Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 9:37
And Gaal spoke again and said, See there come people down by the middle of the land, and another company come along by the plain of Meonenim.
37. the middle of the land ] the Navel of the land; this is the traditional meaning of the word, Talm., LXX , Vulgate umbilicus. The word only occurs again in Eze 38:12 of the mountains of Israel, apparently as central and prominent in the earth. Some hill near Shechem was called the Navel, perhaps because it was supposed to be midway between the sea and the Jordan (cf. the navel of Italy, Sicily, Greece, in Latin authors).
the oak of Meonenim ] the augurs’ terebinth (marg.), the seat of a Canaanite tree-oracle, administered by priests here called augurs or soothsayers, cf. Deu 18:10, Mic 5:12; the omens were taken, it seems, from the rustling leaves or waving boughs (2Sa 5:24), or by the “ordinary processes of divination performed in the presence of the sacred object” (R. Smith, Rel. of Sem., p. 178). The allusions to a sacred terebinth at or near Shechem ( Jdg 9:6, Gen 12:6; Gen 35:4, Deu 11:30, Jos 24:26) need not all refer to the same tree. See further on Jdg 9:6 and Jdg 6:11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The plain of Meonenim – Translate the oak of the soothsayers (see the margin). Some well-known oak, so called, but which is not mentioned elsewhere.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 37. By the plain of Meonenim.] Some translate, by the way of the oaks, or oaken groves; others, by the way of the magicians, or regarders of the times, as in our margin. Probably it was a place in which augurs and soothsayers dwelt.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By the middle of the land, Heb. by the navel of the land. So he calls either, first, The middle of it, as the middle part of Greece and of Sicily are called the navel of them by the Roman writers, because the navel is in the midst of mans body; or, secondly, The higher part of it, called the mountains, Jdg 9:36, and here the navel, because it was raised above the other ground, as the navel is above the rest of the body.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Gaal spake again, and said,…. Looking towards the mountains, and taking another view of what he before saw, for further satisfaction:
see, there come people down by the middle of the land; either in the valley between the two mountains; or rather those he first saw on the top of the mountains were now come down about the middle of them, called in the Hebrew text the navel, from the prominence of the mountains thereabout, or because the navel is in the middle of the body, as this part of them was the middle on which he saw them. R. Isaiah interprets it, between the two cities:
and another company come along by the plain of Meonenim; of which we read nowhere else. Montanus renders it, “the oak of Meonenim”; or of the soothsayers; oaks being had in great esteem with idolaters for their oracles and divinations; and perhaps this was a place, whether an oak or, a plain, where such persons used to meet to make their divinations.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But Gaal said again, “ Behold, people come down from the navel of the land, ” i.e., from the highest point of the surrounding country, “ and a crowd comes by the way of the wizard’s terebinths, ” – a place in the neighbourhood of Shechem that is not mentioned anywhere else, and therefore is not more precisely known.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(37) By the middle of the land.Literally, by the navel of the land. Probably the expression means some gently-swelling hill, but it perplexed the translators. The Chaldee renders it the strength, and the Svriac the fortification of the land. In Eze. 38:12 it is rendered in the midst of the land. The LXX. here have the strangely blundering addition, by sea.
Another company.Literally, one head (Vulg., cuneus unus).
By the plain of Meonenim.Rather, from the way to the Enchanters Terebinth (LXX., of the oak of those that look away; Vulg., which looks toward the oak; Luther, more correctly, zur Zaubereiche). Meonen in Lev. 19:28 is rendered enchantment, and means especially the kind of enchantment which affects the eye (the evil eye, &c.), and therefore implies the use of amulets, &c. Hence, though the terebinth is nowhere else mentioned by this particular name, it is at least a probable conjecture that it may be the ancient tree under which Jacobs family had buried their idolatrous amulets (Gen. 35:4).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
37. Middle of the land Rather, height of the land, some neighbouring summit.
The plain of Meonenim Rather, By the way of the oak of the magicians, a place (no longer known) in the vicinity of Shechem, that was probably noted as a favourite haunt of diviners and soothsayers.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And Gaal spoke again, and said, “Look, people are coming down along the middle of the land, and one company comes by way of the Diviner’s oak.” ’
Gaal looked again and now he knew he was right. He saw two more companies, one coming through the middle between the two mountains and one coming by way of the Diviner’s oak, a tree where soothsayers practised their arts, which were forbidden in Israel (Deu 18:10; Lev 19:26), another sign of the disobedience of the land.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 9:37 And Gaal spake again and said, See there come people down by the middle of the land, and another company come along by the plain of Meonenim.
Ver. 37. By the plain of Meonenim. ] Or, Of the soothsayers. It may be rendered, By the oak of the oraculous diviners. The oak was consecrated to Jupiter: and of the Dodonaean oak much is spoken by the poets: but what meant such places or such doings among the people of Israel, who were flatly forbidden them? Deu 18:9-14
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
plain = oak.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
middle: Heb. navel
Meonenim: or, the regarders of the times, Deu 18:14
Reciprocal: Eze 38:12 – midst