Men then, as now, feel not for a lie or a libel of God; they are sensitive when their own rights are touched. Moreover they spontaneously burst into flames in hot weather and sometimes caused much damage consequently (Judges 9:15). Gaal probably was not prepared for a siege; so he had little choice but to leave the city walls behind and confront Abimelech out in the open. (Wolf). He was pretty tough on these false teachers and those that would destroy faith in the heart of a child. Nor are you thus called to believe anything like an extravagance, though it surely would be so if the Bible were a human book, and so to be treated like any other, which after all even infidels do not: witness their occupation with it and zeal against it. And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us. In it, 1. (f) Abimelech will destroy the nobles of Shechem. The result in the type alas! The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe (Proverbs 18:10). But, if you ignore God and just reduce this world to what you can see, you will eliminate the value of human life and be capable of heinous things. From the temple of Baal-Berith: Abimelech received his pay from the temple dedicated to Baal. So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men; and they followed him. WebJudges 9:8. Check to enable permanent hiding of message bar and refuse all cookies if you do not opt in. Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez--now Tubas--not far from Shechem. It was a sign they had provoked God to depart from them that neither any prophet was sent nor any remarkable judgment, to awaken this stupid people, and to stop the progress of this threatening mischief. II. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. Let fire come out of the bramble.Some suppose that there is a reference to the ancient notions of the spontaneous ignition of the boughs of the bramble when rubbed together by the wind. And it sounds sort of farfetched or preposterous but there are many places in the land where the acoustics are just natural; acoustics are really fantastic.If you're standing up on the Herodium there could be children playing two miles away and you can hear their conversations to each other. (e) By this parable he declares that those that are not ambitious, are most worthy of honour and that the ambitious abuse their honour both to their own destruction and others. They need not be at the trouble. Chapter 9Now here's what happened. Modern history records a case, in which soldiers on the hill shouted to the people in the city and endeavored to instigate them to an insurrection. Never indeed is good the fruit of man's will, but of God's. And Jehovah God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. And it was of the greatest importance that His people should be trained in this. His victories had then been as holy as they were brilliant; for he surely needed not to have defiled his Nazariteship by an unholy marriage in order to have punished the Philistines. a. . In order to have communion, we must have some good which is shared together. With which they honor God and men, So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. I do not myself doubt that it was put in the broadest way. 2. Thanks. It is chiseled out to where it's round, has a hole in the middle of it and then the stick or the post would go through the center of the millstone and it would roll. But all of the other sons of Gideon were killed. b. Zebul said to him, You see the shadows of the mountains as if they were men: Zebul deceived Gaal, allowing Abimelechs troops to take position. If this be so, the captivity might be the Assyrian, and not that of the Philistines. Those whose extraction and education are ever so high know not to what difficulties and straits they may be reduced. He said, "Man, you know, put them in concrete and dump them in the ocean you know." The Ammonites had lost them before the children of Israel took them from others whom they might lawfully attack and despoil; but God had forbidden that the children of Israel should spoil either Ammon, or Moab, or Edom. They looked upon this hold as both a fort and a sanctuary; but it saved them not. (Trapp). The case before us, in Judges 17:1-13; Judges 18:1-31, is one where God was openly, deliberately, and systematically dishonoured. This was as if a man should run into a stack of straw or barrel of gunpowder, to secure himself from a raging fire. See what great swelling words of vanity he speaks (Judges 9:15; Judges 9:15), what promises he makes to his faithful subjects: Let them come and trust in my shadow: a goodly shadow to trust in! If you need help in understanding God's Word visit The Church of Christ they will help you. We see a man, not without faith indeed (Hebrews 11:32), though his confidence was largely in the strength with which God had invested him, rather than in Him who would yet prove Himself the sole source of it; a man who was roused by personal affront and desire of vengeance, not by a solemn duty; a man who slowly and weakly wakes up to any sense of his mission, who is ever too ready to sink down again into the lowest indulgence of fallen nature among the enemy. You come and reign over us! But commentators observe it for a just hand of God upon Abimelech, that upon one stone he had slain his seventy brethren, and now a stone slayeth him: his head had stolen the crown of Israel, and now his head is smitten. (Trapp). Nor should we wonder at it. c. Draw your sword and kill me, lest men say of me, A woman killed him.: Abimelech considered it manlier to be killed by his own armor bearer; but he was still dead afterward. But, (2.) Who's Abimelech? Killed his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal: Therefore, Abimelech killed his brothers with the support of his relatives on his mothers side. In Samson's case, tested in a seemingly little sign but a sign of entire subjection to God, and this in separation from all others, it was obedience; not so in our case, where we have the highest treasure in earthen vessels, but obedience in everything, and this formed and guided by the Spirit according to the written word, now set in the fullest light, because seen in the person, and ways, and work, and glory of Christ. It was his daughter and I do not doubt that he, in his determined unbending spirit, fulfilled his vow. Now of course, he's calling, in an essence this Abimelech a bramble and you guys have, you know, you're settling for a bramble to rule over you.And having finished his rebuke and his speech, rebuking them for the evil that they have recompensed to Gideon. So in this rash vow says Jephthah, "it shall be that whatsoever," etc. They decide on matters first, and the case becomes only another instance of man's folly in dealing with evil. Obviously the bramble represented Abimelech, the trees and vine more noble individuals, and the cedars of Lebanon the upright leaders of Shechem. Indeed, for Him to obey in such a world must have been suffering It could not be otherwise. a. 13 And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? Thus we may find the most striking manifestations of power in men as disorderly as the Corinthian Christians; but the same persons are a plain proof that it is a far harder thing to do the will of the Lord, and harder still to suffer according to God, than to work any miracles whatever. And, of course, thats what parables do they enrich our understanding. And the Sea of Galilee, same thing, the sound really carries. Gaal . And its sound just really carries over there. The Assyrian bas-reliefs afford counterparts of the scene here described so vivid and exact, that we might almost suppose them to be representations of the same historic events. or, as the margin reads it, go up and down for the trees? Suffice it to say that even in such a state the immediate feeling of the common conscience in Israel (roused, it is true, by an awful appeal to the twelve tribes) could not but reply that "there was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds." They had no faith in the promise on God's part to Abraham or to his seed. One test of the character of a man is to see how he treats those who disagree with him. So, the men of Shechem agreed to accept Abimelech as the new leader perhaps even the king of Israel. 13). Israel had not taken these lands from Ammon at all They had taken them from the Amorite. And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.". Even his father and mother knew nothing about their son's movements. ABIMELECH IS MADE KING BY THE SHECHEMITES. Jephthah knew little if anything of this; so the result was, that the Ephraimites, in their pride, meddled with this rude warrior, who dealt with them, we may be very sure, not more mildly than with his own daughter. God's Holy Spirit of loving submission to learn) God will lead you into the correct Truth (i.e. They had sought peace, and Sihon would have war. There is nothing good without His name. The condensed moral of the whole fable is this: Weak, worthless, and wicked men, will ever be foremost to thrust themselves into power; and, in the end, to bring ruin upon themselves, and on the unhappy people over whom they preside. (Clarke). Nevertheless, I have little doubt that, though the dying hour of Samson brought more honour to God than all his life, its manner was in itself a chastening in its character; and in this, too, may one discern a representation of the condition to which Israel had come similar to what was noticed in the life and person of Samson. Though Abimelech sought a place of leadership in Israel, God did not raise him up as a judge. With the help of some worthless Shechemites, Abimelech killed all his brothers (except one who escaped) and established himself king in Shechem. It is the sequel to and indeed the climax of the Gideon story, and it portrays the disastrous results of Gideons legacy. And this, beyond all doubt or fear, we are entitled always to keep before our hearts in reading the Bible. "And the Spirit of Jehovah" to some minds a marvellous fact under the circumstances "came mightily upon him." What a wonderful understanding of God that we can obtain from Judges 9:8-15 if we take the time to learn obedience to the Word is preferred over following the traditions of men. The trees once went forth to anoint a king over them. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website. WebThe bramble said to the trees, If in truth you are anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, may fire come out from the bramble and consume the Web35 And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entering of the gate of the city: and Abimelech rose up, and the people that were with him, from lying in wait. Thus in fact Sihon had assailed the Israelites against their will, who had taken the land from him. He got an opportunity of speaking to them from the top of Mount Gerizim, the mount of blessings, at the foot of which probably the Shechemites were, upon some occasion or other, gathered together (Josephus says, solemnizing a festival), and it seems they were willing to hear what he had to say. We do not find in Samson the generous disinterestedness of grace that could suffer affliction with the people of God, and is willing to be a sacrifice upon that faith. and they said unto the olive tree, reign thou over us; a fit emblem of a good man, endowed with excellent virtues and qualifications for good, as David king of Israel, who is compared to such a tree, Psalm 52:8, Jarchi applies this to Othniel the first judge; but it may be better applied to Gideon, an excellent good man, full of fruits of righteousness, and eminently useful, and to whom kingly government was offered, and was refused by him; and the men of Shechem could scarcely fail of thinking of him, and applying it to him, as Jotham was delivering his fable. Of all the deliverers that grace ever raised up, there was not one who for personal prowess was to be compared with Samson; but of all those, where was the man who fell so habitually below even that which would have disgraced an ordinary Israelite? even when God gave them one in a man after His own heart, we then trace greater abominations under the lines either of those who broke off in self-will or of those who turned the line of promise to nothing but corruption. He permitted that there should be no confidence in the peaceable intentions of Israel, for the very purpose of putting them in possession of the land. did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them, while Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years?" There is no difference as to form. They went and made Abimelech king: It is almost hard to tell who was worse; Abimelech who did the murdering, or the men of Shechem who approved of it. There was the plain and sure title of Jephthah. i. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entering of the gate of the city: and Abimelech rose up, and the people who were with him, and lying there in wait. We should each consider if God is warning us about something in the present time. i. Beth Millo: The word millo derives from a verb meaning to be filled, and originally referred to a rampart or earthwork; but its association with fortifications may have developed into a reference to fortresses generally. He hereby exposes the ridiculous ambition of Abimelech, whom he compares to the bramble or thistle, Judges 9:14; Judges 9:14. There he is. Now it was that God wrought for His glory. It appears to me that the Spirit of God brings in this little notice of his judging Israel here in order to show that this is the normal close of his history. One could understand three thousand men of the Philistines; but to what a deplorable pass in Israel were things come, when three thousand men of the worthiest tribe were thus obedient to the Philistines, and joined against the strong deliverer to hand him over, bound a prisoner, to the tender mercies of those that hated him and despised them! The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. Then come and take shelter in my shade; 2 Samuel 12:1-4; 2 Kings 14:9-10). Jotham, having given them this admonition, made a shift to escape with his life, Judges 9:21; Judges 9:21. Jephthah takes the greatest pains to prove, when he comes forward, that he has clear right on his side. And the bramble said to the trees, His secret was to keep his hair uncut, with all strength annexed to it. And he sent messengers unto Abimelech privately, saying, Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers are come to Shechem; and they are fortifying the city against you. Yet he threatens with as much confidence as he promises: If you be not faithful, let fire come out of the bramble (a very unlikely thing to emit fire) and devour the cedars of Lebanon--more likely to catch fire, and be itself devoured. We have come to the close as far as the sequence of persons and of events is concerned. In Him we may confide, who loves us to the end. Abimelechs mother, though only a maidservant to Gideon, was from Shechem. Explanation - The following list includes not only commentaries but other Christian works by well known evangelical writers. (1-3) God tells Gideon to tell all his soldiers who are afraid to go home. (Compare Judges 14:15 with Judges 15:6.) i. Then Abimelech and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city; and the other two companies rushed upon all who were in the fields and killed them. When he approached the vineyards of Timnah, he saw a roaring young lion attacking him. Yet they rejected the warning of God, and therefore came to ruin. The top of Gerizim is not so high in the rear of the town, as it is nearer to the plain. Let us not forget that we have got a nature exempt from nothing we deplore in Samson, and the person that does not believe it may live to prove it, especially if a believer, who should know himself better; whilst he who does take it home to his soul is thereby enabled to judge himself by the Spirit before God. "And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place." He could tell his troops to do as I have done, and they did. 9 But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day." So dangerous is apt to be the reaction against one ever so honest; the more you have trusted, when you begin to doubt, the worse it is apt to be, even with poor erring man, who knows not what a serious thing it is. Through highway robbery, the Shechemites created an atmosphere of insecurity and disorder, at the same time robbing Abimelech of his taxes (22-25). The associations of such sites were very tenacious and it is of interest to note that Rehoboam went to Shechem, following the death of Solomon, to secure the acclimation of the Israelites although the city itself was in ruins at the time (1 Kings 12:1, 25). (Cundall). 28-45. would to God this people were under my hand--He seems to have been a boastful, impudent, and cowardly person, totally unfit to be a leader in a revolutionary crisis. Their heart was inclined to follow Abimelech: At the city of Shechem, Abimelech convinced his brothers on his mothers side to support him as king over his brothers on his fathers (Gideons) side. He was the power of God and the wisdom of God; but what shall we say of His obedience on the one hand, and on the other of His patience? Let fire come out - The propriety of the image is strictly preserved, for even the thorns of the worthless bramble might kindle a flame which would burn the stately cedars to the ground. And they would often hook an oxen to it and they had this stone groove that went around in a circle. Reign over us! It was quite evident therefore that Jephthah was guilty of the greatest rashness in his vow. Let fire come out of the bramble A strong catachresis. 2018 David Guzik No distribution beyond personal use without permission. So Abimelech fought against the city all that day; he took the city and killed the people who were in it; and he demolished the city and sowed it with salt. He stands to it that they must never have an enemy unless it be God's enemy. And he said to them: Listen to me, you men of Shechem, why did not the strong man learn wisdom in the fear of Jehovah, as he again visited the place where his first lesson was given? Web8 From there he went up to Peniel[ a] and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had. a. Abimelech came as far as the tower and fought against it: After his brutal victory at the tower of Shechem, Abimelech probably thought he was an expert at attacking towers. (30-33) The role of Zebul, the ruler of the city. c. Where indeed is your mouth now: When Zebul knew that Gaal was at a disadvantage, he could not resist rebuking him for his proud, arrogant words against Abimelech, an enemy he could not defeat. Most of the resources below are newer works (written after 1970) which previously were available only for purchase in book form or in a Bible computer program. . what shadow or protection can there be in a bramble? And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? God gave the devil commission to enter into or work upon their minds and hearts; knowing that he of himself, and by his own inclinations, would fill them with mistakes, and jealousies, and dissensions, and heart-burnings, which would end in civil wars and mutual ruin. (Poole). So Abimelech rose up, and all the people that were with him, by night, and they laid wait at Shechem and four companies. But the wages of transgressors are hard, and the guilty man falls under the strange woman's spell again and again. It is no mere external sign for us who know the Lord Jesus. Gideon had about seventy sons. WebJudges 9:15 Commentaries: "The bramble said to the trees, 'If in truth you are anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, may fire come out from Nothing justifies, in the work of the Lord, a departure from His mind or will. I presume that the reason why these incidents are not given before in the order of time may have been that, if inserted earlier, it would have completely interrupted the course of the history, and the main instruction of the book of Judges. 11 But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? So his father went down unto the women: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do." And what did Israel? Web1. . How triumphantly has it been done in Christ our Lord, but in how different a way! With the advantage of their superior position, Abimelech and his soldiers drove out Gaal and his men. Then Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. Nevertheless he "was a mighty man of valour," who lived a kind of freebooter's life the chief of a reckless company of outcasts and desperadoes. Now Mount Gerizim is a pretty good, you know, climb to get up to the top of the mountain and he knew that he had a good running distance on the guy. Pride, look what it would do, even when you're dying, you know. Others may have shown as mighty works, as great displays of power; nay, even the blessed Lord Jesus Himself said, "Greater works than these shall ye do." "Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. "And so they came to the vine and said, "Rule over us. In other words, let there come strife between the men of Shechem and Abimelech. If this be submitted to (and you might more consistently reject the Bible altogether, if you do not submit), one sees the hollowness and falsehood of sitting in judgment upon it: for who can question that to doubt that which comes directly from God Himself would be to take the place, not merely of an unbeliever, but of a blasphemer or an atheist? The truest deliverance from self is in that work where all was judged, and evil put away for ever. Which is above the city of Shechem and it is sort of a natural amphitheater. WebWhen the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, his cords were loosed: where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and those are free indeed who are thus set free. WebIn Judges 9:8-15, Jotham conveys a message about the trees speaking amongst themselves while seeking a king. He predicted that fire would come forth from Abimelech and devour them. We come to look at a parable, the parable of the trees. On them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal: God had warned the men of Shechem through Jotham. And so he called to Abimelech and said, Increase your army. But the crisis came; and we see that at last, pressed by the harlot's toils, he tells out the secret of Jehovah. But God was about to magnify Himself and His own ways. . There is little moral elevation in Samson, little in any way to command respect or love. And it shall be, as soon as the sun is up in the morning, that you shall rise early and rush upon the city; and when he and the people who are with him come out against you, you may then do to them as you find opportunity.. But the olive tree said unto them, Should These verses contain the interpretation of the fable. Furthermore we can see what had become of Shechem (cf. The allusion is far more probably to the use of thorns for fuel: Exodus 22:6, If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn . how many there are in these days of audacious free-thinking who are disposed to sit in judgment on His word, and give His revelation no credit for telling us the truth as it was and is. So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith: The relatives of Abimelech on his mothers side gave him some start-up money to establish his leadership. b. What avails the show of Jehovah's name, or form of consecrating a Levite to be priest? Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem--In the course of providence, jealousy, distrust, secret disaffection, and smothered rebellion appeared among his subjects disappointed and disgusted with his tyranny; and God permitted those disorders to punish the complicated crimes of the royal fratricide and idolatrous usurper.
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