If unveiling the fact at all, he would have apologized for it, denounced its evil to clear himself, spoken much perhaps of God's permitting and overruling. 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. Thus men boast of a false gift. Set men in ambush they robbed all who passed by: Prompted by the spirit of ill will, the men of Shechem set ambushes on the mountain roads, hoping to disrupt the trade routes that profited Abimelech. For forty years the people groaned under their hard mastery. This is exceedingly instructive. His kingdom probably consisted only of Shechem and a few towns round about (9:1-6). TO ANOINT A KING, i.e. 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. three thousand men of Judah! 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. 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. There was the plainest proof of what God could be, even where there was but one man to work by; but this very fact showed to what a depth was Israel now sunk. 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. b. Dear Pilgrims Christianity is singular and not plural all things plural become corrupt Jesus begins each letter/epistle in Revelation to a church (plural) but He ends each letter/epistle addressing individual/s (singular) (i.e. It matters not what is the apparent good that is to be gained, or what may be the mischief that is to be avoided: the only place that becomes a believer is obedience. 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 Holy Ghost is given for this as for other purposes. Judges 9:8 Commentaries: "Once the trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, 'Reign over us!' The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. (8) The trees went forth. But that which does good to every saint and to every soul is the unqualified confidence in God and His word, which, if it does not reproduce itself in hearts purified by faith, at least deals with the consciences of all others till utterly blinded by Satan. You can check these in your browser security settings. But returning from this to the simple tale of Samson's life, I take it as the plain fact that God meant us to learn that He saw fit at that time to deliver by an unworthy instrument, by a man who showed how low he was, if only by the moral incongruity of an Israelitish Nazarite seeking a wife from the fiercest of Israel's uncircumcised enemies. Alas! 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. "Thus saith Jephthah," was his answer, "Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon." 21 And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother. His secret was to keep his hair uncut, with all strength annexed to it. We have here the only testimony that appears to have been borne against the wicked confederacy of Abimelech and the men of Shechem. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars. In other words, he's an outsider. No way. "Then the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon. Abimelechs mother, though only a maidservant to Gideon, was from Shechem. Alas! (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. And it came to pass on the next day, that the people went out into the field; and they told Abimelech. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. 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). If man had the writing of the story, would he have dared to speak out thus plainly? And they would often hook an oxen to it and they had this stone groove that went around in a circle. When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was aroused. But scripture claims always to be the word of God never the word of Isaiah or Ezekiel, of Peter or Paul (1 Corinthians 14:37; 2 Peter 3:15-16); for, whatever the instrument may be, it is as truly God's word as if the Holy Ghost had written it without a single instrumental means. Chapter 9Now here's what happened. 50 - 57. Jotham did not go about to raise an army out of the other cities of Israel (in which, one would think, he might have made a good interest for his father's sake), to avenge his brethren's death, much less to set up himself in competition with Abimelech, so groundless was the usurper's suggestion that the sons of Gideon aimed at dominion (Judges 9:2; Judges 9:2); but he contents himself with giving a faithful reproof to the Shechemites, and fair warning of the fatal consequences. The circumstances also were highly remarkable. "And the olive tree said, "Should I leave my fatness and so forth and rule over you? 308.]. Which cheers both God and men, They decide on matters first, and the case becomes only another instance of man's folly in dealing with evil. So Abimelech chased him, and many were overthrown and wounded, even to the entering of the gate. They said to the olive tree, Be our king. 9 But the olive tree answered, In the latter case it is nothing but flesh, which becomes manifest in the long run; but even in the case of him who is truthful, whatever is carnal, whatever lets out that nature which is already judged, the confession of whose judgment is the very starting-point of a Christian, but which it is his calling to act upon and treat as a dead and condemned thing to the end if he forgets this, then, in the measure in which he does so, it brings in that which the Lord must infallibly deal with. And the Sea of Galilee, same thing, the sound really carries. You think of Jesus speaking to a crowd of ten thousand people and they're all able to hear Him and that's without amplifying systems. The children of Israel were in no way responsible for it. Their moral condition indeed was the very lowest, below nature itself, towards their deliverer. How much more are we, brethren, who are the followers of One who knew nothing but a life of continual sorrow and shame for the glory of God! b. Their keenest feelings were in favour of the Levite and his concubine, wounded to the quick by the abominations of the men of Gibeah; and therefore, whatever of human affection may be in evidence, we certainly learn how little faith Jehovah could then find in the land of Israel. All promise, no performance. If Ammon could or would not seek to recover it previously, they had no title to claim now from Israel. And the oxen, as he would go around, would pull the stick and it would cause this millstone to go around the groove. Is it possible to conceive a conjuncture of its kind more humiliating? 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 it was told Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. another point, still more important, going along with it. A work begun under the name and influence of the devil is not likely to end to the glory of God, or to the welfare of man. (Clarke). b. And then said Zebul unto him, Okay where's your mouth now, and you said, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? This latter view is the more probable, from the Shechemites ( Judges 9:24 ) aiding in it. The top of Gerizim is not so high in the rear of the town, as it is nearer to the plain. For He won by no external strength but by suffering. "Art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? if a man attempts: to put himself under it for shelter, he will find it will be of no use to him, but harmful, since, the nearer and closer he comes to it, the more he will be scratched and torn by it: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon; signifying, that if they did not heartily submit to his government, and put confidence in him, and prove faithful to him, they should smart for it, and feel his wrath and vengeance, even the greatest men among them, comparable to the cedars of Lebanon; for thorns and brambles catching fire, as they easily do, or fire being put to them, as weak as they are, and placed under the tallest and strongest cedars, will soon fetch them down to the ground; and the words of the bramble, or Abimelech, proved true to the Shechemites, he is made to speak in this parable. It was quite evident therefore that Jephthah was guilty of the greatest rashness in his vow. Preferment is apt to make men proud and slothful, and thus spoil their usefulness, with which in a lower sphere they honoured God and man, for which reason those that desire to do good are afraid of being too great. Such hand-stones averaged ten to fourteen inches long and weighed five pounds or more. (Wood). b. He was pretty tough on these false teachers and those that would destroy faith in the heart of a child. They spread abroad the revolting tale; they readily respond to the call for their advice and counsel. Now, broken down before God who had ordered their defeat, they are made to feel for their brother, guilty as he was, no doubt. 14 Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. With which they honor God and men, 23. Resent it? Judah! And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.". This was an ungodly leader given to an ungodly people, who first rejected Gods leadership over the nation and then embraced a cruel and brutal man. . We know that men make it a question for ingenious minds to speculate on. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. "Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot;" yet here, though fallen lower than ever, we find power put forth under these deplorable circumstances. 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. Scanty honour paid he to his parents, but ardently gave himself up to the pursuance of his own plans. [Note: Idem, Judges . And devour the cedars of Lebanon!. Peter - A watchman of His Word. It does not matter what the line taken may be, no good end will ever be owned by God unless the way be according to His word and righteousness. But what a God we have to do with, as Samson had! All rights reserved. This was as if a man should run into a stack of straw or barrel of gunpowder, to secure himself from a raging fire. 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. i. This again makes the case of Israel still more clear, because it might have been supposed that surely the Amorite must be put out of the way, seeing that that most wicked race was devoted expressly to destruction. There is not a man that sympathizes with him, not even in Judah; yet Judah, we know, was the royal tribe in the purpose of God from the beginning, as in fact its type followed in David. The people took refuge in the stronghold, which was set on fire, and all in it perished. 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. Ophrah, and slew his brethren--This is the first mention of a barbarous atrocity which has, with appalling frequency, been perpetrated in the despotic countries of the East--that of one son of the deceased monarch usurping the throne and hastening to confirm himself in the possession by the massacre of all the natural or legitimate competitors. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves." I. But all of the other sons of Gideon were killed. And Abimelech dwelt in Arumah: and Zebul thrust out Gaal with his brothers, that they should not dwell in Shechem. It is not the vanity of setting up oneself as possessed of exclusive powers or special means of attaining or explaining anything; for I should distrust anyone who pretended to anything of the sort, no matter who or where he might be. 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? Is it not evident that Samson feebly knew what God was teaching him by the lion which he slew, and by the lion's carcase which he found with the honey in it? b. Therefore is it explained with great care. We see that God was faithful; but the fidelity even of those whom He used in deliverance is another matter. 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. I do not myself doubt that it was put in the broadest way. Nor was this the only intervention of the Lord, but personal succour follows at His hand. 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. Years might pass, hundreds of years roll over, but moral principles and even natural relationships do not lose their power. And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and killed the people that were therein, and he beat down the city, and sowed it with salt. ABIMELECH IS MADE KING BY THE SHECHEMITES. Thus the king of Ammon had lost his old claim, and had no present title to question Israel's right of conquest. And be assured, brethren, that in an evil world patience is morally much beyond power. Now therefore, get up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. Web3 When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelek, for they said, He is related to us. 4 They gave him seventy shekels[ a] of If they had, as he was sure they had, dealt basely and wickedly in this matter, let them never expect to prosper, Judges 9:20; Judges 9:20. And he sent messengers to Abimelech secretly, saying, Take note! i. And the fig tree said unto them, "Should I forsake my sweetness, my good fruit? That God may listen to you! 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.

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