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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Judges 9:22 - 9:22
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Abimelech's reign lasted three years. וַיָּשַׂר, from שׂוּר to govern, is used intentionally, as it appears, in the place of וַיִּמְלֹךְ, because Abimelech's government was not a monarchical reign, but simply a tyrannical despotism. “Over Israel,” that is to say, not over the whole of the twelve tribes of Israel, but only over a portion of the nation, possibly the tribes of Ephraim and half Manasseh, which acknowledged his sway.
Jdg 9:23-24
Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem, so that they became treacherous towards him. “An evil spirit” is not merely “an evil disposition,” but an evil demon, which produced discord and strife, just as an evil spirit came upon Saul (1Sa 16:14-15; 1Sa 18:10); not Satan himself, but a supernatural spiritual power which was under his influence. This evil spirit God sent to punish the wickedness of Abimelech and the Shechemites. Elohim, not Jehovah, because the working of the divine justice is referred to here. “That the wickedness to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood (the blood of these sons that had been shed), to lay it upon Abimelech. ” “And their blood” is only a more precise definition of “the wickedness to the seventy sons;” and “to lay it” is an explanation of the expression “might come.” The introduction of לָשׂוּם, however, brings an anakolouthon into the construction, since the transitive שׂוּם presupposes Elohim as the subject and דָּמָם as the object, whereas the parallel חֲמַס is the subject to the intransitive לָבֹוא: that the wickedness might come, and that God might lay the blood not only upon Abimelech, the author of the crime, but also upon the lords of Shechem, who had strengthened his hands to slay his brethren; had supported him by money, that he might be able to hire worthless fellows to execute his crime (Jdg 9:4, Jdg 9:5).