Hakim-hakim 9:22-25

God Fulfills Jotham’s Curse

9:22 Abimelech commanded ¹  Israel for three years. 9:23 God sent a spirit to stir up hostility ²  between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem. He made the leaders of Shechem disloyal ³  to Abimelech. 9:24 He did this so the violent deaths of Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons might be avenged and Abimelech, their half-brother ⁴  who murdered them, might have to pay for their spilled blood, along with the leaders of Shechem who helped him murder them. ⁵  9:25 The leaders of Shechem rebelled against Abimelech by putting ⁶  bandits in ⁷  the hills, who robbed everyone who traveled by on the road. But Abimelech found out about it. ⁸ 

[9:22]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb translated “commanded” (שָׂרַר, sarar), which appears only here in Judges, differs from the ones employed earlier in this chapter (מָשַׁל [mashal] and מָלַךְ [malakh]).

[9:22]  sn Abimelech commanded Israel. Perhaps while ruling as king over the city-state of Shechem, Abimelech also became a leader of the Israelite tribal alliance (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 175).

[9:23]  ² tn Heb “an evil spirit.” A nonphysical, spirit being is in view, like the one who volunteered to deceive Ahab (1 Kgs 22:21). The traditional translation, “evil spirit,” implies the being is inherently wicked, perhaps even demonic, but this is not necessarily the case. The Hebrew adjective רָעַה (ra’ah) can have a nonethical sense, “harmful; dangerous; calamitous.” When modifying רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) it may simply indicate that the being in view causes harm to the object of God’s judgment. G. F. Moore (Judges [ICC], 253) here refers to a “mischief-making spirit.”

[9:23]  ³ tn Heb “The leaders of Shechem were disloyal.” The words “he made” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “their brother.”

[9:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerub-Baal might come, and their blood might be placed on Abimelech, their brother, who murdered them, and upon the leaders of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to murder his brothers.”

[9:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “set against him bandits.”

[9:25]  sn Putting bandits in the hills. This piracy certainly interrupted or discouraged trade, and probably deprived Abimelech of tariffs or tribute. See C. F. Burney, Judges, 277; G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 253.

[9:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “on the tops of.”

[9:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “It was told to Abimelech.”