Judges 9:16

16 Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands:

Judges 9:16 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 9:16

Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye
have made Abimelech king
If they had done this conscientiously, and in the uprightness of their hearts, to take such a base man, and a murderer, and make him their king, which Jotham doubted, and put it in this manner to them, that they might consider of it themselves:

if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal, and his house;
if they could think so, which surely they could not, when they reflected upon the murder of his family they had consented to:

and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands;
to his memory, and to his family, according to the merit of his works which he had performed on their account, next mentioned.

Judges 9:16 In-Context

14 Then said all the trees to the bramble, Come thou, [and] reign over us.

15 And the bramble said to the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, [then] come [and] put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

16 Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands:

17 (For my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you from the hand of Midian:

18 And ye have risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maid-servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he [is] your brother:)