UTN uW Translation Notes:

Judges 9 General Notes

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

“upon one stone”

The author says in 9:5 that Abimelek and the men he hired brought all of his half-brothers, the other sons of Gideon, to “one stone” and killed them there. There seems to have been some symbolic significance to this action. The stone might have been a place of formal execution. Abimelek could have killed his half-brothers there to indicate that he had taken authority as king and so no threats to his rule should be allowed to exist. The stone might also have been a religious altar of some kind. Some interpreters believe that Abimelek and the leaders of Shechem were executing Gideon’s sons on a stone altar to avenge his desecration of Baal’s altar. This would explain why money from the temple of Baal-Berith paid for the action. However, since the exact purpose is unclear, it would be best to say no more about this in your translation than the original text does.

Jotham’s curse

In 9:20, Jotham, the one son of Gideon who survived Abimelek’s massacre, says, “may fire go forth from Abimelek and may it consume the lords of Shechem and Beth Millo, and may fire go forth from the lords of Shechem and from Beth Millo and may it consume Abimelek.” This was a curse. Jotham was expressing a desire for bad things to happen to the people who had murdered the sons of the man who had delivered them from the Midianites. What Jotham was ultimately wishing for was God’s justice. He wanted people who had done such bad things to have bad things happen to them. His curse was fulfilled in a literal way when Abimelek burned the lords of Shechem to death in 9:49. (See: curse)

Translation Issues in This Chapter

Jotham’s parable about the trees

In 9:8–15, Gideon’s surviving son, Jotham, tells the lords of Shechem a parable. A parable is a short story that teaches something that is true. It delivers its lesson in a way that is easy to understand and hard to forget. In many cases, the events in a parable could happen, though they did not actually happen. But in this case, they could not have happened, since this parable is about trees talking to each other about appointing a king. However, either way, the events of a parable are told only to teach the lesson that the listeners are meant to learn. See the first note to 9:8 for suggestions about how to introduce and begin this parable in your translation.

Did God send an “evil spirit” to Shechem?

In 9:23, the author says that God sent a “bad spirit” that made the lords of Shechem hostile toward Abimelek. The word that the ULT translates as “bad” can also mean “evil,” depending on the context. Some versions of the Bible in various languages translate it as “evil” here. Translators may have encountered that reading. However, the context does not seem to support it. The teaching of the Bible as a whole suggests that God would not use something evil to accomplish his purposes. Also, evil spirits have rebelled against God, and so they have forfeited the right to be part of what he is doing. Moreover, the word “spirit” does not necessarily refer to a spiritual being here. It could refer instead to the attitude that Abimelek and the lords of Shechem had toward one another. This would be the same meaning as in 8:3, “their spirit abated toward him,” which means, “they no longer had a hostile attitude toward him.” So it seems appropriate to understand the author to be saying in 9:23 that God caused hostility between Abimelek and the lords of Shechem.

Why did Gaal go and stand in the gate of Shechem?

In 9:35, the author says that “Gaal, the son of Ebed, went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city” of Shechem. He does not say explicitly why Gaal did this. Gaal does not seem to have known that Abimelek and his troops were nearby, since Zebul was able to convince him otherwise at first (as the next verse describes). Gaal, given his boast against Abimelek at the temple banquet, may have wanted to watch and see whether there was any danger. He may have expected to be able to see approaching troops while they were still far away and arrange a defense before they arrived. But since the author does not say explicitly why Gaal went out to the city gate, it would probably be best not to suggest any reason for this in your translation.

Why did the people of Shechem go out of their city the day after Abimelek defeated Gaal?

In 9:42, the author says that the people of Shechem went out of their city the day after Abimelek defeated Gaal, but he does not say why. In this verse, “went out” does not seem to describe a military operation, as it does in 9:39 in the case of Gaal. Instead, the people of Shechem seem to have thought mistakenly that they could let Gaal try to defeat Abimelek and become their ruler and that, if he failed, they could still serve Abimelek. So they were probably just going out to work in their fields. You may find it appropriate to use a different expression in your translation for “went out” in 9:42 than you do for that phrase in 9:39.