Judges 9:34

THE DEFEAT OF GAAL AND THE SHECHEMITES (Judges 9:34-40)

"And Abimelech rose up, and all the people that were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem, in four companies. And Gaal the son of Ebel went out, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and Abimelech rose up, and the people that were with him, from the ambushment. And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebal, Behold, there come people down from the tops of the mountains. And Zebal said unto him, Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they were men. And Gaal spake again and said, See, there come people down by the middle of the land, and one company cometh by the way of the oak of Meonenim, Then said Zebal unto him, Where is now thy mouth, that thou saidst, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? Is not this the people that thou hast despised? go out now, I pray, and fight with them. And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech. And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and there fell many wounded, even unto the entrance of the gate."

"The oak of the Meonenim." "Translate, `The oak of the soothsayers,' a well-known landmark, but not mentioned elsewhere."[22]

There is nothing surprising about what is related here. The drunken celebration of the previous night had left Gaal and his men both mentally and physically unprepared for any kind of effective military activity; and Abimelech and his army easily defeated them. Nothing further is said of Gaal who fled, presumably with all of his relatives; and, as nothing is said of his being captured or killed, we may suppose that he and his company went to some other city, still seeking their personal fortunes like other pirates.