V. 22. "Rule thou over us.” The immediate effect of Gideon's victory on the nation was greater than that of any other. Not only had the Israelites quietness for forty years, but for the first time they offered hereditary dignity to the great conqueror. Gideon refused the honour. There

are no historical parallels to this incident of refusal. Moses and Joshua might have easily made themselves kings, but they were never invited to it. Cæsar and Oliver Cromwell refused the crown on the ground of policy, but Gideon refused it on account of his fidelity to an unseen monarch, "the Lord God of Israel," who had just given them a proof of His power to protect His people. "The Lord shall rule over you," says he, and no other.

V. 24. "Ishmaelites." This name is applied generally to all the tribes whose habits were the same as those of the Arabs. The connection of the Midianites and Ishmaelites may be seen from the following account. The "Midianites" were the descendants of Midian, Abraham's son by Keturah, the "Ishmaelites," of Ishmael, Abraham's son by Hagar. Hence the Midianites were not Ishmaelites. But from Gen. xxxvii. we find that the tribes of Arabia are called indifferently Midianites and Ishmaelites.

V. 27 "An ephod." This was that particular part of the High-priest's dress which he had to wear when he inquired of God by Urim and Thummim. There is a description of it in Exod. xxviii., 4-31.

V. 31. "Abimelech " (= my father a King, or, as some would have it, "Father of a King"). Whichever meaning we attach to the word " Abimelech," it certainly shows that in Gideon's old age, the idea of having been once offered the kingship was not forgotten.

Baal-berith (=the Covenant Baal). According to chap. ix., 46, the worship of Baal-berith, as performed at Shechem was an imitation of the worship of Jehovah, that is, Baal was placed in the place of Jehovah.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

1. What request did Gideon make of the "men of Succoth and Penuel?" What reason had they for refusing?

2. How did Gideon afterwards deal with the men of Succoth and Penuel? Why should he have been so severe ?

3. Explain the conduct of the Ephraimites in this war against the Midianites. What answer was given to them by Gideon?

4. In putting Zebah and Zalmunna to death, what special mark of disgrace did Gideon wish to inflict upon them?

5. What change with regard to the form of government did the people wish after Gideon's victory over the Midianites?

6. How did Gideon dispose of this question of government?

7. Give the geographical position of Succoth, Penuel, Nobah, Jogbehah; and with what events are they connected?

8. Trace the connection of the Ishmaelites with the Midianites.

9. What was the name of Gideon's eldest son?

10. Who was Abimelech ? and give the meaning of the name.

11. Towards the end of his days into what serious mistakes did Gideon fall?

12. What was the ephod? Explain Gideon's conduct with regard to the ephod in Ophrah.

13. For how long did the Israelites have peace in the days of Gideon ? 14. Where was Gideon buried?

15. Where was the centre of the worship of Baal-berith? and give the meaning of the name.

16. Explain the allusions

(i.) The gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim.

(ii.) As the man is, so is his strength.

(iii.) He taught the men of Succoth.

(iv.) What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor?

(v.) Which thing became a snare unto Gideon and his house.

(vi.) For they be faint and I am pursuing.

G

CHAPTER IX.

ANALYSIS.

Abimelech is made king, through a conspiracy with the Shechemites and the murder of his brethren. In a parable Jotham foretells their destruction. Gaal and the Shechemites conspire against Abimelech - the conspiracy is revealed by Zebul, and he overcomes them and soweth the city with salt. He is slain at Thebez by a piece of millstone. Jotham's curse is fulfilled.

NOTES.

V. 3. "He is our brother." Abimelech was the son of a Shechemite woman (chap. viii., 31).

V. 4. "Baal-berith." See note, chap. viii., 31.

V. 6. "Millo" (= fullness, repletion). Most probably the same as the "tower of Shechem " in verses 46, 47.

It was

a fortified place close to Shechem, and it is evident from the words "the house of Millo," that there was a distinct population at Millo, which, though small in numbers, yet of great importance, as possessing this citadel.

"Made Abimelech King." Probably only of Shechem and the neighbourhood.

V. 7. "Mount Gerizim" (= cutters). Shechem lay at the base of this mountain, which was situated in Central Palestine. It was the mount upon which the blessings, as commanded by Moses, were to be recited (Deut. xi., 29). The curses were to be recited from Mount Ebal. Travellers inform us that the valley between the two mountains, in which Shechem lay, possesses remarkable acoustic properties. Persons speaking in Gerizim can be distinctly heard on Ebal, and therefore in the valley between them (e.g., Shechem).

Gerizim was afterwards made famous as the site of the temple which the Samaritans built in rivalry to that at Jerusalem (St. John iv., 20).

V. 8-15. In these verses we have Jotham's parable of the trees electing a king. It is the first recorded in Bible History. We have only one other of the same kind, viz., 2 Kings xiv., 9.

The trees represent the Shechemites,-the olive, fig, and vine, Jotham's noble and virtuous brethren,-the bramble, the cruel Abimelech,-the cedars of Lebanon, the elders of Shechem. Hence the meaning of the parable is

The people of Shechem were desirous of a king; they had asked Gideon and his sons to accept the office; but they, though worthy of it, had refused it. They then asked the vile and base-born Abimelech to accept the crown, and he accepted it.

The speech of the bramble to the trees represents a warning to the Shechemites. Unless they completely place themselves under Abimelech's rule, he will utterly destroy even their chief men (or elders).

V. 16-20. These verses contain the interpretation of the parable.

V. 21. "Beer" (well). It is hard to identify this place. The most probable situation is, on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, near Beth-shemesh.

V. 26. "Gaal, the son of Ebed." Nothing further is known of this person.

V. 28. "Hamor" (= an ass, clay, wine). He was the King of Shechem in Jacob's time, and from him Jacob bought a piece of ground near the city, which was named after Hamor's son "Shechem.'

"The men of Hamor." These would therefore be the patricians of the city, who derived their origin from the noblest and most ancient stock of Hamor.

V. 37. "The plain of Meonenim." Rather, "The oak of the soothsayers."

V. 41. "Arumah" (=high, exalted, cast away). Not mentioned again, but it must have been just outside Shechem.

V. 45. "Sowed it with salt," i.e., Sowed with salt, the ground where the city had stood. All soils saturated with salt are barren, hence the sowing salt over the ruins of a city indicated a desire that it might be a desolation for ever. But Shechem was rebuilt by Jeroboam.

V. 46. "The men of the tower of Shechem." These are the same as 66 The house of Millo." (Verses 6 and 20.)

V. 48. "Zalmon" (= shady).

This was a mountain in

the neighbourhood of Shechem. It might probably be the same as Ebal.

V. 49. This setting fire to the hold where the men of Shechem were crowded together, was the literal fulfilment of Jotham's curse, verse 20.

V. 50. "Thebez" (=brightness). A town 13 miles north of Shechem, and whose inhabitants were implicated in Gaal's rebellion. It is the modern Tubar.

V. 53. "And all to brake his skull." Rather, "And altogether break his skull." The old English "all to" being equivalent to, "altogether," "quite," "entirely."