Judges 9:17

17 (For my father made war for you, and put his life in danger, and made you free from the hands of Midian;

Judges 9:17 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 9:17

For my father fought for you
In the valley of Jezreel, and at Karkor, where with three hundred men he routed and destroyed an army of 135,000:

and adventured his life far:
which, according to our version, may seem to have respect to his going over Jordan, and following the Midianites, fleeing into their country, and fighting them at Karkor, at a great distance from his native place; but the phrase in the original text is, "he cast away his life afar" ^F5, made no account of it, exposed it to the greatest danger; or, as the Targum,

``he delivered his life as it were to destruction:''

and delivered you out of the hand of Midian;
from the oppression and bondage of the Midianites, under which they had laboured seven years.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 (dgnm wvpn ta Klvyw) "et projecit animam suam a louge", Pagninus; "vel eminus", Montanus; so Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Judges 9:17 In-Context

15 And the thorn said to the trees, If it is truly your desire to make me your king, then come and put your faith in my shade; and if not, may fire come out of the thorn, burning up the cedars of Lebanon.

16 So now, if you have done truly and uprightly in making Abimelech king, and if you have done well to Jerubbaal and his house in reward for the work of his hands;

17 (For my father made war for you, and put his life in danger, and made you free from the hands of Midian;

18 And you have gone against my father's family this day, and have put to death his sons, even seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his servant-wife, king over the townsmen of Shechem because he is your brother;)

19 If then you have done what is true and upright to Jerubbaal and his family this day, may you have joy in Abimelech, and may he have joy in you;