The fire smoldered for three years but at last manifested itself. (Morgan). The end was that he met with the judgment least of all to be coveted by man, most of all detestable to a proud spirit like his own. The olives are among the most beautiful trees that grow in the Holy Land. He gives a parable how that the trees of the forest came to the olive tree and they said, "Rule over us. Abimelech and the Shechemites, that had strengthened one another's hands in this villany, would certainly be a plague and ruin one to another. Yahweh is perfect, honest) stood on the same mountain where six of Israels tribes had declared the blessings of abiding by the Law of Yahweh and denounced the Shechemites for their foolish and wicked actions. Which is above the city of Shechem and it is sort of a natural amphitheater. How unlike to the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, which a good magistrate is compared to! ". Judges 9 Commentary So, heres the secret the end of Judges chapter 8 here shows us how Israel did wrong to God. "If your conduct towards the house of Gideon be such as can be justified at any bar of justice, honour, or conscience, much good may it do you with your new king." More he knew not, nor wished to learn. (Compare Psalms 78:60-61) Such are the prominent points of instruction in this appendix. 6 The Lords spirit empowered him and he tore the lion in two with his bare hands as easily as one would tear a young goat. Then the trees said to the fig tree, Of this tribe Samson was born. What a man sows he must reap: if he sows to the flesh, of the flesh he reaps corruption. He fought their battles, at the hazard of his own life, and to their unspeakable advantage. His chequered history follows. Ophrah, and slew his brethren--This is the first mention of a barbarous atrocity which has, with appalling frequency, been perpetrated in the despotic countries of the East--that of one son of the deceased monarch usurping the throne and hastening to confirm himself in the possession by the massacre of all the natural or legitimate competitors. By proceeding, you consent to our cookie usage. But scripture claims always to be the word of God never the word of Isaiah or Ezekiel, of Peter or Paul (1 Corinthians 14:37; 2 Peter 3:15-16); for, whatever the instrument may be, it is as truly God's word as if the Holy Ghost had written it without a single instrumental means. I speak of course of David, the son of Jesse. The spiritual man understands how it was. i. 5. went unto . But then, how can he claim that God will listen to the people if they listen to him (Jotham)? Scanty honour paid he to his parents, but ardently gave himself up to the pursuance of his own plans. i. But if not, let fire come from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and Beth Millo; and let fire come from the men of Shechem and from Beth Millo and devour Abimelech! And Jotham ran away and fled; and he went to Beer and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother. he fell, as did Adam at the beginning, and all since save one Christ. Here sound decibels are rising year by year and all of the sounds that we're subjected to the sound pollution. "Now gentle Jesus meek and mild, look upon this little child." "For the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.". Even his father and mother knew nothing about their son's movements. Their covenant with Baal, that image of jealousy (Ezekiel 8:3), was the cause of their ruin. But the fig tree said to them, ABIMELECH IS MADE KING BY THE SHECHEMITES. So Gaal spake again and said, Look there are people coming down by the middle of the land, another company is coming along the plain of Meonenim. The fact was that some other races and peoples had dispossessed the Ammonites of these lands. "As they did unto me, so have I done unto them." No way. 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. We have seen before, from the earlier part of the book, the remarkable manner in which, either personally or in the weapons that were employed, God was acting mysteriously at this period of Israel's history. be consumed; Psalm 58:9, Or ever your pots be made hot with thorns; Ecclesiastes 7:6, the crackling of thorns under a pot.. But it need surprise none that the proper history of this judge terminates according to the mind of God here; for what has the Lord to tell in the next chapter? Yet he threatens with as much confidence as he promises: If you be not faithful, let fire come out of the bramble (a very unlikely thing to emit fire) and devour the cedars of Lebanon--more likely to catch fire, and be itself devoured. In the case of Abimelech it is seen most conspicuously, yet is it always true, though it may be occasionally more marked than at other times. I am not speaking of what men of the world may be, for they may be conscientious and honourable in their own way; but it is different with God's people. Web35 And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entering of the gate of the city: and Abimelech rose up, and the people that were with him, from lying in wait. His abortive rule, however, ran roughshod over the divine requirements for that office. (Wolf), ii. Because he is your brother: The real reason the men of Shechem supported Abimelech was because he was their brother. They were filled with thoughts of destruction against Benjamin, and the remembrance that he was their brother had not even entered their minds before. especially to posterity, when the benefactor if forgotten, as Joseph was among the Egyptians. In it, 1. JOTHAM BY A PARABLE REPROACHES THEM. a. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. Verse Judges 9:15. what shadow or protection can there be in a bramble? And it came to pass on the next day, that the people went out into the field; and they told Abimelech. Not as if He could not care for His own; but our strength, comfort, and blessing are in His name. Jehovah listens, and His angel appears to the woman, who summons her husband, when both see the angel as he repeats his message with its solemn injunction. "It was of Jehovah, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. Jotham did not go about to raise an army out of the other cities of Israel (in which, one would think, he might have made a good interest for his father's sake), to avenge his brethren's death, much less to set up himself in competition with Abimelech, so groundless was the usurper's suggestion that the sons of Gideon aimed at dominion (Judges 9:2; Judges 9:2); but he contents himself with giving a faithful reproof to the Shechemites, and fair warning of the fatal consequences. Treat Satan as Satan when he betrays himself; and what can he do against the name of the Lord? Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech: We can be certain that God will repay wickedness, either in this life or the life to come. what shadow or protection can there be in a bramble? But the time came when God would act upon that promise, and when those that disputed the title of God must pay the penalty. The end of the book and it is important to make this remark consists of an appendix. (2.) We have here one of the strangest and most humbling of histories recorded in Scripture, and withal singularly marking that very truth that we have so often ere this referred to: how little moral strength keeps pace with physical power as it wrought in and by Samson. Man is as weak and erring as God is mighty and good: these two things characterise the book from beginning to end. But the wages of transgressors are hard, and the guilty man falls under the strange woman's spell again and again. 7 - 21. Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and he encamped against Thebez and took it. Now, broken down before God who had ordered their defeat, they are made to feel for their brother, guilty as he was, no doubt. The prophecy of Jotham was not to be immediately fulfilled. Anything like full deliverance must await that day, itself a type of the day of Jehovah. This, at least, was right. Judges 9 And his brethren, as we find, came up, took him away, and buried him. This word is unique to the book and is perhaps chosen to distinguish Abimelechs ill-fated rule from that of the true judges. But if God's people have got into subjection to the world, none are so heartless about, if not bitter against, him who breaks fully with the enemy. When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was aroused. It may often be doubtless that we are obliged to wait, and a wholesome thing too for our souls it should be. 2. Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon follow. "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.". Thus it was proved that Israel had, in whatever light regarded, a valid title, not only from long-continued possession, but from a right founded on their conquest of one of the enemies devoted to destruction by God Himself, but an enemy who had wantonly attacked them, when they would have left him unharmed, as they would the Ammonite now. And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably." Then, after many years of study people will be following you wanting what you have and you can share your secret with them. What an opinion he had of them! . "And so they came to the vine and said, "Rule over us. Changes will take effect once you reload the page. But these millstones, probably, many of them weigh, that I have seen, weigh as much as four, five hundred pounds.Interesting that Jesus said concerning teachers that would destroy the faith in the heart of a child, it would be better for them if a millstone were hung around their neck and they were tossed in the Sea of Galilee that they to offend one of these little children. 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. The law was right there, but Israel refused to read or heed it. unknown) Pilgrim - You ask "HOW one comes to know the words of God to the fullest?" i. Web8 From there he went up to Peniel[ a] and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had. In both they put the utmost contempt imaginable upon Gideon. WebLet us read the parable. Is it they who say to Samson, "Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us?" "Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. Delilah sells herself to the Philistine lords to entangle the champion of Israel, now beguiled by his lusts: else the various efforts to seize him must have otherwise opened his eyes to her guile and their murderous malice. "And the Spirit of Jehovah" to some minds a marvellous fact under the circumstances "came mightily upon him." As long as the world is under the usurped rule of the enemy of God, the path of obedience must always be one of suffering, and this, I may add, increasingly, as we see in Him. There was no occasion at all for the trees to choose a king; they are all the trees of the Lord which he has planted (Psalms 104:16) and which therefore he will protect. They looked upon this hold as both a fort and a sanctuary; but it saved them not. (Trapp). Difficulties, where they exist for us, would only exercise faith in God. And Abimelech, and the company that was with him, rushed forward, and stood at the entering of the gate of the city: and two other companies ran upon all the people that were in the fields, and they killed them. There had been in ancient times a link between Ammon and Moab with the children of Israel: a cloud of dishonour and of shame overhung them; yet a link there was, and God would have this at least to be never forgotten. Now when all the men of the tower of Shechem had heard that, they entered the stronghold of the temple of the god Berith. and how He magnified Himself in that hour of supreme chagrin and of his deep agony, when he was made to sport before those uncircumcised haters of Israel, and the witness, as they fondly hoped, of their idol's triumph over Jehovah. He hereby exposes the ridiculous ambition of Abimelech, whom he compares to the bramble or thistle, Judges 9:14; Judges 9:14. c. Let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon: The bramble warned that he would be an oppressive ruler and destroy anyone who disagreed with him. Acts 2:38 tells the ONLY WAY one receives the gift of the Holy Spirit and forgiveness of sins is at adult full immersion Baptism. They had no faith in the promise on God's part to Abraham or to his seed. . This graphically fulfilled the warning of Jotham earlier in the chapter (Judges 9:19-20). a. a. . There was another whom God would employ at a later date to destroy the power of the Philistines, a man of another spirit, and of a hand very different from Samson's. It was a great way about, and extremely inconvenient. There is something about the elastic atmosphere of an Eastern clime which causes it to transmit sound with wonderful celerity and distinctness [Hackett]. 3. Is it then a matter of wonder that men went wrong in early days under the Christian profession? 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 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.
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