Judges 9:24

That the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them; and upon the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brethren.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) That the cruelty . . . might come . . . upon Abimelech.—Scripture is always most emphatic in the recognition of the Divine Nemesis upon wickedness, especially upon bloodshed.

Their blood be laid upon Abimelech.—Comp. 1Kings 2:5, Matthew 23:35, and the cry of the Jews in Matthew 27:25.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:22-29 Abimelech is seated in the throne his father refused. But how long does this glory last? Stay but three years, and see the bramble withered and burned. The prosperity of the wicked is short and fickle. The Shechemites are plagued by no other hand than Abimelech's. They raised him unjustly to the throne; they first feel the weight of his sceptre.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Had reigned - Rather, "had ruled." It is not the phrase used in Judges 9:6. It looks as if the Shechemites alone had made him king, and the rest of Israel had submitted to his dominion, without allowing his title of king.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23. Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem—In the course of providence, jealousy, distrust, secret disaffection, and smothered rebellion appeared among his subjects disappointed and disgusted with his tyranny; and God permitted those disorders to punish the complicated crimes of the royal fratricide and idolatrous usurper.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The cruelty, i.e. the punishment of the cruelty.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

That the cruelty done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come,.... That vengeance might come on the authors of it; so things were ordered in Providence that this might come to pass:

and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them; be charged to his account, and he suffer for shedding it:

and upon the men of Shechem which aided him in killing of his brethren; by giving him money to hire men to go with him to do it, and perhaps by words encouraging the assassins, and who might be of the city of Shechem.

Geneva Study Bible

That the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them; and upon the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brethren.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Judges 9:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem, so that they became treacherous towards him. "An evil spirit" is not merely "an evil disposition," but an evil demon, which produced discord and strife, just as an evil spirit came upon Saul (1 Samuel 16:14-15; 1 Samuel 18:10); not Satan himself, but a supernatural spiritual power which was under his influence. This evil spirit God sent to punish the wickedness of Abimelech and the Shechemites. Elohim, not Jehovah, because the working of the divine justice is referred to here. "That the wickedness to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood (the blood of these sons that had been shed), to lay it upon Abimelech. " "And their blood" is only a more precise definition of "the wickedness to the seventy sons;" and "to lay it" is an explanation of the expression "might come." The introduction of לשׂוּם, however, brings an anakolouthon into the construction, since the transitive שׂוּם presupposes Elohim as the subject and דּמם as the object, whereas the parallel חמס is the subject to the intransitive לבוא: that the wickedness might come, and that God might lay the blood not only upon Abimelech, the author of the crime, but also upon the lords of Shechem, who had strengthened his hands to slay his brethren; had supported him by money, that he might be able to hire worthless fellows to execute his crime (Judges 9:4, Judges 9:5).