If I do not trust it in everything, I can trust it in nothing. Judges 9 Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? Such then was the bloody crisis at which a deliverer of Israel arrives in his unsparing resentment. What a man sows he must reap: if he sows to the flesh, of the flesh he reaps corruption. He made us. Verse by Verse Commentaries Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez--now Tubas--not far from Shechem. This certainly stimulated him though I am far from insinuating no better underneath. And so they'd have their stone ground wheat by these millstones. Killed his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal: Therefore, Abimelech killed his brothers with the support of his relatives on his mothers side. Through highway robbery, the Shechemites created an atmosphere of insecurity and disorder, at the same time robbing Abimelech of his taxes (22-25). What an honour when Israel are permitted to take up only the cause of God! The earth is destined to be the theatre where God will display righteousness reigning; but even now, while things are out of course, and His enemy is in power, He holds to His own character, owning and using all He can. Click on Abimelech for more of the story. Thus there was an arrest on the road. 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? 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. 28-45. would to God this people were under my hand--He seems to have been a boastful, impudent, and cowardly person, totally unfit to be a leader in a revolutionary crisis. "And the olive tree said, "Should I leave my fatness and so forth and rule over you? Judges 9 NIV - Abimelek - Abimelek son of Jerub-Baal - Bible By the Holy Spirit only can we enter in and enjoy. If only this people were under my authority! 1. We ought to be serving Hamor and his family, let them be the kings. Both outside and inside the city, they effectively attacked and killed the people of Shechem (even those not directly involved in the rebellion). "And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. 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. i. 51-53. all the men and women, . Respectfully submitted as my Scriptural understanding, I share with you what His Spirit has shared with my spirit. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him? Contrariwise it was courted and continued down to the captivity. (30-33) The role of Zebul, the ruler of the city. They said to the olive tree, Be our king. 9 But the olive tree answered, Samson stands alone; of Israel none with him, as with the others before him. 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. 5 Samson went down to Timnah. Now it was perfectly lawful for the children of Israel to treat them as intruders and strangers, who had no rightful claim, no valid plea why they should be restored. God's Holy Spirit of loving submission to learn) God will lead you into the correct Truth (i.e. So dangerous is apt to be the reaction against one ever so honest; the more you have trusted, when you begin to doubt, the worse it is apt to be, even with poor erring man, who knows not what a serious thing it is. What difference does it make? The Parable of the Bramble :: Andrews University etc. Even his father and mother knew nothing about their son's movements. That those who are preferred to places of public trust and power must resolve to forego all their private interests and advantages, and sacrifice them to the good of the community. 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 bramble was a low, thorny bush and offered shade to no one, especially to trees. 2 Samuel 17:18-21). Is it then a matter of wonder that men went wrong in early days under the Christian profession? Of course, that's where Jesus was addressing so many people, and also they're at the Temple Mount where Jesus addressed so many people.So this Jotham, son of Gideon, the one that Abimelech didn't kill, went up to the top of Mount Gerizim, and here is Shechem down below. So says he: "When Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh, then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land; but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. No way. Judges 9 Commentary The story of Abimelech connects directly with the story of Gideon. Judges 9:1-6. We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. 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. The lands might be good pasture, the temptation great, the provocation given by Moab or Ammon very considerable. One very brief definition that may help is to describe a parable as an earthly story that speaks beyond itself.. Gideon had about seventy sons. Their covenant with Baal, that image of jealousy (Ezekiel 8:3), was the cause of their ruin. 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. 10 And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. It was the energy of His Spirit who thought of His people showing out by the way, as we have remarked, in that wayward man the fallen state to which they were reduced by their own sin, with the highest claims outwardly but morally in as low a condition as could then be conceived. How often it is ourselves who make the difficulties of which the enemy greedily avails himself against our own souls and His glory! 21 And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother. . And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? The word of God is always in itself not only right, but fraught with light. It was the business of the Ammonites to have defended their claims as best they could against the Amorites. WebIn Judges 9:8-15, Jotham conveys a message about the trees speaking amongst themselves while seeking a king. And a certain woman took a piece of a millstone ( Judges 9:50-53 ), Now millstones are sort of lava kinds of rock and there are millstones-I've seen them four feet high. Let fire come out of the bramble.Some suppose that there is a reference to the ancient notions of the spontaneous ignition of the boughs of the bramble when rubbed together by the wind. WebJudges Commentary - Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete) Bible Study Tools Join PLUS Login. "So they came to the fig trees and said, "Rule over us." So his father went down unto the women: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do." But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, because he hid himself. All are aware there are a great many who try to explain the difficulty away or soften it down. I am far from doubting that God wrought in him whom He had made the champion of His people. However, Beer may not have been the name of a town. And the evil that he did against Gideon's sons was sort of recompensed. 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 so when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled. If the Amorite got them from Ammon in the first instance, as was no doubt the fact, this was an affair not between Israel and Ammon, but between Ammon and Sihon. Where was their humiliation and grief before the Lord? And the men of Shechem set men in ambush against him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who passed by them along that way; and it was told Abimelech. The story of Abimelech, the men of Shechem, and Jotham shows us that there is a real and terrible price to pay for rejecting Gods warnings. 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. But the wages of transgressors are hard, and the guilty man falls under the strange woman's spell again and again. Indeed this is found regularly throughout the book of Judges. The fact which comes out first is that Gibeah of Benjamin was scarce better than Sodom or Gomorrah, on which Jehovah rained fire and brimstone for their uncleanness. It's an interesting thing to me how far sound travels over there in that land. Now when all the men of the tower of Shechem had heard that, they entered the stronghold of the temple of the god Berith. Judges 9 "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. God's Word is the Truth see John 17:17). b. Perhaps I am mistaken, and he is not a prophet. If in truth you anoint me as king over you, Start you journey by obeying God's First Commandment given to New Testament Believers in Christ found in Acts 2:38. Phinehas, we know, was alive during the days of the wilderness, being the leader against Midian before Moses died, and one of those that crossed the Jordan. Nor was there any occasion for Israel to talk of setting a king over them; for the Lord was their king. . The danger was incomparably greater where the trial was to stand to the truth fully revealed and to walk in the Spirit, and not subjection to commandments and ritual observances.
Netherite Sword Durability,
Parkway Towers, Denver,
Articles J