Proper name.[1]
The son of Gideon.[2] He smote his brothers, seventy sons of Gideon's wives,[3] upon a single stone, and none of them was left except Jotham the youngest son,[4] who ran away. As Abimelech was passing through with his people, Jotham went up to the top of the mountain and, raising his voice, told the following parable. "Listen to me, men of Shechem, and God will listen to you. The trees set out[5] to anoint a king over themselves. And they said to the olive, 'Rule over us.' And the olive said to them, 'Should I give up my rich oil, by which -- through me -- God[6] and men receive honor,[7] and go rule over trees?' Then the trees said to the fig, 'Come, rule over us.' And the fig said to them, 'Should I give up my sweetness, my excellent product, and go to rule over the trees?' And the trees said to the vine, 'Come, rule over us.' And the vine said to them, 'Should I give up my wine, merriment for men, and go to rule over the trees?' And all the trees said to the thornbush, 'Come, you rule over us.' And the thornbush said to the trees, 'If you are truly anointing me to rule over you, come stand under[8] my shade. But if not, may fire come from me and consume the cedars of
Lebanon.' Now, if you have dealt with my father and his family truthfully and in an upright way, and have made his concubine's son Abimelech king over the men of Shechem, then may you rejoice in him and may he indeed rejoice in you. But if not, may fire issue from Abimelech and consume your leaders and their families. And may fire issue from the men of Shechem and consume Abimelech." And Jotham ran from the presence of Abimelech his brother. But Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years. Then God sent an evil spirit between[9] Abimelech and the men of Shechem. And the men of Shechem dealt treacherously[10] with the house of Abimelech so to lay at Abimelech's feet[11] the blood of Gideon's seventy sons. And so Abimilech set out to beseige the tower.[12] As he approached the tower gate to burn it, a woman threw a piece of a millstone onto his head and crushed his skull. He at once called out to his armor bearer[13], saying, "Draw your sword and kill me, so they can never say I was killed by a woman." So the young man took up his sword and ran him through. And God recompensed the wickedness Abimelech had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers. God also recompensed[14] all the wickedness of the men of Shechem, in accord with the message and parable of Jotham.
Abimelech: onoma kurion. huios Gedeôn. houtos epataxe tous adelphous autou ek tôn eleutherôn andras ebdomêkonta epi lithon hena, ex hôn ouk apeleiphthê plên Iôatham tou neôterou diadrantos. hos kai paraporeuomenou tou Abimelech meta tou laou anêlthen epi tên koruphên tou orous, kai eparas tên phônên autou ephê pros autous parabolên toiautên. akousate mou, andres Sikimôn, kai akousei humôn ho theos. poreuomena eporeuthêsan ta xula tou chrisai basilea eph' heautôn. kai eipan têi elaiai: basileuson eph' hêmôn. kai eipen autois hê elaia: apheisa tên piotêta mou, hên edoxasen en emoi ho theos kai hoi anthrôpoi, poreuthô archein tôn xulôn; kai eipon ta xula têi sukêi: deuro, basileuson eph' hêmas. kai eipen autois hê sukê: apheisa tên glukutêta mou kai to gennêma mou to agathon poreuthô archein tôn xulôn; kai eipon ta xula pros tên ampelon: deuro, basileuson eph' hêmôn. kai eipen autois hê ampelos: apheisa ton oinon mou kai tên euphrosunên tôn anthrôpôn poreuthô archein tôn xulôn; kai eipon panta ta xula têi rhamnôi: deuro, su basileuson eph' hêmas. kai eipen hê rhamnos pros ta xula: ei en alêtheiai chriete me humeis tou basileuein eph' humas, deute, hupostête en têi skiai mou, kai ei mê, exelthoi pur ap' emou kai kataphagêi tas kedrous tou Libanou. kai nun ei en alêtheiai kai hosiotêti epoiêsate meta tou patros mou kai meta tou oikou autou kai ebasileusate ton Abimelech huion tês paidiskês autou epi tous andras Sikimôn, euphrantheiête en autôi, kai euphrantheiê kai ge autos en humin: ei de mê, exelthoi pur ex Abimelech kai kataphagoi tous archontas humôn kai tous oikous autôn: kai exelthoi pur ek tôn andrôn Sikimôn kai kataphagoi ton Abimelech. kai apedra Iôatham apo prosôpou Abimelech adelphou autou. ho de Abimelech êrxen epi ton Israêl etê tria. kai exapesteilen ho theos pneuma ponêron ana meson Abimelech kai ana meson andrôn Sikimôn. kai êthetêsan hoi andres Sikimôn en tôi oikôi Abimelech tou epagagein adikian kai to haima tôn o# huiôn Gedeôn epi tên kephalên Abimelech. kai gar apelthôn polemêsai purgon kai prosengisas têi thurai tou purgou emprêsai autên, erripse gunê klasma mulou epi tên kephalên autou kai sunetripse to kranion autou. kai epiboêsas tachu eipe pros ton aironta autou ta skeuê: spason tên rhomphaian sou kai thanatôson me, mê pote eipôsin: gunê auton apekteine. kai kentêsan auton to paidarion aneile. kai epestrepsen ho theos tên ponêrian Abimelech, hên epoiêse tôi patri autou apokteinas tous o# adelphous autou. kai pasan tên ponêrian andrôn Sikimôn epestrepsen ho theos eis tên kephalên autôn kata ton logon kai tên paroimian Iôatham.
Source for the main paragraph (after the initial gloss): George the Monk,
Chronicon 148.2-149.20.
[1] Hebrew: אבימלך "my father is king." Used derogatorily and incessantly (31 times) throughout the Abimelech episode in
Judges 9 (Boling, NSRV at
Judges 9:1).
[2] Literally, "by his wives." The use of
e)leuqe/rwn here indicates "married women/wives" (see L-S-J). The Massoretic Text (MT) (
Judges 8:30; Kohlenberger, Vol. 2, 101) shows נשים
našīm, which here means "wives" (Brown, Driver, Briggs {BDB}, 61). The term is to be distinguished from that for Abimelech's mother — פלגש
pilegeš "concubine" in the sense of a legitimate wife of secondary rank (Kohlenberger for the suffixed MT form; Boling, NRSV at
Judges 8:31).
[3] Literally, "upon a single stone." MT: על אבן אחת
ʿal ʾeḇen ʾeḥat (
Judges 9:5). See Boling,
Judges (Anchor), 171.5. A direct transference from the Hebrew to the
LXX.
[4] (Cf.
iota 478.) The Greek
newte/rou, comparative understood for the superlative (Smyth §1082.a) from Hebrew הקטן
haqqaton, the "young(est) one" (
Judges 9:5).
[5] The Suda's
poreuo/mena e)poreu/qhsan parallels the MT at
Judges 9:5 (but not the
LXX, which singularizes the finite verb) in its fuller anthropomorphism via the plural finite verb. The participle plus finite verb mimics, but does not parallel, MT usage, which gives infinitive absolute plus finite verb (הלוך הלכו
haloḵ halēḵū) (Kautzsch, 342 {113o(1)}; Boling,
Judges (Anchor), 173.8). For this genre of fable, see also
2 Kings 14:9-10 and its shadow at
2 Chronicles 25:18-19. the motif bears only general resemblance to Aesop's frog fable. For related motifs, see the source summary in Brown (The New Jerome), 140; Boling,
Judges (Anchor), 173.
[6] The Suda singularizes (
o( qeo/s), whereas the MT contains אלהים
elohīm to be interpreted as "gods" — not "God." That the translation warrants a plural is supported by the antiquity of the original motif (Boling,
Judges (Anchor), 173-74.15; 175.20). The plural is the norm in modern Bible translation.
[7] The standard translation of the MT אשר-בי יכבדו אלהים ואנשים
ʾašer-bī yeḵaḇdū ʾelohīm waʾanašīm (
Judges 9:9) and the Suda's
h(\n...a)/nqrwpoi is "by which/whereby gods and men are honored." The Hebrew syntax merits reevaluation. The Jotham parable is a poetic fable cast in prose (Boling,
Judges (Anchor) 166, 172-73.8-15, 173.15; for an uncritical opposing view, see Brown (
The New Jerome), 140). However, Boling (173.9) and others read the Pi'el active
yeḵaḇdū ("ykbdw" in Boling) as a Niph'al passive (are honored). Boling also cites the "kbd" root as Niph'al reflexive in
Exodus 14:4, perhaps intending an alternative (but unlikely) reading for
Judges 9:9 as "gods and men honor themselves." This approach overlooks the fable's poetic form — a medium that allows the Pi'el to operate intransitively (Kautzsch, 142 {52k}). Relatedly, Kautzsch (Gesenius, in accord with T.K Cheyne) assigns Niph'al senses to Pi'el forms in the poetry of
Isaiah 48:8 and 60:11, which just as easily may be read intransitively as "your ear has not opened (responded) [to new things]" and "your gates shall always stand open." In
Judges 9:9, the intransitive result is "(by) which, through me, gods and men receive honor." The preposition "bi" (Greek:
e)n e)moi\), which in Boling's syntax is left "unexplained", provides an instrumental dative (BDB, 89, III.2): "through me." Boling asserts "bi" to be "a third-person suffix" without further discussion; BDB (citing George F. Moore) suggests the third-person "bo" (by/through it) for the "bi" form. Boling does cite the
LXX Vaticanus reading "by it"; however, Vaticanus works a simplified solution:
e)n h(=i doca/sousi to\n qeo\n a)/ndres, "by which men shall honor God" (Brenton, 329). In a near parallel to the MT, the Suda records
e)do/casen for a Hebraicized-intransitive
e)do/casan (
yeḵaḇdū): literally, "regarding which (oil), through my agency, God and men receive honor."
[8] The verb
u(po/sthte also carries the meaning "submit"; the Hebrew at
Judges 9:15 (imperative
hasū) carries only the sense "take refuge" (BDB, 340).
[9] The duplicated
a)na\ me/son is a Hebraism paralleling
Judges 9:22 (בין אבימלך ובין בעלי שכם
bēn ʾAḇimeleḵ uḇēn baʿalē šeḵem). See also the MT and
LXX at
Genesis 1:4. For model Greek syntax, see
LXX Genesis 32:16 (Brenton, 43)— with the MT (
Genesis 32:17) showing the duplicate pattern (Kohlenberger, Vol 1, 88).
[10] For
a)qete/w (deal treacherously), see Lust, Pt. I, 9.
[11] Literally, "to lay upon Abimelech's head his injustice and the blood of Gideon's seventy sons."
[12] For Abimelech's ill-fated siege of the Thebez tower, see
Judges 9:50-57.
[13] The term
paida/rion reprises the MT נערו
naʿarō (his servant or retainer) at
Judges 9:54. Translations render the word as "armor bearer." Boling in his
Judges (146.10; 182.54) prefers "squire."
[14] Literally, "turned about onto their head."
Boling, R.G. Judges (The Anchor Bible). New York: Doubleday, 1975.
Boling, R.G. Judges in the Harper Collins Study Bible (NRSV). New York: Harper Collins, 1993.
Brenton, C.L.B. The Septuagint with Apocrypha. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1991 (reprint of 1851 ed.).
Brown, F. Driver, S.R., Briggs, C.A. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon, 1951.
Brown, R.E. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1990.
Kautzsch, E. Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar. Oxford: Clarendon, 1910.
Kohlenberger, J.R. The Interlinear NIV Hebrew-English Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987.
Lust, J. A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, Part I. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1992.
Smyth, H.W. Greek Grammar. Cambridge: Harvard University, 1984.
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