JU9-3: A Part Of Scripture Literally IMPOSSIBLE To Understand Without Knowing Ancient Hebrew

“Avimelekh the son of Yeruba‘al went to Sh’khem, to his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them and with the whole clan of his maternal grandfather. He said, ‘Please ask all the men of Sh’khem, ‘Which is better for you — that all seventy sons of Yeruba‘al rule over you, or that one person rule over you? And remember that I am your blood relative.’”-Judges 9:1-2

Alrighty, buckle in folks…

Because you’re about to have your minds blown as I bring to light a key and important subtlety contained right here in Judges Chapter 9.

This is gonna demonstrate why it’s oh soooooooooooooooooooo important to pay proper heed to the Hebrew language and ancient Middle Eastern culture embedded in the Scriptures.

And you should be proud to know this is something I gather 99% of pastors, preachers or Bible teachers anywhere in the world probably know absolutely NOTHING about…

And even that last sentence might just be an understatement.

So let’s get right down to it, shall we?

The first thing I want you to notice is that Gideon is only referred to as Yeruba’al in this chapter.

And you do remember what Yeruba’al means, don’t you?

You forgot already?

Alright, alright it means the “Ba’al Fighter”.

Or if I was to put it in my own words “The One Who Kicks The Butts of the Ba’als On More Than One Occasion”.

So the question is WHY?

Why is Gideon only referred to as Yeruba’al in this chapter?

Well homies, hold on to your horses ’cause this is all going to become really clear for ya all in just a minute here.

And again, as I promised, you might not have a head after reading this…because such is the extent that your mind will be blown into smithereens after this revelation.

Let’s get started.

First, take a look at verse 2.

“Please ask all the men of Sh’khem, ‘Which is better for you — that all seventy sons of Yeruba‘al rule over you, or that one person rule over you? And remember that I am your blood relative.’

So in the translation I’m using, the Complete Jewish Bible, Avimelech is referring to the members of his family as the “men of Shechem”.

Other Bible translations might say the “leaders of Shechem”, the “citizens of Shechem” or some other slight variation.

However, I’m not so interested in what the English says.

I wanna know what the Hebrew says.

And the original Hebrew says BA’AL.

Regardless of whether your English Bibles have Abimelech referring to the members of his mother’s family as “leaders”, “citizens” or “men”, in the original Hebrew, he’s referring to them as BA’AL.

That’s right folks.

In the original Hebrew, we have Avimelech requesting his family to take his case to all the BA’ALs of Shechem.

So you’re probably scratching your head right now.

Wasn’t BA’AL one of the chief pagan gods of the Canaanites?

That’s what you’re thinking, right?

Well, that’s correct, but that’s only one meaning of the word.

The term BA’AL can actually be used in variety of different ways.

It can be used in a theological sense.

Or it can be used in a common everyday speech sense.

It’s important to understand the term BA’AL was a word borrowed from the Canaanites and was incorporated into the Hebrew language.

EL (as in EL SHADDAI) is another good example of a Canaanite word making its way into the Hebrew language.

There’s actually a ton of ancient Canaanite words that have made their way into the Hebrew language.

Just like there’s a ton of French words that have made their way into the English language…

Like “conquer” or “liberty” for example.

So what are some of the different ways the word BA’AL is used in the Scripture?

Well, probably the best way to explain it is look at how the Hebrew word ADONAI is used.

In its most everyday common usage, it’s simply a term used to refer to a human “lord” or “master” with zero connotations of deity attached to it.

It wasn’t until around 300 BC that the word would be used to refer to the God of Israel when it was judged inappropriate to call our Father in heaven by His first name…

Just like it’s considered inappropriate to call our own fathers by their first names.

The word “Adonai” could be used to refer a man of great wealth and power.

But it could also be used the way the word “sir” was used back in the days of European aristocracy like Sir James or Sir Oliver.

In fact, the term Adonai was used to show respect to anyone regardless of his status in society.

Again, just like how we might address someone as “sir” or “ma’am” today.

My point is this is EXACTLY the sense in which Avimelech was using the word BA-AL when he was addressing the “men of Shechem”.

There was ZERO theological meaning attached to it.

It was just an expression of respect and flattery.

“Lend me your ears my dear Canaanite lords” was the sense of it.

Now here’s the thing and pay close attention because your Biblical understanding is about to reach heights your average Bible teacher or pastor can only his wildest of dreams ever hope to attain.

The ONLY reason Avimelech was using the term Ba’als here was because he was making an appeal to a group of men who were Canaanites.

Got it?

He obviously would NEVER have used that word if he was speaking to a group of Hebrews who were loyal to the God of Israel.

Therefore, when we notice the editor of the book of Judges using the name Yeruba’al to refer to Avimelech’s Israelite father Gideon, he was doing it to make a point.

He wanted to show just how treacherous and how much of a scoundrel Avimelech was.

Because his own father Gideon called Yeruba’al (meaning the Ba’al fighter) was the one who had destroyed the statue of Ba’al and had warred against the people of Ba’al.

However, his own son Avimelech, in stark contrast to his dad, chose to betray his father’s mission and side with the Ba’al worshippers.