“Ga‘al the son of a slave said, ‘Who is Avimelekh? Think of the contrast with Sh’khem! Why should we serve Avimelekh? Isn’t he the son of Yeruba‘al? Isn’t Z’vul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Sh’khem! Why should we serve Avimelekh?'”-Judges 9:28
So Ga’al and his henchmen are partying like there’s no tomorrow with the people of Shechem.
Suddenly out of the blue Ga’al blurts out…
“Why in the hell should we honor this Avimelech dude?!”
“Isn’t he nothing more than a son of that Yeruba’al?”
Remember Yeruba’al was a nickname given to Gideon that means the “Ba’al fighter”.
Ga’al was pointing out what he perceived to be a huge contradiction.
That the mixed citizens of Shechem (both Hebrews and Canaanites) were celebrating in honor of Ba’al while at the same time being ruled by a king whose father had fought against Ba’al and had even broken down his altar.
Ga’al passionately continues…
“If we’re gonna have some dude rule over us, why not let it be ‘Hamor the father of Shechem?!”.
The reason for Hamor’s mention here was because he was a Hivite king who had founded the city of Shechem.
This situation is interesting because here we see Ga’al using Avimelech’s mixed blood against him whereas before Avimelech used his 1/2 Hebrew and 1/2 Canaanite background to appeal to the mixed population living in Shechem.
Onward.
Finally, the drunken Ga’al stands up and boldly shouts out what what had been on his mind from the beginning….
“Let me be your ruler and I’ll crush Avimelech like a cockroach!”
Ga’al had laid down the gauntlet.
Actually, it was more like he had SLAMMED DOWN the gauntlet!
Ga’al had provoked Avimelech on his own turf and challenged him to come down to Shechem to fight with whatever army he could gather.
Well, Zevul, the very governor of Shechem just happened to be sitting in the audience that day.
And when he heard Ga’al’s words, he was instantly alarmed.
He immediately sent a message to Avimelech alerting him of the trouble brewing on the horizon.
Now there’s something really interesting here I want you to catch.
The very fact that Zevul, who Avimelech had handpicked to govern Shechem, was able to continue as governor in spite of the intensifying discontent among the people towards Avimelech demonstrates just how divided Shechem was.
There wasn’t any agreement among the Shechemites to elect Avimelech king 3 years earlier and there wasn’t any consensus to revolt against him now.
This is what happens when you have a lukewarm group of people with mixed loyalties to both Ba’al and the God of Israel.
They were neither hot nor cold which is the one thing Yeshua spoke out strongly against.
Onward.
So in response to Ga’al’s threat, Zevul advises Avimelech to take his army to Shechem and have them lie in wait surrounding the city under the cover of darkness.
Then as soon as the sun arose, Avimelech was to order his men to attack.
This would cause Ga’al’s men to come out from behind the protection of the city walls.
Once the battle had been brought out into the open fields, Zevul tells Avimelech that if his army is properly prepared they should be able to make quick work out of Ga’al and his rebels.
Avimelech was tickled with delight at Zevul’s suggestion and wholeheartedly agreed to follow his advice.
To be continued.
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