Matthew Henry on Judges 9:22-49
Three years Abimelech reigned, after a sort, without any disturbance; it is not said, He judged Israel, or did any service at all to his country, but so long he enjoyed the title and dignity of a king; and not only the Shechemites, but many other places, paid him respect. They must have been fond of a king that could please themselves with such a one as this. But the triumphing of the wicked is short. Within three years, as the years of a hireling, all this glory shall be contemned, and laid in the dust, Isa 16:14. The ruin of these confederates in wickedness was from the righteous hand of the God to whom vengeance belongs. He sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the Shechemites (Jdg 9:…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Judges 9:28
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. The consequence was that he allowed himself to be drawn into an ambush, was defeated, the city of Shechem destroyed and strewn with salt. The people took refuge in the stronghold, which was set on fire, and all in it perished.
John Gill on Judges 9:47
And it was told Abimelech,.... Who had his spies about, and particularly to observe the motions of the men in this tower:
that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together; in the hold of the temple of Baalberith.
Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 9:46-49
When the inhabitants of the castle of Shechem ("lords of the tower of Shechem" = "all the house of Millo," Jdg 9:6) heard of the fate of the town of Shechem, they betook themselves to the hold of the house (temple) of the covenant god (Baal-berith), evidently not for the purpose of defending themselves there, but to seek safety at the sanctuary of their god from fear of the vengeance of Abimelech, towards whom they also had probably acted treacherously. The meaning of the word צריח, which answers to an Arabic word signifying arx, palatium, omnis structura elatior, cannot be exactly determined, as it only occurs again in Sa1 13:6 in connection with caves and clefts of the rock. According to v…
