Discovery BoxJudges 9:35-57
Context9:35 When Gaal son of Ebed came out and stood at the entrance to the city’s gate, Abimelech and his men got up from their hiding places. 9:36 Gaal saw the men 1 and said to Zebul, “Look, men are coming down from the tops of the hills.” But Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadows on the hills – it just looks like men.” 2 9:37 Gaal again said, “Look, men are coming down from the very center 3 of the land. A unit 4 is coming by way of the Oak Tree of the Diviners.” 5 9:38 Zebul said to him, “Where now are your bragging words, 6 ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the men 7 you insulted? 8 Go out now and fight them!” 9:39 So Gaal led the leaders of Shechem out 9 and fought Abimelech. 9:40 Abimelech chased him, and Gaal 10 ran from him. Many Shechemites 11 fell wounded at the entrance of the gate. 9:41 Abimelech went back 12 to Arumah; Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem. 13
9:42 The next day the Shechemites 14 came out to the field. When Abimelech heard about it, 15 9:43 he took his men 16 and divided them into three units and set an ambush in the field. When he saw the people coming out of the city, 17 he attacked and struck them down. 18 9:44 Abimelech and his units 19 attacked and blocked 20 the entrance to the city’s gate. Two units then attacked all the people in the field and struck them down. 9:45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed all the people in it. Then he leveled 21 the city and spread salt over it. 22
9:46 When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem 23 heard the news, they went to the stronghold 24 of the temple of El-Berith. 25 9:47 Abimelech heard 26 that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem were in one place. 27 9:48 He and all his men 28 went up on Mount Zalmon. He 29 took an ax 30 in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it 31 on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!” 32 9:49 So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches 33 against the stronghold and set fire to it. 34 All the people 35 of the Tower of Shechem died – about a thousand men and women.
9:50 Abimelech moved on 36 to Thebez; he besieged and captured it. 37 9:51 There was a fortified 38 tower 39 in the center of the city, so all the men and women, as well as the city’s leaders, ran into it and locked the entrance. Then they went up to the roof of the tower. 9:52 Abimelech came and attacked the tower. When he approached the entrance of the tower to set it on fire, 9:53 a woman threw an upper millstone 40 down on his 41 head and shattered his skull. 9:54 He quickly called to the young man who carried his weapons, 42 “Draw your sword and kill me, so they will not say, 43 ‘A woman killed him.’” So the young man stabbed him and he died. 9:55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they went home. 44
9:56 God repaid Abimelech for the evil he did to his father by murdering his seventy half-brothers. 45 9:57 God also repaid the men of Shechem for their evil deeds. The curse spoken by Jotham son of Jerub-Baal fell 46 on them.
[9:36] 1 tn Heb “the people” (also in vv. 38, 43, 48). These were warriors, so “men” has been used in the translation, since in ancient Israelite culture soldiers would have been exclusively males.
[9:36] 2 tn Heb “the shadow on the hills you are seeing, like men.”
[9:37] 3 tn Heb “navel.” On the background of the Hebrew expression “the navel of the land,” see R. G. Boling, Judges (AB), 178-79.
[9:37] 5 tn Some English translations simply transliterated this as a place name (Heb “Elon-meonenim”); cf. NAB, NRSV.
[9:38] 6 tn Heb “is your mouth that says.”
[9:39] 9 tn Heb “So Gaal went out before the leaders of Shechem.”
[9:40] 10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gaal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[9:40] 11 tn The word “Shechemites” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarification.
[9:41] 12 tc Heb “stayed.” Some scholars revise the vowel pointing on this verb from that of the MT, resulting in the translation “and he returned to.” The Lucianic recension of the LXX understands the word in this way.
[9:41] 13 tn Heb “drove…out from dwelling in Shechem.”
[9:42] 14 tn Heb “the people”; the referent (the Shechemites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[9:42] 15 tn Heb “And they told Abimelech.”
[9:43] 16 tn Heb “his people.”
[9:43] 17 tn Heb “And he saw and, look, the people were coming out of the city.”
[9:43] 18 tn Heb “he arose against them and struck them.”
[9:44] 19 tn Or possibly, “the unit that was with him.”
[9:44] 20 tn Heb “stood [at].”
[9:45] 22 tn Heb “sowed it with salt.”
[9:46] 23 sn Perhaps the Tower of Shechem was a nearby town, distinct from Shechem proper, or a tower within the city.
[9:46] 24 tn Apparently this rare word refers here to the most inaccessible area of the temple, perhaps the inner sanctuary or an underground chamber. It appears only here and in 1 Sam 13:6, where it is paired with “cisterns” and refers to subterranean or cave-like hiding places.
[9:46] 25 sn The name El-Berith means “God of the Covenant.” It is probably a reference to the Canaanite high god El.
[9:47] 26 tn Heb “and it was told to Abimelech.”
[9:47] 27 tn Heb “were assembled.”
[9:48] 28 tn Heb “his people.”
[9:48] 29 tn Heb “Abimelech.” The proper name has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”) due to considerations of English style.
[9:48] 30 tn The Hebrew text has the plural here.
[9:48] 31 tn Heb “he lifted it and put [it].”
[9:48] 32 tn Heb “What you have seen me do, quickly do like me.”
[9:49] 33 tn The words “the branches” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[9:49] 34 tn Heb “they kindled over them the stronghold with fire.”
[9:49] 35 tn Or “men,” but the word seems to have a more general sense here, as the conclusion to the sentence suggests.
[9:50] 37 tn Heb “he camped near Thebez and captured it.”
[9:51] 39 tn Or “fortress.” The same Hebrew term occurs once more in this verse and twice in v. 52.
[9:53] 40 sn A hand mill consisted of an upper stone and larger lower stone. One would turn the upper stone with a handle to grind the grain, which was placed between the stones. An upper millstone, which was typically about two inches thick and a foot or so in diameter, probably weighed 25-30 pounds (11.4-13.6 kg). See G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 268; C. F. Burney, Judges, 288.
[9:53] 41 tn Heb “Abimelech’s.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “his” in the translation in keeping with conventions of English narrative style.
[9:54] 42 tn The Hebrew text adds, “and said to him.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[9:54] 43 tn The Hebrew text adds, “concerning me.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[9:55] 44 tn Heb “each to his own place.”
