Judges 9:54

54 And he cried out quickly to the young man his armour-bearer, and said to him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, lest at any time they should say, A woman slew him: and his young man thrust him through and he died.

Judges 9:54 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 9:54

Then he called hastily to the young man his armourbearer,
&c.] Perceiving it was a mortal blow that was given him, and he should soon expire; and that the cast of the stone was by the hand of a woman, and therefore he was in haste to have the young man come to him:

and said unto him, draw thy sword and slay me, that men say not of me,
a woman slew him;
it being reckoned very ignominious and reproachful to die by the hand of a woman, and especially any great personage, as a king or general of an army ^F19; to avoid this, he chose rather to be guilty of suicide, or of what cannot well be excused from it, and so died by suicide; which, added to all his other sins, he seemed to have no sense of, or repentance for; and the method he took to conceal the shame of his death served the more to spread it; for this circumstance of his death could not be given without the reason of it, and which was remembered and related punctually near two hundred years afterwards, ( 2 Samuel 11:21 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F19 "O turpe fatum! foemina Herculeae, necis Auctor feretur ----" Seneca Oetaeo.

Judges 9:54 In-Context

52 And Abimelech drew near to the tower, and they besieged it; and Abimelech drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

53 And a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon the head of Abimelech, and broke his skull.

54 And he cried out quickly to the young man his armour-bearer, and said to him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, lest at any time they should say, A woman slew him: and his young man thrust him through and he died.

55 And the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead; and they went each to his place.

56 So God requited the wickedness of Abimelech, which he wrought against his father, in slaying his seventy brethren.