Judges 9:1-6 . Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. (1.) Respectfully submitted as my Scriptural understanding, I share with you what His Spirit has shared with my spirit. 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. If the Amorite got them from Ammon in the first instance, as was no doubt the fact, this was an affair not between Israel and Ammon, but between Ammon and Sihon. But the wages of transgressors are hard, and the guilty man falls under the strange woman's spell again and again. And he said to them: Listen to me, you men of Shechem, God does not permit Israel, because this one or that is an enemy, to take the place of enemies to them. The story of Abimelech, the men of Shechem, and Jotham shows us that there is a real and terrible price to pay for rejecting Gods warnings. In every point of view therefore the ground taken by Israel was solid, and could not be disputed righteously. Check to enable permanent hiding of message bar and refuse all cookies if you do not opt in. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. how the very thought of Jehovah's name seems lost at this time among the children of Israel. 1. 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. 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? He has no doubt secrets of grace above all difficulties and wrongs: of this we cannot doubt for a moment; and indeed we have abundant proofs of it here. WebHebrews 8:7-9 Commentary Hebrews 8:10-11 Commentary Hebrews 8:12-13 Commentary Hebrews 9:1-2 Commentary Hebrews 9:3-5 Commentary Hebrews 9:6-7 Commentary Hebrews 9:8-10 Commentary Hebrews 9:11-12 Commentary Hebrews 9:13-14 Commentary Hebrews 9:15-17 Commentary Hebrews 9:18-20 Commentary The first and gravest departure is that Jehovah could be so forgotten and so shamelessly dishonoured as to set up in His name a rival; and the more seriously it was set about, so much the worse. To Samson, as we see, it was far different. That God may listen to you! Acts 2:38 tells the ONLY WAY one receives the gift of the Holy Spirit and forgiveness of sins is at adult full immersion Baptism. The olives are among the most beautiful trees that grow in the Holy Land. Is it then a matter of wonder that men went wrong in early days under the Christian profession? Accepting of their offer at once: if ye in trust anoint me king over you; suspecting they were not hearty and cordial in their choice and call to the kingly authority over them: then come and put your trust in my shadow; promising protection to them as his subjects, requiring their confidence in him, and boasting of the good they should receive from him, as is common with wicked princes at their first entering on their office; but, alas! And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains! But Zebul said to him, You see the shadows of the mountains as if they were men. So Gaal spoke again and said, See, people are coming down from the center of the land, and another company is coming from the Diviners Terebinth Tree. Then Zebul said to him, Where indeed is your mouth now, with which you said, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? Are not these the people whom you despised? It is well sometimes for all those who teach that they should be obliged to learn; well that they should be forced to feel that they do not know; an excellent moral lesson that they should confess it not only be conscious of it, but own it; for indeed the necessary claim of scripture is that it be confided in as the word of God, though it does not thence follow that we are competent to explain all. c. Let fire come from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem: Jothams warning to the men of Shechem was that their unwise choice would come back to hurt them. And its sound just really carries over there. WebJudges 9:8-15. "And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of Jehovah; and Jehovah delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years." Explanation - The following list includes not only commentaries but other Christian works by well known evangelical writers. So they went out into the fields, and gathered grapes from their vineyards and trod them, and made merry. When a suitable occasion arose and Abimelech was in another town, a group of Shechemites plotted to overthrow him. Picture in imagination, if you can, how God could descend more to meet a degraded people; yet was it just then that the outward exploits against the foe were so brilliant. The ANSWER is: "Practice makes Perfect!" We see that God was faithful; but the fidelity even of those whom He used in deliverance is another matter. Nevertheless they were beaten the next day; for they must be disciplined before the Lord before He could use them to deal with their brother. ., and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him--An insurrection of the original Canaanites, headed by this man, at last broke out in Shechem. To those who discern what a witness it is that the people were far gone from Him here the principle reappears in all its strength the isolation of the man himself, the circumstances that had brought about the rupture with the foe, the mind of Judah, if not treacherous to the Israelite, cowering before the uncircumcised, and now the strangest of weapons for war that Samson uses against them the jawbone of an ass. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. In the case of Abimelech it is seen most conspicuously, yet is it always true, though it may be occasionally more marked than at other times. . However, Beer may not have been the name of a town. Judges 18:1-31 shows that the moral condition, especially of the priest-Levite, was as bad as the religious state. But, (2.) is that, whatever might be the victory over the lion and whatever the sweetness of the honey, the effort to connect himself with the woman of Timnath turns out no small trouble to the man of might, whose anger was kindled at the treachery which sold his riddle, and, when his wife was given to the companion he had used as his friend, issued in such vexation for the Philistines as is known to us all. And as I say, from the top of Gerizim you've got a good lead on anybody that might want to chase you. "And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days, saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? Go out, if you will, and fight with them now. So Gaal went out, leading the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life." Judges 9 NIV - Abimelek - Abimelek son of Jerub-Baal - Bible Parable of the Trees - Judges 9:8-15. Judges 9 The olive and fig trees and the grape vine represented productive human beings-oil, figs, and wine being among the most important products of Canaan. 2 Samuel 17:18-21). Come and put your trust in any shadow The vain boast of the would-be sovereign; and of the man who is seeking to be put into power by the suffrages of the people. They don't have their sound pollution like we have here. The king of Ammon had forgotten, or had never enquired after the real righteousness of the case. The people, apparently confident that the matter was concluded, went out into the fields as usual to engage in their daily occupations. (Cundall). Judges 14 stood in the top of mount Gerizim and lifted up his voice--The spot he chose was, like the housetops, the public place of Shechem; and the parable [ Judges 9:8-15 ] drawn from the rivalry of the various trees was appropriate to the diversified foliage of the valley below. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. The reference to the men of Shechem (Judges 9:2) is literally the baals of Shechem, the word having here its original meaning of lord or owner. (Cundall). ii. For on the contrary after Samson's days, the sufferings of the children of Israel reached even a higher degree than they had ever attained under Samson or before. The fire smoldered for three years but at last manifested itself. (Morgan). Samson was afterwards about to put a riddle to the Philistines from this lion. By contrast Abimelech is like a bramble: he can give neither shelter nor protection. And they have tracks in which the millstone rolls. Now when Jotham heard that they had made Abimelech king, he went to the top of mount Gerizim ( Judges 9:5-7 ). From the temple of Baal-Berith: Abimelech received his pay from the temple dedicated to Baal. "Art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Brambles bore no fruit and offered no shelter or protection. How triumphantly has it been done in Christ our Lord, but in how different a way! ABIMELECH IS MADE KING BY THE SHECHEMITES. All these fruit-trees gave much the same reason for their refusal to be promoted over the trees; or, as the margin reads And here we confront not simply the old offence repeated, and in the grossest form of fleshly corruption, but along with it an infatuation as extraordinary as his degradation. The result is that "the people rose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house. Then he called quickly to the young man, his armorbearer, and said to him, Draw your sword and kill me, lest men say of me, A woman killed him. So his young man thrust him through, and he died. a. Such is the blinding power of sin; for was he ignorant of her vileness or of his own danger? In other words, let there come strife between the men of Shechem and Abimelech. WebJudges 9:8. Here the rashness of the man enters the scene, the consequence of which is a display of what was painful in the extreme. b. Should we not then rejoice in the Lord? It was quite evident therefore that Jephthah was guilty of the greatest rashness in his vow. We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was aroused. But there can be no question that the course taken by the men of Israel was calculated to increase the difficulty a thousand-fold. "And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. The consequence was that he allowed himself to be drawn into an ambush, was defeated, the city of Shechem destroyed and strewn with salt. 2. "Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech: In order that the cruelty that was done by Abimelech might be avenged ( Judges 9:21-24 ). God sent a spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem: Everything seemed fine between the men of Shechem and Abimelech for three years. This is always true in the ways of God. We can easily therefore comprehend how the holy wisdom of Scripture avoids details on a fact so contrary to the mind of God, as a man dealing thus with a human being, yea, with his own daughter. There is not a single jot in the Scriptures that God has written or ordered which is not worthy of Himself; nor is there the least possibility of improving either. Resent it? Now Abimelech reigned for three years. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. Judges 9:10 You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. The law was right there, but Israel refused to read or heed it. Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and he encamped against Thebez and took it. is this the tribe for the praise of Jehovah? The men of Shechem (Judges 9:2-3) supported the plan because it was good for them, not because it was morally good or right. So says he: "When Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh, then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land; but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. But if it was his hidden power, it acted also as a test; and now the enemy possessed it, disclosed to a harlot, who had wrung it for gold from his foolish heart. Ceremony is easy and attractive to the flesh, and there may be the more, as there usually is, where there is least power or reality. And so he called to Abimelech and said, Increase your army. b. God was in none of their thoughts. The bramble was a low, thorny bush and offered shade to no one, especially to trees. Is it they who say to Samson, "Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us?" Should I cease giving my oil, In it, 1. TO ANOINT A KING, i.e. 14 Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. We are sanctified both by the Father's word and by Christ glorified on high. We are not in a position to deal with another until God has dealt with that which is contrary to His name in our own soul; and so it was that the men of Benjamin were utterly smitten and well-nigh exterminated. But no "Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. Judges 9 Commentary Explaining The Book 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. But God takes means to make them feel what such a state comes to. 6. all the men of Shechem . But we must look a little into the great principles of divine truth that meet us in weighing the history of Samson. a. b. Chapter 9Now here's what happened. Even if God interfere and produce the direct opposite of the fleshly enjoyment which self-will had sought, it is in no way to the man's praise if God effects his purposes by his acts, spite of wrong and folly. Then he went to his fathers house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, on one stone. "He judged Israel twenty years," is the repetition of the word at this point. II. went to Beer--the modern village El-Bireh, on the ridge which bounds the northern prospect of Jerusalem. Judges 9 Commentary So, heres the secret the end of Judges chapter 8 here shows us how Israel did wrong to God. Judges 9:22-49 . GAAL'S CONSPIRACY. 22. When Abimelech had reigned three years --His reign did not, probably at first, extend beyond Shechem; but by stealthy and progressive encroachments he subjected some of the neighboring towns to his sway. And all the evil of the men of Shechem God returned on their own heads, and on them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal. What courage and confidence may they not then cherish! They had not done to him according to the deserving of his hands,Judges 9:16; Judges 9:16. Judges 9:15 - Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary So he "sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land? i. There was then "a man of mount Ephraim whose name was Micah," who, not satisfied with carrying out the impiety of his mother in making a graven and a molten image of silver dedicated to Jehovah, for this purpose gets a Levite to be consecrated as his priest. Judges 9:8 Commentaries: "Once the trees went forth to When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the . No doubt it was a wonderful display of physical force on the one hand; as on the other those he vanquished were the unrelenting enemies of God's people. b. But then, how can he claim that God will listen to the people if they listen to him (Jotham)? So Abimelech and all the people who were with him rose by night, and lay in wait: Abimelech agreed with and followed the plan suggested by Zebul. 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