the Canaanite chiefs were called kings, but it was a title hitherto unknown in Israel. This title had not been named by those Israelites who offered to make Gideon their hereditary ruler...

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;...

AND ALL THE MEN OF SHECHEM GATHERED TOGETHER,.... Upon the return of Abimelech, after he with his banditti had committed the execrable murder of his brethren: AND ALL THE HOUSE OF MILLO; which was either the men of a place near to Shechem, or of his brother's family, or of some grand leading family in Shechem; or it may mean the town hall, where the principal inhabitants met in full house, as Millo signifies, on this occasion: AND WENT AND MADE ABIMELECH KING; which was a most bold and daring action; being done without asking counsel of God, without which no king was to be set over Israel, and by a single city, without the knowledge, advice, and consent of the body of the people of Israel: by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem; the place where they met together, and did this business in voting Abimelech to be king, was near a place where a pillar was set in Shechem; or by the...

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 ...

PLAIN. oak. OF THE PILLAR. Genitive of Apposition. that is to say, the pillar made of oak. See Joshua 24:26. Compare Genesis 28:18; Genesis 28:22; Genesis 31:13; Genesis 31:45; Genesis 35:14; Genesis 35:20; 2 Samuel 18:18....

_and all the house of Millo_ Follow marg. _and all_ BETH-MILLO, the name of a place not of a family Judges 9:20, cf. 2 Kings 12:20, in the neighbourhood of Shechem, but not the tower of S. mentioned in Judges 9:46. The name suggests that the place was called after the temple which stood there, _bêth_= -temple" as in Judges 9:4; _millo_= -filling up," so an artificial mound or terrace (in Assyrian _mulû, tamlû_). The Millo at Jerusalem was some part of the fortifications of the old Jebusite city, 2 Samuel 5:9;...