About the Author of the Blogsite, Not the Author of the Bible::

About the Author of the Blogsite, Not the Author of the Bible: I was uncertain of how to accomplish this, mindful of Revelation 22:18-19, which says that nobody is to add to, or to take away from what was written in the Bible. After lots of prayerful contemplation, the Lord had it on my heart that I’m not to change the meaning of what is written in the Bible. He has also shown ways to add to people’s understating of that meaning, without altering the meaning, by putting that info within [brackets]. This is primarily accomplished with the KJV Bible and lots of prayers, but at times, BibleGateway.com, Biblehub.com, NIV Bible, Webster Dictionary, and other internet resources, as needed. Debra Seiling

About Understanding the Bible:

Understanding the Bible: After reading Isaiah 28:10 many times over the years and not totally understanding it, it recently became apparent to me that the Lord God has this passage as the means for understanding the Bible. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little. Isaiah 28:10 KJV. Being prayerful about this passage, and looking up 'precept' in the Webster's Dictionary, it gave this passage a whole new meaning, once 'commandment' is substituted for 'precept'. Within brackets are additional words the Lord had on my heart to aid in understanding the meaning. For commandment must be [built up] upon commandment; commandment upon commandment; line upon line, line upon line; [developing understanding] here a little, and there a little.

The Table Format:

The Table Format: I was overwhelmed with how to explain the process for determining if someone had leprosy in Leviticus 13, which seemed very complicated. After praying, "Lord, if this is difficult for me to understand after reading it many times, how can this be explained to others?" The thought the Lord God had on my heart was for me to put it into a vertical chart to visually see the process. This made it much easier for me to follow the progression. After doing so, I prayed, "Lord, how can this be conveyed to readers, so that they can understand this process?" The thought the Lord God had on my heart was to put it within the lines of a table. Being a stiff-necked, stubborn person, as it's often called in the Bible, I prayed, asking the Lord God if He's sure that's really what He wanted me to do? I reluctantly put Leviticus 13 into a table format. When I read this difficult leprosy process within a table format, it suddenly became easier for me to understand. That's because it builds line upon line, as explained in the Understanding the Bible section. Shortly after that, the Lord God had it on my heart, to put all of The Books of the Bible in Smaller Chunks within a table format, to aid in understanding, line upon line.

6/23/2023

Judges 9:1-57 The Reign of Abimelech & His Death

 

The Reign of Abimelech & His Death

Judges 9:1-57    The Book of Judges [in Smaller Chunks]

Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, [a.k.a. Gideon,] went to his mother’s [brothers] & [her father’s family] to [talk] with all [of them,] saying, I pray [that] you [talk] to the men of Shechem & ask them whether it’s better for the 70 sons of Jerubbaal to [rule] over you or [just] one? 

Remember that I also am your flesh & bone. When his mother’s [family asked] the men of Shechem. All these words, their hearts [were] inclined to follow Abimelech & they said, He is our brother. 

They gave him 70 pieces of silver from the [temple] of Baal Berith, [where] Abimelech hired [simple minded people, who] followed him. [Judges 8:33 And it [happened,] as soon as Gideon was dead, the children [people] of Israel turned again & went [unfaithfully] after Baalim & made Baal Berith their god.]

He went to his father’s house at Ophrah & [killed] his brethren, 70 sons of Jerubbaal on 1 [rock, except] for Jotham, [Jerubbaal’s] youngest son, was left, [because] he hid himself. All the men of Shechem & all the house of Millo gathered together & made Abimelech king, [on] the plain [by] the pillar that was in Shechem. 

When they told it to Jotham, he stood [at ] the top of Mount Gerizim & lifted [up] his voice & cried [out] & said to them, [Listen] to me, you men of Shechem, [so] that the [Lord] God may [listen] to you.

The trees went [out at] a time, to anoint a king over them & they said to the olive tree, [Rule] over us, but the olive tree said to them, Should I [give up] my fatness [produced] by me, [so] they [can] honor God & man to go & be promoted to [rule] over the trees?

The trees said to the fig tree, Come & [rule] over us, but the fig tree said to them, Should I [abandon] my sweetness & my good fruit go to be promoted over the trees? Then, the trees said to the vine, You come & [rule] over us. 

The vine said to them, Should I leave my wine, which cheers God & man, & go to be promoted over the trees? Then, all the trees said to the [thornbush,] You come & [rule] over us. 

The [sticker bush] said to the trees, If you [are truthful about anointing] me [as] king over you, then come & put your trust in my shadow & if [you don’t,] let fire come out of the [sticker bush] & [destroy] the cedars of Lebanon. 

Therefore, now if you have made Abimelech king [in truth & sincerity] & you have dealt well with the house of Jerubbaal & his house & have done [well] to [them,] according to [what he deserved,] ([because] my father, [Gideon,] fought for you & went [great distances & risked his] life & delivered you out of the hand of the [Midianites.]

[Still] you [have] risen up against my father’s house this day & his 70 sons have been [killed] upon 1 [rock] & [you] have made Abimelech, the son of his [mistress,] king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother.)

If you had truly dealt [in sincerity] with Jerubbaal & his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech & let him also rejoice in you, but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech & devour the men of Shechem & the house of Millo. And let fire come out from the men of Shechem & from the house of Millo & devour Abimelech.

[Then] Jotham ran away & fled to Beer & [lived] there for fear of Abimelech, his [step-brother.] [After] Abimelech [ruled] for 3 years over Israel, then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech & the men of Shechem. 

The men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, [to repay him] for the cruelty [Abimelech had] done in [killing] Jerubbaal’s 70 sons & their blood [was] laid upon Abimelech, their brother [who killed] them & upon the men of Shechem, [who] aided him in killing his brethren.

The men of Shechem sent [men to ambush] him, in the top of the mountains & they robbed all [who] came along that [road] by them & it was told to Abimelech. And Gaal, [Ebed’s] son, came with his brethren & went over to Shechem & the men of Shechem put their confidence in him.

They went out into the fields & vineyards & gathered the grapes & [trampled] on them [to make wine] & [rejoiced] & went into the house of their god & [ate & drank] & cursed Abimelech.

Gaal, [Ebed’s] son, said, Who is Abimelech & who is Shechem, that we should serve them? Isn’t he the son of Jerubbaal? And [isn’t] Jebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for why should we serve [Abimelech?]

[If] God would [allow these] people to be under my hand, then I would remove Abimelech. [Gaal] said to Abimelech, Increase your army & come out.

When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard [what] Gaal [said,] his anger [grew.] And he sent messengers to Abimelech [& secretly said, Watch,] Gaal, [Ebed’s] son, & his brethren [have] come to Shechem & [look,] they [stirred] up the city against you.

Now, you [Abimelech] & the people with you, [go] up [during] the night & lie in the field in wait [to ambush] & [at sunrise, get up] early & [attack] the city, when he & the people with him come out against you.

Then, you [can] do to them as you [decide is best.] [So] Abimelech [got up] early & 4 companies of people with him all night & laid in wait [to ambush] against Shechem.

When Gaal went out & stood in the gate [entrance] to the city.  And Abimelech & the people with him rose up, from lying in wait. When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, [Look, the] people [are coming] down from the top of the mountains, [but] Zebul [told him,] You [just] see the shadow of the mountains & [thought] they were men.

Gaal [told him,] See, there [are] people [coming] down by the middle of the land & another company [comes] along [on] the Plain of Meonenim. Then, Zebul said, Where is your mouth now? [Remember when] you said, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? Aren’t these the people you [despise?]

I pray [that] you go out now & fight with them. And Gaal went out [in front of] the men of Shechem & fought with Abimelech. Abimelech chased [Gaal] & he fled before him & many were overthrown & wounded up to the [entrance] of the gate. 

And Abimelech [lived in] Arumah & Zebul [threw] out Gaal & his brethren, so they [no longer lived] in Shechem. It [happened,] the next day, the people went out into the field & told Abimelech. And he divided the people into 3 companies [who] laid in wait in the field [& ambushed those who came] out of the city & he rose up against them & [killed] them.

Abimelech & the company with him, rushed forward & stood at the [entrance] gate of the city & the other 2 [of Abimelech’s] companies ran up on all the people in the fields & [killed] them.

Abimelech fought against the city all that day & [captured] the city & [killed] all the people [in it] & [tore] down the city & sowed it with salt, [so nothing could grow.] When all the men [in] the Tower of Shechem heard that, they entered [a fortified area] in the house of the god, Berith.

Abimelech was told the men of the Tower of Shechem were gathered together, [he] & all the people with him went up to Mount Zalmon.  Abimelecħ took his ax in his [hands] & cut down a [branch] from the trees & [put] it on his shoulder & [Abimelech] told the people with him to do [the same.]

[They] cut down [branches] & followed Abimelech & [put] them [on] the [fortified room] [where the men were hiding in the hold.] They set the hold on fire & about 1,000 men from the Tower of Shechem & women died [in the fire.]

Then Abimelech went to Thebez & [set camp] against it & [conquered it.] The men & women of the city, fled to the strong tower within the city, shut it [off] to them & [got themselves] up to the top of the tower. Abimelech [attacked] the high tower & fought hard [against its] door [in order to set it on] fire.

A woman [in the tower] [threw down] a piece of millstone [used for grinding grain] on Abimelech’s head, [which broke] his skull. He [quickly] called a young man, his armor [carrier] & [asked] him, Draw your sword & [kill] me, [so] that men [won’t] say, A woman [killed him.] 

The young man thrust [Abimelech] through [with his sword] & Abimelech died. When the men of Israel saw [Abimelech] was dead, they [returned] home. 

[Therefore,] God had [repaid] the wickedness of Abimelech [killing] his 70 brothers, [as well as,] God [returned] the evil upon the heads of the men of Shechem [with] the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubbaal [a.k.a. Gideon.]