Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 9:8
The trees went forth [on a time] to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.
8. The trees went forth ] Cf. 2Ki 14:9. Fables of trees that speak and act like human beings spring from the instinct for personification, which is a characteristic of an early stage of civilization; they were current not only among the Hebrews, but among the Babylonians and Assyrians. Part of a fable of this kind, taking the form of a dispute between the trees, has been discovered in the library of Ashurbanipal. Baudissin, Adonis u. Esmun, p. 436.
the olive ] comes first, as being the most valuable and highly prized of the trees of Palestine. The olive, the vine and the fig are the staple products of the Judaean range. See G. A. Smith, Jerusalem, i. p. 299.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This fable and that noted in the marginal reference are the only two of the kind found in Scripture. Somewhat different are the parables of the Old Testament, 2Sa 12:1-4; 2Sa 14:5-11; 1Ki 20:39-40.
Jdg 9:9
Honour God and man – Alluding to the constant use of oil in the meat-offerings Lev. 2:1-16, and in the holy ointment Exo 30:24-25. In like manner, the allusion in Jdg 9:13 is to the drink-offerings of wine. See Lev 23:13; Num 15:10.
Jdg 9:14
The bramble – Said to be the Rhamnus Paliurus of Linnaeus, otherwise called Spina-Christi, or Christs Thorn, a shrub with sharp thorns. The application is obvious. The noble Gideon and his worthy sons had declined the proffered kingdom. The vile, base-born Abimelech had accepted it, and his act would turn out to the mutual ruin of himself and his subjects.
Jdg 9:15
If in truth – i. e. consistently with truth, honor, and uprightness, as explained in the interpretation in Jdg 9:16, Jdg 9:19.
Let fire come out … – The propriety of the image is strictly preserved, for even the thorns of the worthless bramble might kindle a flame which would burn the stately cedars to the ground. See Psa 58:9.
Jdg 9:16-20
These verses contain the interpretation of the fable. In them Jotham points out the base ingratitude of the people in raising Abimelech upon the ruin of Gideons house, and foretells the retribution which would fall upon both parties.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. The trees went forth on a time] This is the oldest, and without exception the best fable or apologue in the world. See the observations at the end of this chapter.
It is not to be supposed that a fable, if well formed, requires much illustration; every part of this, a few expressions excepted, illustrates itself, and tells its own meaning.
To anoint a king] Hence it appears that anointing was usual in the installation of kings, long before there was any king in Israel; for there is much evidence that the book of Judges was written before the days of Saul and David.
The olive tree] The olive was the most useful of all the trees in the field or forest, as the bramble was the meanest and the most worthless.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A parabolical discourse, usual among the ancients, especially in the eastern parts; wherein, under the names of trees, men are represented.
To anoint a king, i.e. to make a king, which was oft done among the Israelites, and some others, with the ceremony of anointing. By
the olive tree he understands Gideon.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them,…. This is an apologue or fable, and a very fine and beautiful one; it is fitly expressed to answer the design, and the most ancient of the kind, being made seven hundred years before the times of Aesop, so famous for his fables, and exceeds anything written by him. By the trees are meant the people of Israel in general, and the Shechemites in particular, who had been for some time very desirous of a king, but could not persuade any of their great and good men to accept of that office:
and they said unto the olive tree, reign thou over us; a fit emblem of a good man, endowed with excellent virtues and qualifications for good, as David king of Israel, who is compared to such a tree, Ps 52:8, Jarchi applies this to Othniel the first judge; but it may be better applied to Gideon, an excellent good man, full of fruits of righteousness, and eminently useful, and to whom kingly government was offered, and was refused by him; and the men of Shechem could scarcely fail of thinking of him, and applying it to him, as Jotham was delivering his fable.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) The trees went forth.As in this chapter we have the first Israelite king and the first massacre of brethren, so here we have the first fable. Fables are extremely popular in the East, where they are often current, under the name of the slave-philosopher Lokman, the counterpart of the Greek sop. But though there are many apologues and parables in Scripture (e.g., in the Old Testament, the ewe lamb, 2Sa. 12:1-4; Psalms 80; Isa. 5:1-6, &c), there is only one other fable, and that is one closely akin to this (2Ki. 14:9). St. Paul, however, in 1Co. 12:14-19, evidently refers to the ancient fable of Menenius Agrippa, about the belly and the members (Liv. 2:30). A fable is a fanciful story, to inculcate prudential morality. In the Bible trees seem to be more favourite dramatis person than the talking birds and beasts of other nations. Went forth is the emphatic phrase going, they went. The scenery immediately around Jotham would furnish the most striking illustration of his words, for it is more umbrageous than any other in Palestine, and Shechem seems to rise out of a sea of living verdure. The aptitude for keen and proverbial speech seems to have been hereditary in his family (Joash, Jdg. 6:31; Gideon, Jdg. 8:2).
To anoint a king over them.Evidently the thought of royalty was, so to speak, in the air. It is interesting to find from this passing allusion that the custom of anointing a king must have prevailed among the neighbouring nations.
Unto the olive tree.This venerable and fruitful tree, with its silvery leaves and its grey cloud-like appearance at a distance, and its peculiar value and fruitfulness, would naturally first occur to the trees.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. The trees According to Dr. Thomson, the olive, the fig, the vine, and the bramble are the trees which most abound in the neighbourhood of Shechem.
To anoint a king There had as yet been no king in Israel, but the custom of anointing kings for their office was familiar to the people, and Abimelech had probably just now been inducted into royalty in this way before this same assembly.
The olive One of the most highly valued and extensively cultivated trees of Palestine.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“The trees went forth at one time to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘You reign over us.’ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I leave my fatness, with which by me they honour God and man, and go to wave to and fro over the trees?’ ”
These words were a direct mockery of kingship. They revealed it to be a useless exercise taking men away from more important things. The efforts of the olive were far better spent in producing oil than waving uselessly over the trees. Its oil honoured both God and men. By it the light continually shone in the Tabernacle honouring God (Exo 27:20; Lev 24:2). By it priests were anointed to the service of God honouring men (Exo 30:24-25; Exo 30:30-31). Why then should it leave this important duty simply in order to wave over the trees?
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 9:8. The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king, &c. We have here the most ancient example of the use of parables and apologues, to set forth the most serious matters and the most interesting truths. The Greeks pretend to have been the inventors, but there is nothing more absurd than their vanity in this respect. A long time before AEsop, and every other author known to their nation, the Orientals, and particularly the Hebrews, made use of this ingenious manner, to instruct by amusing, without giving pain or offence. Bishop Warburton, in his Div. Leg. vol. 3: has some ingenious remarks upon this subject, to which we refer the reader; observing only from him, that, “As speech became more cultivated, the rude manner of speaking by action was smoothed and polished into an apologue or fable; where the speaker, to enforce his purpose by a suitable impression, told a familiar tale of his own invention, accompanied with such circumstances as made his design evident and persuasive; for language was yet too narrow, and the minds of men too undisciplined, to support only abstract reasoning and a direct address. We have a noble example of this form of instruction in a speech of Jotham to the men of Shechem, in which he upbraids their folly, and foretels their ruin, in choosing Abimelech for their king: and this is not only the oldest, but likewise the most beautiful apologue of antiquity. The general moral, which is of great importance, and is inculcated with all imaginable force, is, that weak and worthless men are ever most forward in thrusting themselves into power, while the wise and good decline rule, and prize their native ease and freedom. The vanity of base men in power is taught in the 15th verse; and the ridicule of that vanity is inimitably marked out in those circumstances where the bramble is made to bid his new subjects, who wanted no shadow, to come and put their trust in his; and that, in case of disobedience, he would send out from himself a fire, that should devour the cedars of Lebanon; whereas the fire of the bramble was short and momentary, even to a proverb among Easterns.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
It was a very favorite way in the Eastern world, to deliver weighty subjects by parable. And hence, in accommodation to this general mode of instruction, our adorable Redeemer chiefly delivered his precious discourses, under the cover of similitudes; so much so indeed, that at one time without a parable Jesus did not speak unto them. See Mat 13:34 . The figure of the tree chasing a king, and the nobler ones declining the station, while the bramble hastily caught at it, was plainly intended to show how Gideon had, modestly for himself and his lawful sons, declined this honour! while his illegitimate son, like a worthless bramble, seized it on the first offer. Nothing, in a figurative way, could have been more happily chosen, to point out the object Jotham had in view.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jdg 9:8 The trees went forth [on a time] to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.
Ver. 8. The trees went forth on a time. ] An apologue or parable. The like whereunto see 2Ki 14:9 2Sa 12:2 Mat 13:2-3 , &c. The trees, that is, the men of Israel (Plato compared a man to a tree inverted, with the root above and the branches below) went forth, eundo iverunt, they went hastily, but (to an ill bargain) they returned heavily. They might have foreseen, by his bloody dealing with his innocent brethren, what kind of king they should have of him. But, Deus quos destruit, demental they were infatuated, because destined to destruction.
And they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The trees. This is pare allegory (App-6). The interpretation is local and historical. The application is dispensational.
went forth. Verb, duplicated by Figure of speech Polyptoton (App-6). Very emphatic = ” a going forth they went forth”, or went forth with great earnestness of purpose.
the olive tree = Israel’s religious privileges. Romans 11.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The trees: This is the most ancient fable or apologue extant; and is extremely beautiful, apposite, and intelligible. 2Ki 14:9, Eze 17:3-10, Dan 4:10-18
olive tree: The zayith, or olive tree, in the Linnean system, is a genus of the diandra monogynia class of plants. It is of a moderate height, and grows best in sunny places. Its trunk is knotty; bark smooth, of an ash colour: wood solid and yellowish; leaves oblong, almost like those of the willow, of a dark green colour on the upper side, and whitish below. In June it puts forth white flowers, growing in bunches, each of one piece, widening towards the top, and dividing into four parts. After this succeeds the fruit, which is oblong and plump; first green, then pale, and when quite ripe, black. Within it is enclosed a hard stone, filled with oblong seeds. It was the most useful of all trees in the forest; as the bramble was the meanest and most worthless.
Reign: Jdg 8:22, Jdg 8:23
Reciprocal: 2Sa 14:5 – I am indeed 2Ch 25:18 – thistle Eze 17:2 – General Eze 31:9 – all the trees Mat 13:3 – in Rom 11:17 – and with 1Co 12:15 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
KING BRAMBLE
The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.
Jdg 9:8
I. From the answer of the olive tree we learn that usefulness is better than honour.Usefulness, if it be of the higher kind, is attained through long growing and long striving. But when it is attained, when there is a normal regulated usefulness flowing steadily out of a mans life, when he serves God and man where he is and by what he is, the offer of promotion ought to carry with it some very strong and clear enforcements to induce him to think of acceptance.
II. Notice, next, the answer of the fig tree.Sweetness is the one quality which the fig tree felt that it possessed. There is in some human souls a sweetness which imparts a fig tree flavour to the whole life. When you meet one who possesses this gift moving about among rough ways and persons, consider that you see something far more than merely pleasant, something of exceeding value to the world.
III. The vine can do only one thingit can bear clusters of grapes.But that one thing is of force and value enough to keep the vine steady under temptation. Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? As there are some human lives with sweetness in them as their main element, so there are some with this brighter, racier quality, which cheers and animates the spirits of others. Be a vine if you can be nothing more; distil and distribute the wine of life.
IV. Society, in all its sections, is full of bramble men, who are striving for every sort of personal elevation and advantage.By the picture in this parable I want you to scorn the principles they act upon, and to know that, by Gods grace, you stand on a moral elevation far above them.
Illustrations
(1) The true political lesson of Jothams parable is surely this:that the highest places in the State should be given only to the best men; that the bramble should never be permitted to usurp the place of the olive or the vine, and that the vine and the olive should not shrink from the duties which their very sweetness and fatness impose upon them. When men of noble character, and great parts, and refined culture withdraw from public lifeas, for instance, we are told they do in Americaand leave the administration of public affairs to the ignorant and greedy and unscrupulous; or when, as often happens in England, men who are worthless as brambles, simply because they have a long purse or a long pedigree (and brambles are at least as old as the Curse), are thrust into seats of honour and responsibilitythen we may predict, with Jotham, that a fire will break forth from them in which much that we love will be consumed. If Gideon will not rule, and Abimelech will; or if we are base enough to prefer a base Abimelech before a noble Gideon, we may be very sure that evil will come of it, and not good: we shall not gather grapes off briars, nor figs off thistles: we may confidently look for thorns and flames in lieu of wine and honey.
(2) The fable requires little explanation. It was meant to be, and it is, self-interpreting. We see, too, that it is a felicitous condensation or the principle which regulates the acceptance of many of the high honours and rewards of life. It will not do for every one to say with the fig tree, Should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? It is important to recognise on the one hand, that we cannot decline all honour, and ought not to shrink from advancement in life; and on the other hand, we must recognise that it may be humility, but it may also be selfish love of ease, which prompts us to say, Should I leave my fatness and my sweetness, and go to be promoted over the trees?
(3) It is the peculiar and strong temptation of the wise and happy, of men of culture and refinement, to pursue their own clear, lofty aims, and leave the world around them to take its own way. All who have stood on the Mount of Vision and Contemplation are disposed to abide there, and to leave the publicans and harlots and demoniacs below to get on as best they can.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Jdg 9:8. The trees went forth on a time This is the first instance that we have of this manner of speaking by parables. But we find it in great use afterward, and frequently adopted, not by prophets only, but by courtiers, politicians, and soldiers, in the Old Testament. See 2Sa 14:1, and 1Ki 20:38; chap. 1Ki 22:19. To anoint a king over them Kings were appointed among the Israelites, and some other nations, with the ceremony of anointing. Olive-tree By which he means Gideon.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9:8 {e} The trees went forth [on a time] to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.
(e) By this parable he declares that those that are not ambitious, are most worthy of honour and that the ambitious abuse their honour both to their own destruction and others.