Judges 9:49

49 Therefore with strife they cutted down boughs of the trees, and followed the duke; the which compassed the tower and burnt it up; and so it was done, that with smoke and fire a thousand men were slain, men and women together, of the dwellers of the tower of Shechem. (And so they cut off the boughs of the trees, and then followed their leader; and they surrounded the temple, and then burned it down; and so it was, that with smoke and fire, a thousand people were killed, men and women together, all those of the tower of Shechem.)

Judges 9:49 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 9:49

And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and
followed Abimelech
With their boughs on their shoulders, so that they were men that seemed to be as trees walking:

and put them to the hold, and set the hold on fire upon them;
upon the men in it, or with them, the boughs of trees; it is probable the hold was made of wood, and so could the more easily be set on fire. Jarchi says it was a wood or forest, where they bent the trees, and divided them round about, and made a fence of them; but they would scarcely have left the tower for such a shelter:

so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also;
fire being put to the hold, and they burnt in it; the Vulgate Latin version adds, with fire and smoke; for they being boughs of trees just cut down, with which they set fire to the hold, they would not burn easily and clearly, but make a prodigious smoke, with which many might be suffocated, as others burnt with fire; and it is unaccountable that Josephus ^F15 should say that faggots of dry wood were taken, and with them fire set to the hold, when the text is so express for it that they were boughs of green trees just cut off:

about a thousand men and women;
but the above historian makes them to be many more; he says the men were about 1500, and the rest a great multitude; this literally fulfilled Jotham's curse.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7. sect. 4.

Judges 9:49 In-Context

47 And Abimelech heard that (all) [the] men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together (there),

48 and he went up into the hill of Zalmon with all his people (and so he went up to Mount Zalmon with all his people); and with an ax taken, he cut down a bough of a tree, and he bare it, put upon his shoulder, and he said to his fellows, Do ye at once this thing, that ye see me do.

49 Therefore with strife they cutted down boughs of the trees, and followed the duke; the which compassed the tower and burnt it up; and so it was done, that with smoke and fire a thousand men were slain, men and women together, of the dwellers of the tower of Shechem. (And so they cut off the boughs of the trees, and then followed their leader; and they surrounded the temple, and then burned it down; and so it was, that with smoke and fire, a thousand people were killed, men and women together, all those of the tower of Shechem.)

50 And Abimelech went forth from thence, and came to the city of Thebez, which he compassed, and besieged with an host. (And then Abimelech went forth from there, and came to the city of Thebez, which he surrounded, and besieged with his army.)

51 And the tower was high in the midst of the city, to which men and women fled together, and all the princes of the city, while the gate was closed full strongly; and they stood on the roof of the tower by [the] turrets. (And the tower there was high in the middle of the city, to which all the men and women, and all the city leaders fled, and then the gate was securely closed; and they stood on the roof of the tower by the turrets.)