Judges 9:41

THE FIRE FROM THE BRAMBLE BURNS SHECHEM (Judges 9:41-45)

"And Abimelech dwelt at Arumah: and Zebal drove out Gaal and his brethren that they should not dwell in Shechem. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people went out into the field; and they told Abimelech. And he took the people, and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the field; and he looked, and, behold, the people came forth out of the city; and he rose up against them, and smote them. And Abimelech and the companies that were with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city: and the two companies rushed upon all that were in the field, and smote them. And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city and slew the people that were therein: and he beat down the city and sowed it with salt."

The mention in Judges 9:41 that Gaal and his brethren were forbidden to live in Shechem is probably an indication that they were not involved in the slaughter of the whole city mentioned in the same paragraph. It appears likely that if Gaal indeed had been killed, that some mention of it would have been found here.

The curse of Jotham that fire would come out of the bramble and burn Shechem surely was fulfilled with this brutal slaughter and destruction of the whole city of Shechem. One wonders about the mother of Abimelech and all of her people. We do not know whether or not they had moved to Arumah where they might have escaped this massacre.

The citizens of Shechem, believing that the insurrection was over, were apparently in their fields for the purpose of tending their crops, and very probably without weapons of any kind. Abimelech's brutal slaughter of those helpless peoples was part and parcel of his brutality toward his half-brothers in Ophrah. The Sacred Scriptures leave no doubt of the diabolical wickedness of this evil offspring of Gideon's concubine. He was one of the most detestable creatures who ever disgraced the earth.

FIRE FROM THE BRAMBLE BURNS THE LORDS OF SHECHEM (Judges 9:46-49)

Scriptural narratives are not always presented in chronological sequence, and it is not clear whether this destruction of the Tower of Shechem, the House of Millo, and the House of Baal-berith (three names for the same stronghold) took place before or after Abimelech sowed the city with salt, but it appears to this writer that the sowing of Shechem with salt would have occurred AFTER the events mentioned in this paragraph.