Judges 9:50-56 sits inside this longer paragraph.
46When all the men of the tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered into the stronghold of the house of Elberith. 47Abimelech was told that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. 48Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an ax in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done!” 49All the people likewise each cut down his bough, followed Abimelech, and put them at the base of the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women. 50Then Abimelech went to Thebez and encamped against Thebez, and took it. 51But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women of the city fled there, and shut themselves in, and went up to the roof of the tower. 52Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it, and came near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. 53A certain woman cast an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, and broke his skull.
54Then he called hastily to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, that men not say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’ His young man thrust him through, and he died.”
55When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they each departed to his place. 56Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father in killing his seventy brothers; 57and God repaid all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads; and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came on them.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v54 Thus God by such miserable death taketh vengeance on…
Thus God by such miserable death taketh vengeance on tyrants even in this life.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv50–56 Jdg 9:50 Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped…
Jdg 9:50 Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it.
Ver. 50. Then went Abimelech to Thebez.] Elijah the Tishbite’s country, and more famous for him than Thebes, in Greece, was afterwards for Pindarus the poet.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv50, 51, 53, 54, 56 Thebez; another town near to Shechem; and, as it…
Thebez; another town near to Shechem; and, as it seems, within its territory.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v50 We have seen the ruin of the Shechemites completed…
We have seen the ruin of the Shechemites completed by the hand of Abimelech; and now it comes to his turn to be reckoned with who was their leader in villany. Thebez was a small city, probably not far from Shechem, dependent upon it, and in confederacy with it. Now,
I. Abimelech attempted the destruction of this city (Jdg 9:50), drove all the inhabitants of the town into the castle, or citadel, Jdg 9:51. When he had them there he did not doubt but he should do the same execution here that he had lately done at the strong-hold of the temple of Baal-berith, not considering that the tower of an idol-temple lay more exposed to divine vengeance than any other tower. He attempted to set fire to this tower, at least to burn down the door, and so force an entrance, Jdg 9:52. Those who have escaped and succeeded well in one desperate attempt are apt to think the like attempt another time not desperate. This instance was long after quoted to show how dangerous it is to come near the call of a besieged city, Sa2 11:20, etc. But God infatuates those whom he will ruin.
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II. In the attempt he was himself destroyed, having his brains knocked out with a piece of a millstone, Jdg 9:57. No doubt this man was a murderer, whom, though he had escaped the dangers of the war with Shechem, yet vengeance suffered not to live, Act 28:4. Evil pursues sinners, and sometimes overtakes them when they are not only secure, but triumphant. Thebez, we may suppose, was a weak inconsiderable place, compared with Shechem. Abimelech, having conquered the greater, makes no doubt of being master of the less without any difficulty, especially when he had taken the city, and had only the tower to deal with; yet he lays his bones by that, and there is all his honour buried. Thus are the mighty things of the world often confounded by the weakest and those things that are most made light of. See here what rebukes those are justly put under many times by the divine providence that are unreasonable in their demands of satisfaction for injuries received. Abimelech had some reason to chastise the Shechemites, and he had done it with a witness; but when he will carry his revenges further, and nothing will serve but that Thebez also must be sacrificed to his rage, he is not only disappointed there, but destroyed; for verily there is a God that judges in the earth. Three circumstances are worthy of observation in the death of Abimelech: - 1. That he was slain with a stone, as he had slain his brethren all upon one stone. 2. That he had his skull broken. Vengeance aimed at that guilty head which had worn the usurped crown. 3. That the stone was cast upon him by a woman, Jdg 9:53. He saw the stone come; it was therefore strange he did not avoid it, but, no doubt, this made it so much the greater mortification to him to see from what hand it came. Sisera died by a woman's hand and knew it not; but Abimelech not only fell by the hand of a woman but knew it, and, when he found himself ready to breathe his last, nothing troubled him so much as this, that it should be said, A woman slew him. See, (1.) His foolish pride, in laying so much to heart this little circumstance of his disgrace. Here was no care taken about his precious soul, no concern what would become of that, no prayer to God for his mercy; but very solicitous he is to patch up his shattered credit, when there is no patching his shattered skull. "O let it never be said that such a mighty man as Abimelech was killed by a woman!" The man was dying, but his pride was alive and strong, and the same vain-glorious humour that had governed him all along appears now at last. Qualis vita, finis ita - As was his life, such was his death. As God punished his cruelty by the manner of his death, so he punished his pride by the instrument of it. (2.) His foolish project to avoid this disgrace; nothing could be more ridiculous; his own servant must run him through, not to rid him the sooner out of his pain, but that men say not, A woman slew him. Could he think that this would conceal what the woman had done, and not rather proclaim it the more? Nay, it added to the infamy of his death, for hereby he became a self-murderer. Better have it said, A woman slew him, than that it should be said, His servant slew him by his own order; yet now both will be said of him to his everlasting reproach. And it is observable that this very thing which Abimelech was in such care to conceal appears to have been more particularly remembered by posterity than most passages of his history; for Joab speaks of it as that which he expected David would reproach him with, for coming so nigh the wall, Sa2 11:21. The ignominy we seek to avoid by sin we do but perpetuate the remembrance of.
III. The issue of all is that Abimelech being slain, 1. Israel's peace was restored, and an end was put to this civil war; for those that followed him departed every man to his place, Jdg 9:55. 2. God's justice was glorified (Jdg 9:56, Jdg 9:57): Thus God punished the wickedness of Abimelech, and of the men of Shechem, and fulfilled Jotham's curse, for it was not a curse causeless. Thus he preserved the honour of his government, and gave warning to all ages to expect blood for blood. The Lord is known by the judgments which he executes, when the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Though wickedness may prosper awhile, it will not prosper always.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv50–56 But there was a strong tower within the city,....…
But there was a strong tower within the city,.... The tower of Shechem was without the city, but this within, as towers generally are:
and hither fled all the men and women, and all they of the city; men, women, and children, man and maid servants, all the inhabitants of the city; the tower being a large place, having not only many rooms in it, but perhaps a large area in the midst of it, as well as it had battlements on the top of it:
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and shut it to them; the gates of it, and which no doubt they strongly barred and bolted, to keep out the enemy:
and gat them up to the top of the tower; to observe the motions of Abimelech, and annoy him as much as they could with what they carried with them, as stones, and the like.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv50, 51, 53, 54, 56 Thebez - Another town near to Shechem; and, as…
Thebez - Another town near to Shechem; and, as it seems, within its territory.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv53, 54, 56 Verse 53. A piece of a millstone] פלח רכב…
Verse 53. A piece of a millstone] פלח רכב pelach recheb, a piece of a chariot wheel; but the word is used in other places for upper millstones, and is so understood here by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic.
And all to break his skull.] A most nonsensical version of ותרץ את גלגלתו vattarits eth gulgolto, which is literally, And she brake, or fractured, his skull. Plutarch, in his life of Pyrrhus, observes that this king was killed at the siege of Thebes, by a piece of a tile, which a woman threw upon his head.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv53, 56 Jdg 9:53-54. A woman cast a piece of a…
Jdg 9:53-54. A woman cast a piece of a millstone — Such great stones, no doubt, they carried up with them, whereby they might defend themselves, or offend those who assaulted them. Here the justice of God is remarkable in suiting the punishment to his sin. He slew his brethren upon a stone, (Jdg 9:5,) and he loseth his own life by a stone. A woman slew him — Which was esteemed a matter of disgrace.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv50, 52, 53 The men of Thebez (modern Tubas) had, doubtless, joined…
The men of Thebez (modern Tubas) had, doubtless, joined the Shechemites in their rebellion against Abimelech.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv50, 51, 53, 54 Thebes, about 13 miles from Sichem, towards Scythopolis. (Eusebius)…
Thebes, about 13 miles from Sichem, towards Scythopolis. (Eusebius) --- Besieged. Hebrew, &c., "took," as the sequel shews, (ver. 52,) since Abimelech was killed, as he was attacking the tower or citadel, in the midst of the city. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv50–51 ABIMELECH SLAIN. (Jdg 9:50-57)
ABIMELECH SLAIN. (Jdg 9:50-57)
Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez--now Tubas--not far from Shechem.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv50, 51, 53, 54 50. To Thebez — Where another insurrection had broken…
50. To Thebez — Where another insurrection had broken out. The site of Thebez is marked by the modern village Tubas, about ten miles northeast of Shechem.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv50, 51, 53, 54, 55 50–57. The end of Abimelech
50–57. The end of Abimelech
50. Thebez] 2Sa_11:21, probably the modern Ṭûbâs, about 10 m. N.E. of Nâblus on the road to Bçsân; so Eusebius, On. Sacr., 262, 44. Perhaps Thebez had been subject to Abimelech and had joined the revolt of Shechem.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv50–56 (50) Thebez.—One of the cities in the league of…
(50) Thebez.—One of the cities in the league of “Baal of the Covenant,” perhaps, Tubas, ten miles north-east of Shechem, on a mound among the hills.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv50–56 Thebez. A place so called still existed in the…
Thebez. A place so called still existed in the time of Eusebius between Neapolis (i.e. Shechem) and Scythopolis (i.e. Beth-shean), about thirteen miles from Shechem. It still survives in the large and beautiful village of Tubas, which, Robinson tells us, is on the Roman road between Nabulus and Beishan. Thebez had evidently joined the rebellion against Abimelech.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv50, 52, 55 This is the name of a city. (See: How…
Thebez
This is the name of a city. (See: How to Translate Names)
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encamped against Thebez
"camped outside the city of Thebez"
translationWords
Abimelech
watchtower
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.