Commentaria in Judices
Chapter 9
Abimelech, the son of Gedeon, having slain sixty-nine of his brothers, seizes and obtains the rule of Israel through the Sichemites, his kinsmen. Wherefore Joatham his brother, verse 8 ff., by the parable of the bramble threatens and foretells destruction both to him and to the Sichemites, which the event afterwards confirmed, as is related in verse 23 ff., through the spirit of dissension which God sent between them. Abimelech was therefore the sixth ruler of Israel, not so much a judge as a tyrant.
1. And Abimelech the son of Jerobaal went to Sichem to his mother’s brethren, and spoke to them, and to all the kindred of his mother’s house, saying: 2. Speak to all the men of Sichem: Which is better for you, that seventy men, all the sons of Jerobaal, should rule over you, or that one man should rule over you? and consider that I am your bone and your flesh. 3. And his mother’s brethren spoke of him to all the men of Sichem, all these words, and inclined their hearts after Abimelech, saying: He is our brother. 4. And they gave him seventy weight of silver out of the temple of Baalberith: and he hired for himself therewith men that were poor and vagabonds, and they followed him. 5. And he came to his father’s house in Ephra, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerobaal, seventy men, upon one stone: and there remained only Joatham, the youngest son of Jerobaal, and he was hid. 6. And all the men of Sichem gathered themselves together, and all the families of the city of Mello: and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak that stood in Sichem. 7. When this was told to Joatham, he went and stood in the top of mount Garizim: and lifting up his voice, he cried, and said: Hear me, ye men of Sichem, so may God hear you. 8. The trees went to anoint a king over them: and they said to the olive tree: Reign thou over us. 9. And it answered: How can I leave my fatness, which both gods and men make use of, and come to be promoted among the trees? 10. And the trees said to the fig tree: Come thou, and reign over us. 11. And it answered them: Can I leave my sweetness, and my most sweet fruits, and go to be promoted among the other trees? 12. And the trees said to the vine: Come thou, and reign over us. 13. And it answered them: Can I leave my wine, that cheereth God and men, and be promoted among the other trees? 14. And all the trees said to the bramble: Come thou, and reign over us. 15. And it answered them: If indeed you make me king, come ye, and rest under my shadow: but if you mean not so, let fire come out from the bramble, and devour the cedars of Libanus. 16. Now therefore, if you have done well and without sin in making Abimelech king, and have dealt well with Jerobaal and with his house, and have made a return of gratitude to him who fought for you, 17. and exposed his life to dangers that he might deliver you from the hand of Madian, 18. whereas you are now risen up against my father’s house, and have slain his sons, seventy men, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his handmaid, king over the inhabitants of Sichem, because he is your brother: 19. if then you have dealt well and without sin with Jerobaal and his house, this day rejoice ye in Abimelech, and may he rejoice in you: 20. but if perversely, let fire come out from him, and consume the inhabitants of Sichem and the town of Mello; and let fire come out from the men of Sichem, and from the town of Mello, and devour Abimelech. 21. And when he had said these things, he fled, and went into Bera, and dwelt there for fear of Abimelech his brother. 22. So Abimelech reigned over Israel three years. 23. And the Lord sent a very evil spirit between Abimelech and the inhabitants of Sichem, who began to detest him, 24. and to lay the crime of the murder of the seventy sons of Jerobaal, and the shedding of their blood, upon Abimelech their brother, and upon the other princes of the Sichemites, who had helped him. 25. And they set an ambush against him on the top of the mountains: and while they waited for his coming, they exercised robberies, taking spoils of the passengers: and it was told Abimelech. 26. And Gaal the son of Obed came with his brethren, and went over into Sichem. At whose coming the inhabitants of Sichem being raised up, 27. went out into the fields, wasting the vineyards, and treading the grapes; and making merry in choirs of singers, they entered the temple of their god, and with banquets and drinking cursed Abimelech, 28. Gaal the son of Obed crying out: Who is this Abimelech, and what is Sichem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerobaal, and hath appointed Zebul his servant ruler over the men of Hemor the father of Sichem? Why then shall we serve him? 29. Would to God that someone would give this people under my hand, that I might remove Abimelech out of the way. And it was said to Abimelech: Gather together a multitude of an army, and come. 30. For Zebul the ruler of the city, hearing the words of Gaal the son of Obed, was very angry, 31. and sent messengers privately to Abimelech, saying: Behold Gaal the son of Obed is come into Sichem with his brethren, and maketh the city rebel against thee. 32. Arise therefore in the night with the people that is with thee, and lie hid in the field: 33. and in the morning at sunrise fall upon the city: and when he shall come out against thee with his people, do to him what thou canst. 34. Abimelech therefore arose, and all his army with him, by night, and laid an ambush near Sichem in four places. 35. And Gaal the son of Obed went out, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city. And Abimelech arose, and all his army with him from the place of the ambush. 36. And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul: Behold a multitude cometh down from the mountains. And he answered him: Thou seest the shadows of the mountains as if they were the heads of men, and this is thy mistake. 37. And Gaal again said: Behold there cometh a people down from the midst of the land, and one troop cometh by the way that looketh towards the oak. 38. And Zebul said to him: Where is now thy mouth, with which thou saidst: Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? Is not this the people which thou didst despise? Go out, and fight against him. 39. So Gaal went out, the people of Sichem looking on, and fought against Abimelech: 40. and he chased him fleeing, and drove him into the city: and many of his people fell wounded, even to the gate of the city. 41. And Abimelech sat in Ruma: but Zebul drove Gaal and his companions out of the city, and would not suffer them in it. 42. On the following day, therefore, the people went out into the field. When this was told to Abimelech, 43. he took his army and divided it into three companies, laying ambushes in the fields. And seeing that the people were coming out of the city, he rose up and rushed upon them 44. with his troop, attacking and besieging the city; while the leaders of the companies pursued the adversaries scattered over the field. 45. Moreover Abimelech fought against the city all that day, and took it, killing its inhabitants and destroying it, so that he scattered salt in it. 46. When those who dwelt in the tower of the Sichemites heard this, they entered the temple of their god Berith, where they had made a covenant with him, and from which the place took its name; and it was very strongly fortified. 47. Abimelech also, hearing that the men of the tower of the Sichemites were gathered together, 48. went up into mount Selmon with all his people; and taking an axe, he cut down the bough of a tree, and laying it on his shoulder, carried it, and said to his companions: What you see me do, do ye quickly. 49. So cutting boughs from the trees, they followed their leader in heaps. And surrounding the stronghold, they set it on fire: and so it came to pass that with the smoke and fire a thousand persons were killed, men and women together, of the inhabitants of the tower of Sichem. 50. And Abimelech, departing from thence, came to the town of Thebes, which he surrounded and besieged with his army. 51. Now there was a high tower in the midst of the city, to which all the men and women had fled together, and all the princes of the city, having shut the door very strongly, and standing on the top of the tower above the battlements. 52. And Abimelech, coming near the tower, fought stoutly; and approaching the door, he endeavoured to put fire under it. 53. And behold, a certain woman, casting down from above a piece of a millstone, dashed it against the head of Abimelech, and broke his skull. 54. And he called his armourbearer quickly, and said to him: Draw thy sword, and kill me, lest it be said that I was slain by a woman. He did as he was commanded, and slew him. 55. And he being dead, all the Israelites who were with him returned to their homes: 56. and God repaid the evil that Abimelech had done against his father, killing his seventy brothers. 57. The Sichemites also were repaid for what they had done, and the curse of Joatham the son of Jerobaal came upon them.