Abimelech and Gaal
And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brethren, and went over to Shechem: and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him. And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink, and cursed Abimelech. And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? is not he the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him? And would to God this people were under my hand! then would I remove Abimelech. And he said to Abimelech, Increase thine army, and come out. And when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled. And he sent messengers unto Abimelech privily, saying, Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brethren be come to Shechem; and, behold, they fortify the city against thee. Now therefore up by night, thou and the people that is with thee, and lie in wait in the field: And it shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, thou shalt rise early, and set upon the city: and, behold, when he and the people that is with him come out against thee, then mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find occasion.-Judges 9:26-33***Gideon (Jerubbaal) was an Israelite from the tribe of Manasseh, descended from Abraham (Abram the Hebrew) and Sarah (Sarai), Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob (Israel) and his 2nd wife Rachel, their firstborn son Joseph and his wife Asenath, and Joseph and Asenath's firstborn son Manasseh. Ephraim was Joseph and Asenath's 2nd born son. The divinely inspired Scriptures of the Holy Bible reveal that Jacob was living in Egypt when he proclaimed Manasseh and Ephraim to be his own sons, and the tribe of Joseph became the tribe of Manasseh and the tribe of Ephraim. Abimelech was born to Gideon and a concubine, and Gideon's other 70 sons were born to women married to Gideon. Gaal was born to Ebed. The lineage of Gaal and Ebed is not definitively revealed in the Holy Bible. Aaron and his younger brother Moses were Israelites from the tribe of Levi, descended from Jacob and his 1st wife Leah and their 3rd born son Levi. Forty years after Moses and Aaron led the Israelites away from Egyptian slavery, across the divinely parted Red Sea, into the desert wilderness of Shur, and the desert wilderness of Sin, and the desert wilderness of Sinai, on a journey to Canaan, the Promised Land, 123-year-old Aaron the high priest died, and Moses went upon Mount Nebo, according to the commands of the Lord God. The Lord God showed Moses the Promised Land, and 120-year-old Moses the prophet died, and was divinely buried. Joshua was Moses' aide and successor from the tribe of Ephraim. The Lord God spoke to Joshua, and Joshua sent 2 spies to Canaan, and Rahab hid the spies, and the spies returned, and Joshua led the Israelites across the divinely parted Jordan River and onto the land that the Lord God promised to give to Abraham, and Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants. After 110-year-old Joshua died, and was buried in his tribe's portion of the Promised Land, the Israelites were led by elders, judges and their own minds. Othniel, from the tribe of Jacob and Leah's 4th born son Judah, and Ehud, from the tribe of Jacob and Rachel's 2nd and last son Benjamin, and Shamgar, and Deborah successively led the Israelites as judges before the angel of the Lord appeared and spoke to Gideon, and the Lord God spoke to Gideon, and Gideon the judge led the Israelites to victory over enemies headed by the Midianites, the descendants of Abraham and his 2nd wife Keturah and their son Midian. Amid the triumph, the Israelites wanted Gideon to reign as king, with the kingship succeeding to Gideon's son and his son's son. Gideon refused the offer, and identified the Lord God as their ruler. After Gideon was dead, Abimelech spoke to his mother's people in Shechem and questioned them about being their king. Three years after Abimelech began to reign, the Lord God sent a spirit of animosity between Abimelech and his followers, and newcomer Gaal tried to gain control. In Thebez, a woman in a tower dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed Abimelech's skull. Abimelech's armor-bearer obeyed Abimelech's command, and Abimelech died. Over 1,000 years after Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, became the 1st king to rule over the Israelites in the Promised Land, and Samuel the priest, prophet and judge from the tribe of Levi died, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, was born. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, a virgin, and Jesus was born in Bethlehem into the tribe of Judah to Mary and her husband Joseph when Mary was a virgin.-Genesis, Exodus, Numbers 20:1-29, 27:12-23, Deuteronomy 31:1-30, 32:44-52, 34:1-12, Joshua 1:1-4:24, 23:1-24:33, Judges, 1 Chronicles 1:1-34, 2:1-17, 3:1-24, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1:1-26
Reference Scriptures
And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-aram; and pitched his tent before the city. And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money.-Genesis 33:18-19
Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.-2 Samuel 11:21
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