Judges 9:54

54 Then he called hastily to the young man his armor bearer, and said to him, Draw your sword, and kill me, that men not say of me, A woman killed him. His young man thrust him through, and he died.

Judges 9:54 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 9:54

Then he called hastily to the young man his armourbearer,
&c.] Perceiving it was a mortal blow that was given him, and he should soon expire; and that the cast of the stone was by the hand of a woman, and therefore he was in haste to have the young man come to him:

and said unto him, draw thy sword and slay me, that men say not of me,
a woman slew him;
it being reckoned very ignominious and reproachful to die by the hand of a woman, and especially any great personage, as a king or general of an army ^F19; to avoid this, he chose rather to be guilty of suicide, or of what cannot well be excused from it, and so died by suicide; which, added to all his other sins, he seemed to have no sense of, or repentance for; and the method he took to conceal the shame of his death served the more to spread it; for this circumstance of his death could not be given without the reason of it, and which was remembered and related punctually near two hundred years afterwards, ( 2 Samuel 11:21 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 "O turpe fatum! foemina Herculeae, necis Auctor feretur ----" Seneca Oetaeo.

Judges 9:54 In-Context

52 Abimelech came to the tower, and fought against it, and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

53 A certain woman cast an upper millstone on Abimelech's head, and broke his skull.

54 Then he called hastily to the young man his armor bearer, and said to him, Draw your sword, and kill me, that men not say of me, A woman killed him. His young man thrust him through, and he died.

55 When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man to his place.

56 Thus God requited the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father, in killing his seventy brothers;