Judges 9:17

17 (for my father fought for you, and adventured his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midyan:

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 The bramble said to the trees, If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Levanon.

16 Now therefore, if you have dealt truly and righteously, in that you have made Avimelekh king, and if you have dealt well with Yerubba`al and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands

17 (for my father fought for you, and adventured his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midyan:

18 and you are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy persons, on one stone, and have made Avimelekh, the son of his maid-servant, king over the men of Shekhem, because he is your brother);

19 if you then have dealt truly and righteously with Yerubba`al and with his house this day, then rejoice you in Avimelekh, and let him also rejoice in you: