Messengers Sent to Abimelech - Judges 9:31

In the book of Judges we learned how Gaal said of Israel, “would to God this people were under my hand! then would I remove Abimelech. And he said to Abimelech, Increase your  army, and come out. And when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled”, and in chapter nine and verse thirty-one of Judges, we learn how Zebul, “sent messengers unto Abimelech privily" where we read,

And he sent messengers unto Abimelech privily, saying, Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brethren be come to Shechem; and, behold, they fortify the city against you.

The verse reads, “And he sent messengers unto Abimelech privily, saying, Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brethren be come to Shechem;” The writer began with the words, “and he sent messengers” which means “and he, Zebul, dispatched and assigned envoys” “unto Abimelech privily” which means “to Abimelech whose name means ‘Melek is father or my father is king’ secretly”, “saying, Behold” or “uttering, declaring and proclaiming, lo, look and consider”,“Gaal the son of Ebed” which means “Gaal whose name means ‘loathing’ the male offspring and progeny belonging to Ebed whose name means ‘servant’” “and his brethren” or “and his, brothers” “be come to Shechem” which means “have entered and arrived within Shechem whose name means ‘back or shoulder’ and was a city in Manasseh; located in a valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, 34 miles (54 km) north of Jerusalem and 7 miles (10.5 km) southeast of Samaria”. The writer shared how “Zebul” dispatched envoys to “Abimelech” secretly and told him “Gaal”, who was “Ebed’s” male offspring, and his brothers had arrived within the city of “Shechem”. 

The verse goes on to say, “and, behold, they fortify the city against you.” The writer continued with the words “and, behold” which means “and lo, look and consider”, “they fortify the city” or “they, Gaal and his brothers, distress, besiege and confine the habitation, abode, dwelling place and town” “against you” which means “in opposition to you, Abimelech”. The writer shared how “Zebul” told “Abimelech” through his envoys that “Gaal and his brothers” besieged the town of Shechem in opposition to him. 

When we meditate upon the words in this verse, we learn how “Zebul” assigned envoys to secretly tell “Abimelech” that “Gaal and his brothers” had not only arrived within the town of “Shechem”, but they had distressed the city to be in opposition to him. We shall see how they respond to this attack in our next verses, but for now let us be mindful that Jehovah God sent the “evil spirit” between “Abimelech” and “Shechem” because of their deceit and treachery against the people of Israel and the seventy sons of “Gideon”. (See Judges 9:23) God was working His plan through all these men, and because He loves us, He will dispatch people and circumstances in our lives to draw us into a personal relationship with Him. He sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind and raised Him from the dead after three days so when we put our faith and trust in Him as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and put His Holy Spirit within us to guide us into all truth and empower us to live according to that truth so we have confidence that He is working all things for good according to His perfect plan and will. (See Romans 8:28)

Next time we learn how Zebul told Abimelech, “lie in wait in the field", so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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