Judges 9:34

34 So Abimelech and all of his troops started out at night. They went into their hiding places near Shechem. Abimelech had separated them into four companies.

Judges 9:34 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 9:34

And Abimelech rose up, and all the people that were with him,
by night
According to the advice of Zebul:

and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies;
he divided his army into four parts, which he placed on the four sides of the city, at some distance from it, to act as they should have opportunity, to find ways and means of getting into it on either quarter.

Judges 9:34 In-Context

32 So come with your men during the night. Hide in the fields and wait.

33 In the morning at sunrise, attack the city. Gaal and his men will come out against you. Then do what you can."

34 So Abimelech and all of his troops started out at night. They went into their hiding places near Shechem. Abimelech had separated them into four companies.

35 Gaal, the son of Ebed, had already gone out. He was standing at the entrance of the city gate. He had arrived there just as Abimelech and his troops came out of their hiding places.

36 Gaal saw them. He said to Zebul, "Look! People are coming down from the tops of the mountains!" Zebul replied, "You are wrong. Those aren't people. They are just the shadows of the mountains."