Jueces 9:15

15 Y el escaramujo respondió a los árboles: Si en verdad me elegís por rey sobre vosotros, venid, y aseguraos debajo de mi sombra; y si no, fuego salga del escaramujo que devore los cedros del Líbano

Jueces 9:15 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 9:15

And the bramble said unto the trees
Accepting of their offer at once:

if ye in trust anoint me king over you;
suspecting they were not hearty and cordial in their choice and call to the kingly authority over them:

then come and put your trust in my shadow;
promising protection to them as his subjects, requiring their confidence in him, and boasting of the good they should receive from him, as is common with wicked princes at their first entering on their office; but, alas! what shadow or protection can there be in a bramble? if a man attempts: to put himself under it for shelter, he will find it will be of no use to him, but harmful, since, the nearer and closer he comes to it, the more he will be scratched and torn by it:

and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of
Lebanon;
signifying, that if they did not heartily submit to his government, and put confidence in him, and prove faithful to him, they should smart for it, and feel his wrath and vengeance, even the greatest men among them, comparable to the cedars of Lebanon; for thorns and brambles catching fire, as they easily do, or fire being put to them, as weak as they are, and placed under the tallest and strongest cedars, will soon fetch them down to the ground; and the words of the bramble, or Abimelech, proved true to the Shechemites, he is made to speak in this parable.

Jueces 9:15 In-Context

13 Y la vid les respondió: ¿He de dejar mi mosto, que alegra a Dios y a los hombres, por ir a ser grande sobre los árboles

14 Dijeron entonces todos los árboles al escaramujo: Anda tú, reina sobre nosotros

15 Y el escaramujo respondió a los árboles: Si en verdad me elegís por rey sobre vosotros, venid, y aseguraos debajo de mi sombra; y si no, fuego salga del escaramujo que devore los cedros del Líbano

16 Ahora pues, si con verdad y con integridad habéis procedido en hacer rey a Abimelec, y si lo habéis hecho bien con Jerobaal y con su casa, y si le habéis pagado conforme a la obra de sus manos

17 (Pues que mi padre peleó por vosotros, y echó lejos su vida por libraros de la mano de Madián