Bible -- Commentaries; Bible -- Feminist criticism; Women in the Bible
31 And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son,
whose name he called Abimelech.
Judges ix.
52 And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went
hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire.
53 And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's
head, and all to break his skull.
54 Then he called hastily unto the young man, his armour-bearer, and
said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A
woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.
Abimelech destroyed the city of Thebez, drove all the people into a
tower and then tried to set it on fire, as he had done in many places
before in his war on other tribes; but here he lost his life, and at
the hand of a woman, which was considered the greatest disgrace which
could befall a man. Commentators say that as Sisera and Abimelech were
exceptionally proud and lofty, they were thus degraded in their death.
Sisera was spared the knowledge of his fate by being taken off when
asleep; but Abimelech saw the stone coming and knew that it was from
the hand of a woman, an added pang to his death agony. He had no
thoughts of his wicked life nor his eternal welfare, but with his dying
breath implored his armor-bearer to thrust him through with his sword,
that it might not be said that he was slain by the hand of a woman.
Abimelech had three score and ten brethren. It is said that his mother
roused his ambition to be one of the judges of Israel. To attain this
he killed all his brethren but one, who escaped. He enjoyed his
ill-gotten honors but a short space of time. We find many such stories
in the Hebrew mythology which have no foundation in fact.
Judges xi.
30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt
without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
31 Then it shall be that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my
house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon,
shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even
twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great
slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children
of Israel.
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his
daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances; and she
was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and
said, Alas, my daughter! thou has brought me very low, and thou art one
of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and
I cannot go back.
36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth
unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of
thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine
enemies, even of the children of Ammon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account