Judges 7

Judges 7:1-6

1. King’s vi. 18. 20. evii. 18. Phil. banish. 2. Hab. What is good? whether, inc. Phil. v. 2. Hab. Alter. Chap. viii. 7. Job xxx. 8. a King’s 7. & iii. 1. Or, Ock of the pillar. Job. xxv. 48.

2. AND Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, unto his mother’s brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, laying, 2. Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal (which are three score and ten persons) reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh. 3. And his mother’s brethren spoke of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother. 4. And they gave him three score and ten pieces of silver, out of the house of Baal-berith: wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons which followed him. 5. And he went unto his father’s house at Ophrah, and flew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being three score and ten persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding, yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself. 6. And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the || plain of the pillar that was in Shechem.

Abimelech, (so called probably by his mother, out of vanity, my father, a king) resolves, if possible, to secure that crown Gideon had refused, and though neither called of God, nor chosen of men, by art and infatuation he thrusts himself into the throne.

1. He makes application secretly to his mother’s friends in Shechem, and they, at his instigation, engaged in his interest the leading men of the city. The plea be said to support his solicitation was a lying infatuation of his brethren, as if they intended to lord it over the land, and their number would make the burden of such a government insupportable: though it never appears they had the least intention of doing so, as it was expressly contrary to their father’s solemn declarations. Note, (1) They who have a wicked purpose to serve, stick not as a tie to accomplish it. (2) They who are conscious of their own bad designs, are ready to subject each other of the same ill intentions.

2. His application was as successful as he could wish. The men of Shechem were very well pleased to have one of their brethren a king and their city a metropolis, expecting, no doubt, their advantage therein; and therefore, to support him in his design, they supply him with money out of the common treasury, which was in the temple of their idol Baal-berith, or it may be from the hallowed things they had dedicated to him, imagining there must needs be success from such a support: with this he raises a band of men, prostrate as himself, to perpetrate the crimes he meditated. Note, (1) Self is at the bottom of every worldly man’s policy. (2) They who help the wicked often prepare a rod for themselves.

3. It is often the case, that where there is a rage to reign, men must wade to a crown through blood. Pertaining his father’s sons would justly object to his advancement, he resolves with so disgrace them, and all but one are their together on one stone, by himself and his wicked associates. Note, Ambition never hesitates; neither conscience nor natural affection, fear of God or love of men, can bind those who are under its faithful influence.

4. For from detestation of so inhuman a deed, the men of Shechem in counsel assembled at Millo, the council-hall, or with a family of distinction who bore this title, and without conduct of their brethren, or confiding them upon it, elect Abimelech their king. From such a proceeding no good can be expected to refuse.

5. ¶ And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Geriazim, and left up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, you men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you.

6. The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them, and they said unto the olive-tree, Reign thou over us. 9. But the olive-tree said unto them, Should I leave my fainers, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? 10. ¶ And the trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou, and reign over us. 11. But the fig-tree said unto them, ‘Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? 12. Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. 13. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? 14. Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. 15. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your truth in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. 16. Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands: 17. (For my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian: 18. And ye are risen up against my father’s house this day, and have slain his sons, three score and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech the son of his maid-servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother.) 19. If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal, and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you: 20. But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo: and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech. 21. And Jotham are away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

Judges 7:7-21

Jotham alone, of all the sons of Gideon, escaped; and on a day when the men of Shechem were assembled, perhaps the very day Abimelech is elected, in the plain, from the top of mount Geriazim, whence he could be heard, and yet escape if they attempted to seize him, he gives the Shechomists a reproof for their baseness, and a warning of the consequences of their folly, and this he touches under an elegant table, the contrivance of which is as beautiful as the application was apposite.

1. The table itself. The trees are represented as chuting a king, the olive, vine, and fig-tree, to whom the sovereignty is offered, decline the honour, whilst the wretched bramble grasps at the dominion, vaunts the protection he would give them, and threatens to fire the cedars that should dare refuse allegiance and submission. In the one we for the modesty of Gideon’s sons, in the other the vanity of Abimelech, and the scourge they might expect from this fiery bramble. Note, (1) The high office which the proud man covers, the humble and wise decline, knowing its weight. (2) They who are elected to public service, must forego all private advantages, as the trees in this table intimate. (3) None so insistent and overbearing, as a low person raised above his station.

2. He makes a pathetic application to the people; reminds them of the services of his father, reproaches them for their ingratitude to their benefactor’s family, appeals to their consciences for the baseness of their proceedings, and to the issue of them for a proof of their wickedness, imprecating upon them the judgments they deserved, and therein prophetically warning them of the mutual miseries and contentions which would ensue from their present choice. Note, (1) Ungrateful man is sadly apt to forget his generous benefactors. (2) When we see men rejoice in prosperous wickedness, mark their end, and we shall usually be convinced, here below, that there is a God that judgment the earth.

3. Jotham dies hereupon from the resentment of Abimelech, and finds a safe retreat at Beer; where if he hath not Abimelech’s greatness, he hath better, a good conscience, and his low estate is his security.

4. ¶ When Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel, 23. Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem: and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech: 24. That

Judges 7:10-20

13. Before Chief

me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? 17. And the wept before him the seven days, while their feast halted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because the lay fore upon him: and the told the riddle to the children of her people. 18. And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day, before the fun went down, What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, ‘If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle. 19. ¶ And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and flew thirty men of them, and took their food, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle: and his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father’s house. 20. But Samson’s wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.

b Mio. vii. 5. Hoh. Became to his companion. Chap. 2. 2. We have here,

1. Samson keeping his bridal feast. He refused not to comply with an innocent custom, nor would, on such an occasion, appear morose or singular. Note, Unnecessary singularity proceeds more from pride than piety.

2. Thirty young men are brought to do him honour on the occasion, and to be his companions during these feast days. Civility and respect are amiable, even in Philistines.

3. To amuse them with the innocent pallime, and to exercise their ingenuity, Samson proposes a riddle to them, and offers to lay thirty changes of raments, and as many fberts, or shirts, against their discovery of the meaning of it. The offer is accepted, and the riddle proposed. Note, (1.) Many dispensations of God for a time, like this riddle, from dark and inexplicable. (2.) The sweetest mercies of God to our fouls come from the feverest trials, as most from the eater, and honey from the lion.

4. These days in vain they puzzled to discover the secret; the fourth, which was the Sabbath, or seventh day, they come to Samson’s wife, and threaten to burn her and her father’s house with fire, unless she extorted it from him, and saved them the lots of their wages, though to her own husband’s great disadvantage: a request unreasonable and villainous, and a threatening most barbarous and inhuman. Note, (1.) Unreasonable and wicked men stick at nothing, when their worldly interests are at stake. (2.) Though wages are always better avoided, yet they are sure to be found, when their lots is such, as may injure our circumstances, or endanger the nulling our tempers.

5. This false and faithless woman immediately began to importune him for a discovery, upholding him with want of love, and plying him with tears, which he could not behold without the tenderest emotions. In vain he expeditions on the unreasonableness of the demand, when he had not told even his parents; the wearies him with ceaseless importunity, till he can no longer resist her crocodile tears, and unkind accusations; and on the seventh day he trusted her with the important secret. Note, (1.) The inordinate love of women makes wife men fouls. (2.) A woman’s tears are often her strongest argument: he must be more than Samson, who can feel his heart against them.

6. No sooner is the secret known, than communicated: perhaps the pride of her power operated as strongly as her fears or perfidy, to make her eager to know, and hasty to reveal it. With this explication they come to Samson before the seven days are expired, and claim the wager. He acknowledges it to be theirs, but hints their unfair dealing, in making use of his own wife to betray him, which he calls plowing with his heifer, without which they had never unravelled the clue. Note, (1.) When we trust a secret out of our own breast, we must not expect it will long continue such. (2.) Our corrupt affections are the heifer Satan plows with, and by these he prevails.

7. Though the wager is lost, it shall not be at Samson’s cost; the Philistines shall sue for it. The Spirit of the Lord coming upon him to authorize and enable him for the work, he descends to Ashkelon, feizes thirty Philistines, flays and strips them, and with these garments pays his companions. And now, from experience of their perfidy, heartily sick of his wife and them, he leaves the country, and retires to his father’s house. Note, (1.) An ill-judged and raft marriage ends frequently in an unhappy separation. (2.) It were well if the ill usage of the world drove us out of it in affection, to seek our true rest at home with our God and Father.

8. No sooner has he turned his back, than his wife is given to his companion: perhaps, for his sake she had betrayed her husband’s secret, and now hesitates not to defile his bed. Note, (1.) A forsaken wife is in a dangerous state. (2.) The friend-

ships of the world are often faithless. (3.) If a woman’s affections flays from her husband, it is to be feared her person will soon follow them.