Judges 9:42

42 The next day the people of Shechem went out into the fields to battle. When Abimelech heard about it,

Judges 9:42 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 9:42

And it came to pass on the morrow
The day after the battle:

that the people went out into the field;
some think to fight, and try the event of another battle, in order to be freed from Abimelech, but that seems not so likely: rather to finish their vintage, as Josephus {l}, or to till their ground, to plough and sow, which quickly came on after the vintage was ended; find this they might do the more securely, since Abimelech had withdrawn himself and his forces to his place of habitation, and so concluded he would not soon at least return to them; and the rather they might think he would be more easy, with then, since Gaal was thrust out from among them:

and they told Abimelech;
or it was told Abimelech, that the people came out into the field, and so an opportunity offered to him to come and cut them off, as they were at their business unarmed.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7. sect. 4.

Judges 9:42 In-Context

40 But Abimelech chased him, and many of Shechem’s men were wounded and fell along the road as they retreated to the city gate.

41 Abimelech returned to Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem.

42 The next day the people of Shechem went out into the fields to battle. When Abimelech heard about it,

43 he divided his men into three groups and set an ambush in the fields. When Abimelech saw the people coming out of the city, he and his men jumped up from their hiding places and attacked them.

44 Abimelech and his group stormed the city gate to keep the men of Shechem from getting back in, while Abimelech’s other two groups cut them down in the fields.