Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, by R.A. Torrey, [ca. 1880], at sacred-texts.com
Judges Chapter 9
Overview
Jdg 9:1, Abimelech by conspiracy with the Shechemites, and murder of his brethren, is made king; Jdg 9:7, Jotham by a parable rebukes them, and foretells their ruin; Jdg 9:22, Gaal conspires with the Shechemites against him; Jdg 9:30, Zebul reveals it; Jdg 9:34, Abimelech overcomes them, and sows the city with salt; Jdg 9:46, He burns the hold of the god Berith; Jdg 9:50, At Thebez he is slain by a piece of a millstone; Jdg 9:56, Jotham's curse if fulfilled.
Abimelech: Jdg 8:31
Shechem: Gen 33:18, Gen 34:2; Kg1 12:1
communed: Sa2 15:6; Kg1 12:3, Kg1 12:20; Psa 83:2-4; Jer 18:18
Whether: etc. Heb. What is good
whether: etc
threescore: Jdg 8:30
your bone: Gen 29:14; Sa2 19:13; Ch1 11:1; Eph 5:30; Heb 2:14
spake: Psa 10:3; Pro 1:11-14
to follow: Heb. after
our brother: Gen 29:15
house: Jdg 9:46-49, Jdg 8:33
vain: etc. Anashim raikim oophochozim, "worthless and dissolute men;" persons who were living on the public, and had nothing to lose. Such was the foundation of his Babel government. By a cunning management of such unprincipled men most revolutions are brought about. Jdg 11:3; Sa1 22:2; Ch2 13:7; Job 30:8; Pro 12:11; Act 17:5
at Ophrah: Jdg 6:24
slew: Kg2 10:17, Kg2 11:1, Kg2 11:2; Ch2 21:4; Mat 2:16, Mat 2:20
Millo: Probably the name of a person of note in Shechem.
plain: or, oak, Jos 24:26; Kg1 12:1, Kg1 12:20, Kg1 12:25
mount Gerizim: Deu 11:29, Deu 27:12; Jos 8:33; Joh 4:20
Hearken: Psa 18:40, Psa 18:41, Psa 50:15-21; Pro 1:28, Pro 1:29, Pro 21:13, Pro 28:9; Isa 1:15, Isa 58:6-10; Mat 18:26-34; Jam 2:13
The trees: This is the most ancient fable or apologue extant; and is extremely beautiful, apposite, and intelligible. Kg2 14:9; Eze 17:3-10; Dan 4:10-18
olive tree: The zayith, or olive tree, in the Linnean system, is a genus of the diandra monogynia class of plants. It is of a moderate height, and grows best in sunny places. Its trunk is knotty; bark smooth, of an ash colour. wood solid and yellowish; leaves oblong, almost like those of the willow, of a dark green colour on the upper side, and whitish below. In June it puts forth white flowers, growing in bunches, each of one piece, widening towards the top, and dividing into four parts. After this succeeds the fruit, which is oblong and plump; first green, then pale, and when quite ripe, black. Within it is enclosed a hard stone, filled with oblong seeds. It was the most useful of all trees in the forest; as the bramble was the meanest and most worthless.
wherewith: Exo 29:2, Exo 29:7, Exo 35:14; Lev 2:1; Kg1 19:15, Kg1 19:16; Psa 89:20, Psa 104:15; Act 4:27; Act 10:38; Jo1 2:20
God: Elohim, rather gods; the parable being adapted to the idolatrous Shechemites.
to be promoted over the trees: Heb. up and down for other trees, Job 1:7, Job 2:2
cheereth: Num 15:5, Num 15:7, Num 15:10; Psa 104:15; Pro 31:6; Ecc 10:19
bramble: or, thistle, Kg2 14:9
shadow: Isa 30:2; Dan 4:12; Hos 14:7; Mat 13:32
let fire: Jdg 9:20, Jdg 9:49; Num 21:28; Isa 1:31; Eze 19:14
the cedars: Kg2 14:9; Psa 104:16; Isa 2:13, Isa 37:24; Eze 31:3
according: Jdg 8:35
fought: Judg. 7:1-25, Jdg 8:4-10
adventured his life: Heb. cast his life, Est 4:16; Rom 5:8, Rom 16:4; Rev 12:11
are risen: Jdg 9:5, Jdg 9:6, Jdg 8:35; Psa 109:4
Abimelech: Jdg 9:6, Jdg 9:14, Jdg 8:31
rejoice: Isa 8:6; Phi 3:3; Jam 4:16
let fire come out: Jdg 9:15, Jdg 9:23, Jdg 9:56, Jdg 9:57, Jdg 7:22; Ch2 20:22, Ch2 20:23; Psa 21:9, Psa 21:10, Psa 28:4, Psa 52:1-5; Psa 120:3, Psa 120:4, Psa 140:10
Beer: Probably the Beer mentioned by Mr. Maundrell, three hours and a half, or about ten miles, north of Jerusalem, towards Shechem. It is situated toward the south, on an easy declivity; and has a fountain of excellent water at the bottom of the hill, from which it has taken its name. Close to the well are the mouldering walls of a ruined khan; and on the summit of the hill two large arches still remain of a ruined convent. Dr. Richardson says, that it seems to have been once a place of considerable consequence. Num 21:16; Jos 19:8; Sa2 20:14
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God: That is, God permitted the evil spirit of jealousy, treachery, and discord, to break out between Abimelech and the Shechemites. Jdg 9:15, Jdg 9:20; Sa1 16:14-16, Sa1 18:9, Sa1 18:10; Kg1 12:15, Kg1 22:22, Kg1 22:23; Ch2 10:15; Ch2 18:19-22; Isa 19:2, Isa 19:14; Th2 2:11, Th2 2:12
An: Ex, Is, 258
dealt: Jdg 9:16; Isa 33:1; Mat 7:2
That the: Sa1 15:33; Kg1 2:32; Est 9:25; Psa 7:16; Mat 23:34-36
aided him in the killing of: Heb. strengthened his hands to kill, Sooner or later, God will make inquisition for blood, and will return it on the heads of those that shed it. Accessories will be reckoned with, as well as principals, in that and other sins. The Shechemites, who countenanced Abimelech's pretensions, aided and abetted him in his bloody project, and avowed the fact by making him king after he had done it, must fall with him, fall by him, and fall first. Those that combine together to do wickedly, are justly dashed in pieces one against another. Blood cannot be a lasting cement to any interest.
Jos 8:4, Jos 8:12, Jos 8:13; Pro 1:11, Pro 1:12
merry: or, songs, Isa 16:9, Isa 16:10, Isa 24:7-9; Jer 25:30; Amo 6:3-6
the house: Jdg 9:4, Jdg 16:23; Exo 32:6, Exo 32:19; Dan 5:1-4, Dan 5:23
did eat: Isa 22:12-14; Luk 12:19, Luk 12:20, Luk 17:26-29
cursed: Lev 24:11; Sa1 17:43; Psa 109:17
Who is Abimelech: Sa1 25:10; Sa2 20:1; Kg1 12:16
would to God: The very words and conduct of a sly, hypocritical demagogue. Sa2 15:4; Kg1 20:11; Psa 10:3; Rom 1:30, Rom 1:31
And he said: Rather, "and I would say to Abimelech," as the LXX renders; for as Dr. Wall observes, this was probably not said in the presence of Abimelech; but at an intemperate feast, in his absence, when he boasted he would challenge him.
Increase thine army: Sa2 2:14-17; Kg2 14:8, Kg2 18:23; Isa 36:8, Isa 36:9
kindled: or, hot, Jdg 9:30
privily: Heb. craftily, or, to Tormah
they fortify: Under pretence of repairing the walls and towers, they were actually putting the place in a state of defence, intending to seize on the government as soon as they found Abimelech coming against them. Jdg 9:31
by night: Job 24:14-17; Psa 36:4; Pro 1:11-16, Pro 4:16; Rom 3:15
as thou shalt find: Heb. as thine hand shall find, Lev 25:26 *marg. Sa1 10:7, Sa1 25:8; Ecc 9:10
Gaal: Of this person we know no more than is here recorded. He was probably one of the descendants of the Canaanites, who hoped, from the state of the public mind and their disaffection to Abimelech, to cause a revolution, and thus to restore the ancient government as it was under Hamor, the father of Shechem. Josephus says he was a man of authority, who sojourned with them, with his armed men and kinsmen; and that the Shechemites desired that he would allow them a guard during the vintage.
the people: Jdg 9:44
seest the shadow: Doubdan states, that in some parts of the Holy Land there are many detached rocks scattered up and down, some growing out of the ground, and others fragments broken off from rocky precipices, the shadow of which, it appears, Josephus thought might be most naturally imagined to look like troops of men at a distance, rather than that of the mountains; for he represents Zebul as saying to Gaal, that he mistook the shadow of the rocks for men. Eze 7:7; Mar 8:24
middle: Heb. navel
Meonenim: or, the regarders of the times, Deu 18:14
Jdg 9:28, Jdg 9:29; Sa2 2:26, Sa2 2:27; Kg2 14:8-14; Jer 2:28
he fled before: Kg1 20:18-21, Kg1 20:30
Arumah: This place appears from the next verse to have been near Shechem; and is perhaps the same as Ruma, a village of Galilee, mentioned by Josephus, Bell. 1. iii. c. 7.
rushed forward: Jdg 9:15, Jdg 9:20; Gal 5:15
he took: Jdg 9:20
beat: Deu 29:23; Kg1 12:25; Kg2 3:25; Psa 107:34 *marg. Eze 47:11; Zep 2:9; Jam 2:13
sowed: Salt in small quantities renders land extremely fertile; but too much of it destroys vegetation. Every place, says Pliny, in which salt is found is barren, and produces nothing. Hence the sowing of a place with salt was a custom in different nations to express permanent desolation. Sigonius observes, that when Milan was taken, ad 1162, the walls were razed, and it was sown with salt. And Brantome informs us, that it was an ancient custom in France, to sow the house of a man with salt, who had been declared a traitor to his king. Charles IX., king of France, the most base and perfidious of human beings, caused the house of Admiral Coligni (whom he and the Duke of Guise caused to be murdered, with thousands more of Protestants, on the eve of St. Bartholomew, 1572), to be sown with salt!
an hold: Jdg 9:4, Jdg 9:27, Jdg 8:33; Kg1 8:26; Kg2 1:2-4; Psa 115:8; Isa 28:15-18, Isa 37:38
Zalmon: Psa 68:14
What ye: Jdg 7:17, Jdg 7:18; Pro 1:11, Pro 1:12
me do: Heb. I have done
put them: Jdg 9:15, Jdg 9:20; Gal 5:15; Jam 3:16
Thebez: According to Eusebius, thirteen miles from Shechem, towards Scythopolis. Jdg 9:50
Jdg 9:48, Jdg 9:49; Kg2 14:10, Kg2 15:16
woman: Jdg 9:15, Jdg 9:20; Sa2 11:21, Sa2 20:21; Job 31:3; Jer 49:20, Jer 50:45
and all to: An antiquated expression, meaning "full intention" to complete an object. "All to," observes Dr. Johnson, "is a particle of mere enforcement." The original is wattaritz eth gulgalto, which is simply as the LXX render και εκλασε το κρανιον αυτου, "and she brake his skull." Plutarch relates, that Pyrrhus was killed at the siege of Thebes, by a piece of a tile, which a woman threw upon his head.
And his young man: It was a disgrace to be killed by a woman.
Sa2 18:16, Sa2 20:21, Sa2 20:22; Kg1 22:35, Kg1 22:36; Pro 22:10
God rendered: Both the fratricide Abimelech and the unprincipled men of Shechem had the iniquity visited upon them of which they had been guilty. Man's judgment may be avoided; but there is no escape from that of God. How many houses have been sown with salt in France, by the just judgment of God, for the massacre of the Protestants on the eve of St. Bartholomew! See note on Jdg 9:45. Jdg 9:24; Job 31:3; Psa 9:12, Psa 11:6, Psa 58:10, Psa 58:11, Psa 94:23; Pro 5:22; Mat 7:2; Act 28:4; Gal 6:7; Rev 19:20, Rev 19:21