judges 9:8 15 explanation

Before Abimelechs sole surviving brother went into hiding, he uttered a protest against Abimelech that predicted the effect of his rule. ", After having thus completely refuted his claim over the land on the ground of its being Ammonite, whereas in point of fact it had been won from them by the Amorite, and as such had passed into Israel's hand, now he gives them a warning from the blows that God had inflicted on a mightier king than himself. The descent is great, when one bearing the name of the Lord slights His word and seeks a path of his own. Furthermore we can see what had become of Shechem (cf. This is always true in the ways of God. So they went out into the fields, and gathered grapes from their vineyards and trod them, and made merry. It is not here meant that there is any special difficulty in that which has been the occasion of these general remarks; still less is it implied that he who speaks makes any pretension to know anything as he ought to know, more than those he sees around him. 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. Such is the blinding power of sin; for was he ignorant of her vileness or of his own danger? Do we know what a thing obedience is in God's eyes, even though it may be displayed in the simplest manner? It is the perfection of the creature, giving God His place, and man his own; it is the lowliest, and withal the morally highest place for one here below, as for the angels above. We have nothing like a Moses in Samson. We ought to be serving Hamor and his family, let them be the kings. Yet is the victory won by God's Spirit, without anything in the hand; but it is by direct antagonism to the enemy, not by guilty connection with his instruments. 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. If man had the writing of the story, would he have dared to speak out thus plainly? But, (2.) Who troubles himself with the Koran or the Shastres, save their votaries? 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. And this, I need scarce say, is still more due on the score of brotherly relation and divine love, not merely on the ground of that which we might expect for our own souls. And if unbelief be probed home, it comes to this: it is a virtual denial of God's veracity, of His revelation, if not of His being. And this is just as true of the saint as of the man who rashly or lightly bears the name of the Lord Jesus. It seems therefore that the two extremes of moral weakness and of outward strength find each its height in this extraordinary character. In other words, he's an outsider. You shall rise early and rush upon the city: Zebul advised Abimelech to organize a surprise attack against the rebels of Shechem. Zebul advised Abimelech to come and attack the city. It was quite evident therefore that Jephthah was guilty of the greatest rashness in his vow. What's best? Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him--idle, worthless vagabonds, the scum of society, who had nothing to lose, but much to gain from the success of a revolutionary movement. When a suitable occasion arose and Abimelech was in another town, a group of Shechemites plotted to overthrow him. Samson was afterwards about to put a riddle to the Philistines from this lion. Resent it? 5. went unto . The bramble was too low to give shelter to any tree; and so far from being able to consume others, that the smallest fire will reduce it to ashes, and that in the shortest time. 7 - 21. Jotham's parable, ver. WebScripture: Judges 9:8-15 Denomination: Baptist Abimelech: Whos In Charge Series Contributed by Bruce Rzengota on Dec 25, 2009 based on 4 ratings | 8,646 views ABIMELECH TYPIFIES THE PURSUIT OF OUR WAY RATHER THAN GODS WAY. 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. It does not throw a veil, as man loves to do, over that which is uncomely and distressing in those that bear the name of the Lord; especially as the very object the Spirit of God has here in view is to show the frightful results of a vow so little weighed before God, not at all drawn from His guidance. When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the But alas! Who's Abimelech? But God reserved great things for his death. Whatever then might be Samson's motives and conduct, it was the Holy One, as we are told, who prompted him against the aggressors of Israel. another point, still more important, going along with it. . Killed his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal: Therefore, Abimelech killed his brothers with the support of his relatives on his mothers side. And all the men of Shechem gathered together, all of Beth Millo, and they went and made Abimelech king beside the terebinth tree at the pillar that was in Shechem. 2. The fig-tree must lose its sweetness, its sweet retirement, sweet repose, and sweet conversation and contemplation, if it go to be promoted over the trees, and must undergo a constant fatigue. I need not dwell on the deplorable details. The bramble, being chosen to the government, takes no time to consider whether he should accept it or no, but immediately, as if he had been born and bred to dominion, hectors, and assures them they shall find him as he found them. ., 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. 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. it is no new thing to faith; Jesus knew it to the bottom. There was but one thing really involved obedience. 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. Bad as were the features we have seen, we have to see even worse still; yet he was heard and answered when he called. WebThose who bear fruit for the public good, are justly respected and honoured by all that are wise, more than those who merely make a figure. What Every Christian Should Know about the Protestant Reformation. The olive pleads (Judges 9:9; Judges 9:9), Should I leave my wine, wherewith both God and man are served and honoured? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them." "And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines, and he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife" (Judges 14:1-20). Absolutely immaculate Himself, He was made sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in Him who for us by death annulled him that had the power of death, and gave us out of that defeat our unfailing comfort. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. God was in none of their thoughts. This again leads to a bitter vengeance of the Philistines on those of Timnath who had served him so ill the very fate befalling them at last, to escape which at first the woman had lent herself to the basest treachery. And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok.". i. Abimelech, the son of his maidservant: Abimelechs mother is called a slave girl, a term usually referring to a wifes servant who is also a concubine, such as Hagar or Bilhah. (Wolf). No way. Abimelech got up to mount Zalmon, with his people; and he began to with his axe to cut down the boughs from the trees, he laid them on his shoulder, and said to the people, Follow my example. 36 And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Behold, there come people down from the top of the mountains. Meanwhile the man, morally speaking, is ruined his testimony to His name being worse than lost. The bramble is a worthless plant, not to be numbered among the trees, useless and fruitless, nay, hurtful and vexatious, scratching and tearing, and doing mischief; it began with the curse, and its end is to be burned. Click to enable/disable _gid - Google Analytics Cookie. II. We know that men make it a question for ingenious minds to speculate on. 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 . Please see our Privacy Policy for cookie usage details. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. Click to enable/disable Google Analytics tracking. Now when they told Jotham: Jotham was the only son of Gideon to escape the massacre at the stone (Judges 9:5). 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. 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. Over there you can hear children miles away, dogs barking and so forth. 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? Alas! So his father went down unto the women: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do." 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. 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. Verses: PREVIOUS Judges 8 NEXT a. "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. This indeed becomes distinctly the moral of the tale. Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But all of the other sons of Gideon were killed. The man thus went forth in the confidence of his strength, and to outward appearance did things just to make the enemy feel what he could do, with as little exercise toward God as could well be found in one that feared Him. If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here: We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. The reason which all these fruit-trees gave for their refusal was much the same. And so the guy thrust him through anyhow and so they didn't say a woman killed him. 1. what shadow or protection can there be in a bramble? And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you? Abimelech was more like a tyrant than a king. (Wolf), ii. We should each consider if God is warning us about something in the present time. 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). For "the righteous Lord loveth righteousness"; and in its measure it is very striking to see the way in which this came out even in the case of the worldly uncircumcised enemy. It is an instance of the same thing that we have often seen before in other forms. Is it they who say to Samson, "Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us?" And so Abimelech led a group of vain fellows and they came to the houses of Gideon's sons and they wiped them all out with the exception of just one of his sons, Jotham. WebJudges Commentary - Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete) Bible Study Tools Join PLUS Login. The story of Abimelech connects directly with the story of Gideon. [3.] Those whose extraction and education are ever so high know not to what difficulties and straits they may be reduced. And just as a bramble can catch fire easily and burn down a forest, so would Abimelech be the means of the Shechemites destruction (7-21).In due course trouble arose between Abimelech and the Shechemites. God would magnify His power, but only as a witness now and then; nothing more. It was not true that the children of Israel had taken those lands as was pretended. His secret was to keep his hair uncut, with all strength annexed to it. Alas! He did this, but in a way that they never imagined he hired worthless and reckless men to kill all his brothers, making certain there would never be a challenger to his leadership. It was ordered of God that it should spring from that tribe, which was more than any other marked, not merely by a weakness that portended danger to themselves, as we shall see, but by a moral laxity which would finally afford a suited subject, as indeed from the beginning it had been intimated prophetically in the last words of their father Jacob a-dying, for the fatal result of departure and apostasy from God. A very reprehensible action on the part of Jerubbaal, unconscionable. It was His brethren who sought to lay hold on Him as beside Himself, His brethren who did not believe on Him. ii. Having decided out of their own heads, they then turn to God, and ask Him to bless them in their efforts to exterminate Benjamin. Undoubtedly there are many things in scripture of which we are ignorant; but then we are not entitled to interpret the word of God by ourselves. There he encounters a new trial, which sets before us the state of Israel in the most painful light. With which they honor God and men, 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 in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.". Go out and take him on. So he took his people, divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the field. Now that the occasion calls for it, one may notice by the way the transparent boldness of Scripture, as wonderfully instructive as the reserve we have already remarked. 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? 2 Samuel 11:21). (Wolf), ii. So it was. Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. But the vine said to them, 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. The same word means whosoever. "And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. Thus Christ triumphed over the powers of darkness that shouted against him, as if they had him in their power. And he said to them: Listen to me, you men of Shechem, 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. In both they put the utmost contempt imaginable upon Gideon. There is no difficulty in principle either way. 22. TO ANOINT A KING, i.e. With the help of some worthless Shechemites, Abimelech killed all his brothers (except one who escaped) and established himself king in Shechem. The promise of the bramble, take shelter in my shade, was intended as ironic and ridiculous. 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. 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. i. 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. b. And his brethren, as we find, came up, took him away, and buried him. It was a great way about, and extremely inconvenient. 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. The object of the king of Ammon was to put the children of Israel in the wrong. 51-53. all the men and women, . "And so they came to the vine and said, "Rule over us. 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. 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 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. The answer however was incorrect. Good men are likened to good trees: they are too concerned with giving useful and honourable service to be bothered with seeking power. 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. Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to his uncles and all his mothers relatives and said to them, Ask all the leading men of Shechem, What do you think is best, that seventy men rule youal And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mothers relatives, and spoke to them and to the whole clan of the What came out we know too well. But the good was hard to reach or even to discern, the evil abundant and obvious, "And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years." Now therefore, if you have acted in truth and sincerity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him as he deserves; for my father fought for you, risked his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian; but you have risen up against my fathers house this day, and killed his seventy sons on one stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother; if then you have acted in truth and sincerity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? There was the plain and sure title of Jephthah. ABIMELECH IS MADE KING BY THE SHECHEMITES. WebGod tells us every human life has value. i. Anything like full deliverance must await that day, itself a type of the day of Jehovah. WebThe Book of Judges Chapter 9 Chapter Overview: Abimelech usurps the government at Shechem, ver. And he looked, and there were the people, coming out of the city; and he rose against them and attacked them. . Salem Media Group. He went to Thebez and attacked the city and the tower there. "And the olive tree said, "Should I leave my fatness and so forth and rule over you? Such then was the bloody crisis at which a deliverer of Israel arrives in his unsparing resentment.

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