Commentari biblici

Jdg 9:1-3. Abimelech went to Shechem unto his mother’s brethren — That is, her relations; and communed with them — To try if he could engage them to favour and aid the design he had conceived to usurp the government of Israel, in direct opposition to his father’s will, who had declared no son of his should rule over them. His mother had, probably, instilled into his mind some ambitious thoughts, and the name his father had given him, carrying royalty in its meaning, might help to blow up these sparks, and excite him to take the steps here mentioned. He had no call from God to this office and honour, as his father had, nor was there any present occasion for a judge to deliver Israel, as there was when his father was advanced; but his own ambition must be gratified, and that is all he aims at. That all the sons of Jerubbaal reign over you — He wickedly insinuates, though perhaps without any ground for it, that the sons of Jerubbaal were ambitious of the kingdom which their father refused; and therefore prays them to consider what horrible divisions and confusions it would make, if so many were permitted to pretend to the government, and how much better it would be to choose one from among the rest; pointing them (in the next words) to himself. Remember, I am your bone and your flesh — Your kinsman, of the same tribe and city with you; which will be no small honour and advantage to you. Shechem was a city in the tribe of Ephraim, of great note. Joshua had held his last great meeting of the representatives of the tribes there. And no doubt Abimelech thought if that city would but declare for him, and abet his design, it would be a great step toward ensuring the success of it. They said, He is our brother — And his advancement will be to our advantage. They were pleased to think of their city becoming a royal city, and the metropolis of Israel, and therefore were easily persuaded to what they believed would serve their interest.

Jdg 9:4. They gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver — To bear the charges which he would be put to in making good his pretensions. It is not said what the value of these pieces was: so many shekels would have been but a small present to make a man a prince, and too little to serve his purposes; and so many talents too much for them to give. Therefore the Vulgate translates it so many pounds weight of silver, which learned men approve. Out of the house of Baal-berith — Out of the sacred treasury of that idol-temple, which they had probably built since Gideon’s death, (for he would never have suffered it while he lived,) and endowed it with considerable revenues. Wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons — The word ריקים, reekim, which we translate vain, signifies empty; that is, ignorant, inconsiderate, and needy persons. And the other word, פחזים, pochazim, means idle, vagabond fellows, that could settle to no business, but wandered about the country, who, being commonly men of loose and profligate lives, were fittest for his purpose.

Jdg 9:5. He went and slew his brethren — The persons who were most likely to hinder him in establishing his tyranny. Threescore and ten — Wanting one, as is here expressed. Here we see the power of ambition; what savage beasts it will render men to each other; how it will break through all the ties of natural affection, and natural conscience, and sacrifice that which is most sacred, dear, and valuable to its designs. We see also the peril attending high birth and honour. It was their being the sons of so great a man as Gideon that made Abimelech jealous of them, and exposed them thus to danger and to death. We find just the same number of Ahab’s sons slain together at Samaria, 2 Kings 10:1. “Let none then,” says Henry, “envy those of high extraction, or complain of their own meanness and obscurity: the lower the safer.” Upon one stone — As a stone was sometimes used for an altar, (1 Samuel 6:14,) some have conjectured from hence, that Abimelech intended to make his brethren a great victim to Baal, in revenge of the sacrifice of the bullock prepared for Baal, chap. Jdg 6:25; and to expiate the crime of Gideon, as these idolaters accounted it, by the sacrifice of all his sons.

Jdg 9:6. All the men of Shechem — That is, the great men, the chief magistrates of the city; and the house of Millo — Either some eminent and potent family living in or near Shechem, or the common council, the full house, or house of fulness, as the word signifies; those that met in their court-house or place of general assembly; gathered together — Not to prosecute and punish Abimelech for this most barbarous murder, as they ought to have done, he being one of their citizens, but to make him a king. God was not consulted whether they should have any king at all, much less who it should be. They did not advise with the high-priest, or with their brethren of any other city or tribe, though it was designed that he should reign over all Israel, Jdg 9:22; but the Shechemites take upon them to do all of themselves, as if they were the men, and wisdom must die with them. In the mean time the rest of the Israelites were so very stupid and infatuated as to sit by unconcerned. They took no care to give any check to this usurpation, to protect the sons of Gideon, or to avenge their death; but tamely submitted to the bloody tyrant, as men that, with their religion, had lost their reason, and all sense of honour and liberty, justice and gratitude. How vigorously had their fathers appeared to avenge the death of the Levite’s concubine! and yet so wretchedly degenerate are they now, as not to attempt the revenging of the death of Gideon’s sons. It is for this that they are charged with ingratitude, (Jdg 8:35,) Neither showed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal. By the plain of the pillar — The Hebrew word אלון, eelon, here rendered plain, also signifies an oak, and therefore some render the passage, By the oak of the pillar; namely, the oak where Joshua erected a pillar, as a witness of the covenant renewed between God and Israel, Joshua 24:26. This place they chose, perhaps, to signify that they still owned Jehovah, and their covenant with him; and did not worship Baal in opposition to, but in conjunction with him, and in subordination to him.

Jdg 9:7. Jotham stood in the top of mount Gerizim — Which overlooked the city of Shechem. This was not on the same day when Abimelech was inaugurated, but some time after. The valley between Gerizim and Ebal was a famous place, employed for the solemn reading of the law, and its blessings and curses; and it is probable it was still used, even by the superstitious and idolatrous Israelites, for such occasions, who delighted to use the same places which their ancestors had used. And lifted up his voice and cried — So that they who stood in the valley might hear, though not suddenly come at him to take him. Ye men of Shechem — Who were here met together upon a solemn occasion, as Josephus notes, Abimelech being absent; that God may hearken unto you — When you cry unto him for mercy; so he conjures and persuades them to give him a patient audience.

Jdg 9:8. The trees went forth on a time — This is the first instance that we have of this manner of speaking by parables. But we find it in great use afterward, and frequently adopted, not by prophets only, but by courtiers, politicians, and soldiers, in the Old Testament. See 2 Samuel 14:1, and 1 Kings 20:38; chap. 1 Kings 22:19. To anoint a king over them — Kings were appointed among the Israelites, and some other nations, with the ceremony of anointing. Olive-tree — By which he means Gideon.

Jdg 9:9. My fatness, wherewith they honour God — Oil being used in God’s worship for divers things, as in sacrifices, in the dedication of persons and things to holy offices and uses, and for the lamps in the sanctuary; and man — For oil was used in constituting kings, and priests, and prophets, and for a present to great men, and to anoint the head and face; and go to be promoted — Hebrew, לנוע, lanuang, to shake and move hither and thither, to wander to and fro, to exchange my sweet tranquillity and peace for incessant cares and travels. To undertake “the government of others,” says Henry, “involves a man in a great deal of both toil and care. He that is promoted over the trees must go up and down for them, and make himself a perfect drudge to business. Those that are preferred to places of public trust and power, must resolve to forego all their private interests and advantages, and sacrifice them to the good of the community.”

Jdg 9:11. The fig-tree said, &c. — Gideon refused this honour, both for himself, and for his sons; and the sons of Gideon, whom Abimelech had slain, upon pretence of their affecting the kingdom, were as far from such thoughts as their father.