Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 9:48
And Abimelech got him up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that [were] with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid [it] on his shoulder, and said unto the people that [were] with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, [and] do as I [have done].
48. mount Zalmon ] An unknown hill hard by; in Psa 68:14 it is the name of a hill on the E. of the Jordan.
an axe ] The Hebr. has the axes; the plur. cannot be explained (note in his hand), and must be corrected to the sing., LXX. cod. A, Vulgate; read his axe.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Zalmon – A lofty and thickly-wooded hill, as the etymology of the name (shady) implies, in the immediate neighborhood of Shechem: perhaps the same as Ebal. The setting fire to the hold, where the men of Shechem were all crowded together, with their wives and children, was the literal fulfillment of Jothams curse in Jdg 9:20.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jdg 9:48-49
And Abimelech took an axe in his hand.
The storming of the temple of Berith
1. I learn first from this subject, the folly of depending upon any one form of tactics in anything we have to do for this world or for God. Look over the weaponry of olden times–javelins, battle-axes, habergeons–and show me a single weapon with which Abimelech and his men could have gained such complete triumph. It is no easy thing to take a temple thus armed. Yet here Abimelech and his army come up, they surround this temple, and they capture it without the loss of a single man on the part of Abimelech, although I suppose some of the old Israelitish heroes told Abimelech: You are only going up there to be cut to pieces. Yet you are willing to testify to-day that by no other mode–certainly not by ordinary modes–could that temple so easily, so thoroughly, have been taken. What the Church most wants to learn, this day, is that any plan is right, is lawful, is best, which helps to overthrow the temple of sin, and capture this world for God. We are very apt to stick to the old modes of attack. We come up with the sharp, keen, glittering steel spear of argument, expecting in that way to take the castle; but they have a thousand spears where we have ten. And so the castle of sin stands, I propose a different style of tactics. Let each one go to the forest of Gods promise and invitation, and hew down a branch, and put it on his shoulder, and let us all come around these obstinate iniquities, and then, with this pile, kindled by the fires of a holy zeal and the flames of a consecrated life, we will burn them out. What steel cannot do, fire may. We want more heart in our song, more heart in our almsgiving, more heart in our prayers, more heart in our preaching. Oh, for less of Abimelechs sword and more of Abimeleehs conflagration! The gospel is not a syllogism; it is not casuistry; it is not polemics, or the science of squabble. It is blood-red fact; it is warm-hearted invitation; it is leaping, bounding, flying good news; it is efflorescent with all light; it is rubescent with all summery glow; it is arborescent with all sweet shade.
2. Still further, I learn from this subject the power of example. If Abimelech had sat down on the grass, and told his men to go and get the boughs, and go out to the battle, they would never have gone at all, or if they had, it would have been without any spirit or effective result; but when Abimelech goes with his own axe and hews down a branch, and with Abimelechs arm puts it on Abimelechs shoulder, and marches on, then, my text says, all the people did the same. How natural that was! What made Garibaldi and Stonewall Jackson the most magnetic commanders of this century? They always rode ahead. Oh, the overwhelming power of example! Oh, start out for heaven to-day, and your family will come after you, and your business associates will come after you, and your social friends will join you. With one branch of the tree of life for a baton, marshal just as many as you can gather. Oh, the infinite, the semi-omnipotent power of a good or a bad example!
3. Still further, I learn from this subject the advantage of concerted action. If Abimelech had merely gone out with a tree-branch, the work would not have been accomplished, or if ten, twenty, or thirty men had gone; but when all the axes are lifted, and all the sharp edges fall, and all these men carry each his tree-branch down and throw it about the temple, the victory is gained–the temple falls. Where there is one man in the Church of God at this day shouldering his whole duty, there are a great many who never lift an axe or swing a bough. It seems to me as if there were ten drones in every hive to one busy bee. What broken bone of sorrow have you ever set? Are you doing nothing? Is it possible that a man or woman sworn to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ is doing nothing?
4. Still further, I learn from this subject the danger of false refuges. As soon as these Sheehemites got into the temple, they thought they were safe. They said: Berith will take care of us. Abimelech may batter down everything else; he cannot batter down this temple where we are now hid. But very soon they heard the timbers crackling, and they were smothered with smoke, and they miserably died. And you and I are just as much tempted to false refuges. The mirror this morning may have persuaded you that you have a comely cheek; Satan may have told you that you are all right; but bear with me if I tell you that, if unpardoned, you are all wrong. I suppose every man is stepping into some kind of refuge. Here you step into the tower of good works. You say, I shall be safe here in this refuge. The battlements are adorned; the steps are varnished; on the wall are pictures of all the suffering you have alleviated, and all the schools you have established, and all the fine things you have ever done. Up in that tower you feel you are safe. But hear you not the tramp of your unpardoned sins all around the tower? They each have a match. You are kindling the combustible material. You feel the heat and the suffocation. Oh! may you leap in time, the gospel declaring, By the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified. Well, you say, I have been driven out of that tower; where shall I go? Step into this tower of indifference. You say, If this tower is attacked, it will be a great while before it is taken. You feel at ease. But there is an Abimelech, with ruthless assault, coming on. Death and his forces are gathering around. But, says some one, you are engaged in a very mean business, driving us from tower to tower. Oh no! I want to tell you of a Gibraltar that never has been and never will be taken; of a bulwark that the judgment earthquakes cannot budge. The Bible refers to it when it says: In God is thy refuge, and underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Oh! fling yourself into it, (T. De Witt Talmage.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Zalmon; a place so called from its shadiness, because there were many trees there.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Abimelech got him up to Mount Zalmon,…. A mountain near Shechem, and thought to be the same with Salmon in Ps 68:14 which seems to have had its name from the shade of the trees which grew upon it:
he and all the people that were with him; his whole army:
and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees; which grew upon Mount Zalmon:
and took it, and laid it on his shoulders; and carried it along with him:
and said unto the people that were with him, what ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done; take an axe, and every man cut down a bough with all possible haste, and lay it on his shoulder.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(48) To mount Zalmon.Evidently the nearest spot where he could get wood for his hideous design. Zalmon means shady. In Psa. 68:14 we find as white as snow in Zalmon, but whether the same mountain is referred to we cannot tell. It may be any of the hills near Gerizim.
An axe.Literally, the axesi.e., he took axes for himself and his army.
Cut down a bough.The word for a bough is socath, which does not mean a bundle of logs, as the LXX. render it. Every one will recall the scene in Macbeth where Malcolm says:
Let every soldier hew him down a bough,
And beart before him; thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host, and make discovery
Err in report of us.Acts 5, sc. 4.
But Abimelech merely wanted combustible materials.
What ye have seen me do.Comp. what Gideon says in Jdg. 7:17.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
48. Mount Zalmon A wooded hill near Shechem, but now unknown. Many suppose it referred to again in the much disputed passage, Psa 68:14, where it is wrongly spelled Salmon.
Took an axe Literally, took the axes; but the allusion is to the axes which the people also took, after the example of their leader.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And Abimelech took himself up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him, and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid it on his shoulder, and said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, be quick, and do as I have done.” ’
Taking his people with him Abimelech climbed Mount Zalmon which was tree-covered, and was so fired up that he himself took an axe and cut a bough from the tree. Then he bid all his followers to do the same as quickly as they could. Mount Zalmon is unknown but may have been a part of either Ebal or Gerizim.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done.”-Jdg 9:48 .
This exhortation may be adopted by Christian believers. What ye have seen me do in difficult business circumstances. What ye have seen me do in the presence of great temptations. What ye have seen me do in the way of self-sacrifice. What ye have seen me do in great afflictions. This may be adopted also by Christian teachers. The Apostle Paul said. “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” What ye have seen me do in the way of energy, in the way of faith, in the way of self-expenditure, in the way of forgiveness, make haste, and do as I have done. Is the Christian believer prepared to make himself an example to others? What Christian man would be willing to say, You need not at present look any further than to myself, for I am guide and standard enough to the Church? This exhortation may also be adopted by parents when addressing their children: each father or mother should be able to say, What ye have seen me do in the thick of domestic difficulties, in the night of pain, in the assured oncoming of poverty, in the very cloud and overshadowing of despair. If we were to accustom ourselves to the thought that we have to show forth our own conduct as a standard, it would make us more careful to see that that standard is noble and right. Even if we do not call attention to our actions ourselves, yet men are looking on, and may well claim that they have a right to copy us. We may affect humility, and say, Do not look at us, but look at our Master; but after all the men of the world have a right to say, No: Christ is too high for us: we will look at his followers, and judge his Christianity by their spirit and their action. A point, too, might be made of the words “make haste,” because that which is an example today may be no example to-morrow in relation to certain practical matters; the circumstances altering, the adaptation to them must alter also. Beside, if we do not copy the example of today we may not be living to copy it to-morrow. There are circumstances under which everything depends upon a prompt use of time. The train goes at a certain moment, so does the post; the bank closes at a given hour: opportunities of all kinds are limited. Hence the great importance which ought to be attached to the words “make haste.”
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Jdg 9:48 And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that [were] with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid [it] on his shoulder, and said unto the people that [were] with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, [and] do as I [have done].
Ver. 48. To mount Zalmon. ] Which had its name from the shadiness, by reason of the many trees there growing.
What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do.
a Paterc., lib. ii.
b Sueton., in Vesp., cap. 8.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
trees = brushwood.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Zalmon: Psa 68:14
What ye: Jdg 7:17, Jdg 7:18, Pro 1:11, Pro 1:12
me do: Heb. I have done
Reciprocal: Jdg 9:52 – General Neh 4:23 – So neither I Neh 8:15 – the mount
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 9:48-51. Zalmon A place so called from its shadiness. Thebez Another town near Shechem; and, as it seems, within its territory. Thither fled all the men and women All that were not slain in the taking of the town. And gat them up to the top of the tower Which was flat and plain, after their manner of building.