Judges 9:38

38 Zebul said to Gaal, "Where is your bragging now? You said, 'Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?' You made fun of these men. Now go out and fight them."

Judges 9:38 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 9:38

Then said Zebul unto him
Not being able to put him off any longer, and willing to take the opportunity to upbraid him with what he had said:

where is now thy mouth, [wherewith] thou saidst, who is Abimelech, that
we should serve him?
darest thou say the same thou hast done, and utter the contemptuous language concerning Abimelech, asking who he was, that he should be served? Here he is, speak to his face; what are become of those boasts and brags, and great swelling words, what thou wouldest do if thou hadst the command of this city?

is not this the people thou hast despised?
as small and insignificant, bidding Abimelech increase his army, and come out and fight:

go out, I pray thee, now, and fight with them;
and show thyself to be a man of courage, and not a mere blusterer, a man that can use his sword as well as his tongue.

Judges 9:38 In-Context

36 When Gaal saw the soldiers, he said to Zebul, "Look! There are people coming down from the mountains!" But Zebul said, "You are seeing the shadows of the mountains. The shadows just look like people."
37 But again Gaal said, "Look, there are people coming down from the center of the land, and there is a group coming from the fortune-tellers' tree!"
38 Zebul said to Gaal, "Where is your bragging now? You said, 'Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?' You made fun of these men. Now go out and fight them."
39 So Gaal led the men of Shechem out to fight Abimelech.
40 Abimelech and his men chased them, and many of Gaal's men were killed before they could get back to the city gate.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.