--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 259 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/259/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 259. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/259/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2. ## 259. Judges · 15 of 29 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/259/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/259/#p-N [¶0] With deafening clamours, in the slippery clouds, [¶1] That, with the hurly, death itself awakes? [¶2] Canst thou, O partial sleep! give thy repose [¶3] To the wet sea-boy, in an hour so rude; [¶4] And, in the calmest and most stillest night, [¶5] With all appliances and means to boot, [¶6] Deny it to a king? Then, happy low, lie down! [¶7] Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." - "O hard condition! twin-born with greatness, [¶8] Subjected to the breath of every fool, [¶9] Whose sense no more can feel but his own wringing! [¶10] What infinite heart's ease must kings neglect, [¶11] That private men enjoy! [¶12] And what have kings, that privates have not too, [¶13] Save ceremony, save general ceremony?" - "'Tis not the balm, the scepter, and the ball, [¶14] The sword, the mace, the crown imperial, [¶15] The intertissued robe of gold and pearl, [¶16] The farced title running 'fore the king, [¶17] The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp [¶18] That beats upon the high shore of this world, [¶19] No, not all these, thrice gorgeous ceremony, [¶20] Not all these, laid in bed majestical, [¶21] Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave." [¶22] Shakespeare [¶23] This is precisely the sentiment expressed in the denial of the olive, fig tree, and vine. ### Verse 15 [¶25] Come and put your trust in any shadow - The vain boast of the would-be sovereign; and of the man who is seeking to be put into power by the suffrages of the people. All promise, no performance. [¶26] Let fire come out of the bramble - A strong catachresis. The bramble was too low to give shelter to any tree; and so far from being able to consume others, that the smallest fire will reduce it to ashes, and that in the shortest time. Hence the very transitory mirth of fools is said to be like the cracking of thorns under a pot. Abimelech was the bramble; and the cedars of Lebanon, all the nobles and people of Israel. Could they therefore suppose that such a low-born, uneducated, cruel, and murderous man, could be a proper protector, or a humane governor? He who could imbrue his hands in the blood of his brethren in order to get into power, was not likely to stop at any means to retain that power when possessed. If, therefore, they took him for their king, they might rest assured that desolation and blood would mark the whole of his reign. The condensed moral of the whole fable is this: Weak, worthless, and wicked men, will ever be foremost to thrust themselves into power; and, in the end, to bring ruin upon themselves, and on the unhappy people over whom they preside. ### Verse 20 [¶28] Let fire come out from Abimelech - As the thorn or bramble may be the means of kindling other wood, because it may be easily ignited; so shall Abimelech be the cause of kindling a fire of civil discord among you, that shall consume the rulers and great men of your country. A prophetic declaration of what would take place. ### Verse 21 [¶30] Went to Beer - Mr. Maundrell, in his journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 64, 5th edit., mentions a place of this name, which he thinks to be that to which Jotham fled, and supposed to be the same as Mishmash, [1Sam 14:5], [1Sam 14:31]. It is situated, he says, towards the south, on an easy declivity; and has a fountain of excellent water at the bottom of the hill from which it has taken its name. ### Verse 23 [¶32] God sent an evil spirit - He permitted jealousies to take place which produced factions; and these factions produced insurrections, civil contentions, and slaughter. ### Verse 25 [¶34] The men of Shechem set liers in wait - It pleased God to punish this bad man by the very persons who had contributed to his iniquitous elevation. So God often makes the instruments of men's sins the means of their punishment. It is likely that although Abimelech had his chief residence at Shechem, yet he frequently went to Ophrah, the city of his father; his claim to which there was none to oppose, as he had slain all his brethren. It was probably in his passage between those two places that the Shechemites had posted cut-throats, in order to assassinate him; as such men had no moral principle, they robbed and plundered all who came that way. ### Verse 26 [¶36] Gaal the son of Ebed - Of this person we know no more than is here told. He was probably one of the descendants of the Canaanites, who hoped from the state of the public mind, and their disaffection to Abimelech, to cause a revolution, and thus to restore the ancient government as it was under Hamor, the father of Shechem. ### Verse 28 [¶38] Zebul his officer - פקידו pekido, his overseer; probably governor of Shechem in his absence. ### Verse 29 [¶40] Would to God this people were under my hand - The very words and conduct of a sly, hypocritical demagogue. [¶41] Increase thine army, and come out - When he found his party strong, and the public feeling warped to his side, then he appears to have sent a challenge to Abimelech, to come out and fight him. ### Verse 31 [¶43] They fortify the city against thee - Under pretense of repairing the walls and towers, they were actually putting the place in a state of defense, intending to seize on the government as soon as they should find Abimelech coming against them. Fortifying the city may mean seducing the inhabitants from their loyalty to Abimelech.