To Samson, as we see, it was far different. 1. And the evil that he did against Gideon's sons was sort of recompensed. There he encounters a new trial, which sets before us the state of Israel in the most painful light. Men then, as now, feel not for a lie or a libel of God; they are sensitive when their own rights are touched. He not only turned with the grossest insults on their speech, but fell on themselves, and slew at the passage of Jordan forty and two thousand men of one of the chief tribes of Israel. [Note: For parallels to this fable in ancient Near Eastern literature, see W. C. van Wyk, "The Fable of Jotham in its Ancient Near Eastern Setting," in Studies in Wisdom Literature, pp. But what a God we have to do with, as Samson had! 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. But the fig tree said to them, (Compare Psalms 78:60-61) Such are the prominent points of instruction in this appendix. God was in none of their thoughts. How triumphantly has it been done in Christ our Lord, but in how different a way! 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? 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. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain. . His secret was to keep his hair uncut, with all strength annexed to it. What an opinion he had of them! What a figure of, but contrast with, His death who only pursued to that final point His absolute devotedness to the will of God, not doing it only but suffering it to the uttermost, and thus righteously by His death securing what no living obedience could have touched! In short Samson appears to me a man with as little, or as low, an appreciation of what it was to fight the battles of the Lord, as God had been pleased to use in any epoch throughout inspired history. exceedingly necessary for us to learn the fact that the dismally wretched condition that we have seen throughout all the Judges was true even from early days; and therefore the Spirit of God giving us this as a sort of supplement, or a conclusion, but with such marks of time as show that it was of a comparatively early date (and this can be proved before we have done with the book), is, I think, of considerable interest and importance. He made us. Now when they told Jotham: Jotham was the only son of Gideon to escape the massacre at the stone (Judges 9:5). Nederlandstalige Bijbelstudies door Stan Marinussen, Copyright - Enduring Word       |      . If, therefore, they took him for their king, they might rest assured that desolation and blood would mark the whole of his reign. 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. It was not true that the children of Israel had taken those lands as was pretended. You shall rise early and rush upon the city: Zebul advised Abimelech to organize a surprise attack against the rebels of Shechem. But it need surprise none that the proper history of this judge terminates according to the mind of God here; for what has the Lord to tell in the next chapter? We come to look at a parable, the parable of the trees. And the oxen, as he would go around, would pull the stick and it would cause this millstone to go around the groove. ii. And I don't know what phenomena it is that creates it but sound would have to carry for Jesus to be able to address such large multitudes of people.Even down by the beach there is Caesarea right near the Mediterranean in an amphitheater that is there that was built by the Romans. And so then he went to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez. Therefore does the second part of the appendix (Judges 19:1-30; Judges 21:1-25) find a place directly afterwards. As ever you hope to obtain God's favour, and to be accepted of him, give me a patient and impartial hearing." Not till they desired a king like the nations. Now the moral importance of this was immense, for if they were simply doing the will and word of God, who could stand in their way? 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. Now therefore, get up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. Killed his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal: Therefore, Abimelech killed his brothers with the support of his relatives on his mothers side. The answer however was incorrect. i. There is nothing good without His name. His very birth was peculiar, and the circumstances too before it; for there never had been as yet a time when Israel had been so enslaved; and undoubtedly the deliverer, as we have traced regularly hitherto, so here again to the last, is seen to be according to the estate of the people, with whatever might or success God might be pleased to clothe him. in the use of names, Jerubbaal is used throughout for Gideon, and Yahweh is referred to only by the generic Elohim. 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). 51-53. all the men and women, . Through highway robbery, the Shechemites created an atmosphere of insecurity and disorder, at the same time robbing Abimelech of his taxes (22-25). But alas! Judges 9:1-6 . The spiritual man understands how it was. 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. WebJudges 9:8. The men of Shechem put their confidence in him: The men of Shechem lost their confidence in Abimelech, so they chose a new leader named Gaal, the son of Ebed. With a little exertion of voice, he could easily have been heard by the people of the city; for the hill so overhangs the valley, that a person from the side or summit would have no difficulty in speaking to listeners at the base. WebJudges 9:8-15 New International Version 8 One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. . 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? We shall find too that Samson's feats of power, great as they were, in no way broke the neck of Philistine oppression. If you need help in understanding God's Word visit The Church of Christ they will help you. 13). This is our calling; but we see even in Israel that outside the limits, the very narrow limits, in which God called them to be the executors of divine vengeance even they calmly bear and brook as they best might; and there were those that understood the mind of God, and knew perfectly well why they were not so called to do. WebJudges 14:5-7. 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. 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. When we really are found in sorrow, and in circumstances that call for sorrow, before Jehovah, the heart is open to feel for the wrong-doer. 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 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. Who troubles himself with the Koran or the Shastres, save their votaries? or that one reign over you--a false insinuation, artfully contrived to stir up jealousy and alarm. Now when Jotham heard that they had made Abimelech king, he went to the top of mount Gerizim ( Judges 9:5-7 ). He would've been a good Mafia exterminator. 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. ". 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. 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. Indeed, for Him to obey in such a world must have been suffering It could not be otherwise. I have taken no ground beyond your own, my brethren; but surely this is a ground that calls you to assert the very same inestimable privilege that I boast as by grace a man of faith. What a picture of the true state of things! The king of the Ammonites did not speak candidly. 6. all the men of Shechem . We need 2 cookies to store this setting. Good men are likened to good trees: they are too concerned with giving useful and honourable service to be bothered with seeking power. But there is one thing that God's Spirit always assumes the perfect goodness and the unswerving holiness of God. "And so he convinced the men of Shechem that they should come against the sons of Gideon and wipe them all out. Whatever might have been his low state through unchecked animal nature, whatever his delinquencies before, so long as he kept his secret with God, strength never failed him from God, be the strain what it might. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. I can stand on the stage and drop a pin and you can hear it sitting up there in the amphitheater with several hundred people. "It shall be that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me." And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them." You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon follow. Not that God did not work mightily afterwards, and even more in his death than in his life. 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. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. Often God finds a way to do it both in this life and the life to come. This, at least, was right. "What is this that thou hast done unto us? And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock. 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? If you google The Church of Christ it will tell you of one near you. and where such a sufferer? They took it quietly, and passed along their way. For we must remember carefully this, in looking at the dealings of God with the holy land and with His people Israel, God had always destined the land of Palestine for the chosen people. 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. ., 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. . What he felt was that these lands had once been his lands, and that the children of Israel now possessed them. And devour the cedars of Lebanon!. It was told Abimelech, that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. I. In senseless fury Abimelech carried his attack to other towns, but his uncontrolled rage and lack of caution soon brought about his own death. Chapter 9Now here's what happened. Even his father and mother knew nothing about their son's movements. 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. This is an important principle. But the vine said to them, 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. b. They had been at length brought down to their right place before God; they had taken the shame to themselves; the Lord had chastised them, and they had needed and deserved it righteously. and Zebul his officer? Here then we have certain facts, apart from the historic course, introduced in these words: "There was a man of mount Ephraim." In all ordinary cases a Nazarite was one who had taken a peculiar vow of separation to God, but lasting only for a short time. His application is very close and plain. I. But this was far from the true and full history of the case. But verse 30 seems adverse to this view. We can all understand righteousness where the ground is clearly sanctioned of God; but is it not also strengthening to our hearts to find that, even where all was dark and faulty, God knows how to give effect to His principles? Judges 9:9. 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. Because he is your brother: The real reason the men of Shechem supported Abimelech was because he was their brother. 7. he . And so the men of Shechem began to set an ambush for him and the top of the mountains, or for the people, and they robbed all of those that were going along that way and it was told to Abimelech.And then this guy Gaal, sort of a big mouth kind of a guy, said to the men, he came with his brothers and he went over to Shechem. And we see that those who cared not for the injured name of Jehovah have all their feelings drawn out when man was wronged. Our website uses cookies to store user preferences. His preface is very serious: "Hearken unto me, you men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you,Judges 9:7; Judges 9:7. It is the Danites again; only the account of Samson is chronologically at the close, whereas the new tale, as we have remarked, was comparatively early. Here God had to rebuke the people, even when morally right in the main, until the wrong their state and haste mixed up with it was purged out. And they have tracks in which the millstone rolls. We know that men make it a question for ingenious minds to speculate on. There was but one thing really involved obedience. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. ii. Does God Really Work All Things Together for Good? But God reserved great things for his death. To anoint a king over them.Evidently the thought of royalty was, so to speak, in the air. It is interesting to find from this passing allusion that the custom of anointing a king must have prevailed among the neighbouring nations. We have value because God says we do. This word is unique to the book and is perhaps chosen to distinguish Abimelechs ill-fated rule from that of the true judges. 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. Let fire come out of the bramble A strong catachresis. says Jephthah, "Jehovah God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?" So Abimelech was wiped out. For a good useful man some would even dare to die. For He won by no external strength but by suffering. And this is the great point for us that we can and ought to count on. And be assured that if the people of God fail in their responsibility to God, they are not to be trusted elsewhere. In other words, he's an outsider. 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 Here sound decibels are rising year by year and all of the sounds that we're subjected to the sound pollution. But now, as we know, the one whom he had made partner of his sin wheedled it from him that she might sell it to the Philistines. He made this speech from the top of Mount Gerizim, the mountain from which Israel heard the blessings of God pronounced upon the obedient (Deuteronomy 11:29 and 27:12; Joshua 8:33) about 150 years before. We are arrived at the end of this sad history. Literally, the Hebrew text reads that they committed fornication with the idol, which reflects the marriage language that God often uses when conveying his There being no king is in contrast with other lands which had kings, as Israel themselves subsequently. When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the Web1. It was not for their lives, but for the truth He confessed, that His own people would have Him die. And Jephthah vowed a vow unto Jehovah." However, Beer may not have been the name of a town. is he not the son of Jerubbaal? Where was the just horror at the idolatry of Micah? Most likely, when we talk about parables, our thoughts immediately