9:27-29
Gaal and the people of Shechem seem to adopt a rather infantile approach. They held a festival to some false god or other and then cursed Abimelek. Originally they had supported Abimelek because he was “one of their own'', now Gaal refers to him as “Jerub-Baal’s son” and calls on them to “serve the family of Hamor, Shechem’s father”. Gaal then claims that if only he was in charge everything would be sorted. This is the claim of dictators and politicians the world over.
9:30-33
We are used to hearing tales of political intrigue in our own times, things were little different in the past. Here we find another player in the game, Zebul the governor of the city. He was on Abimelek’s side, so he sent messages to him about Gaal’s machinations. He also advises Abimelek on the best approach to counter what was going on.
No comments:
Post a Comment