I am teaching the book of Judges this evening and am not sure about one thing I read in 9:28 and hope you can help me.<\/p>\n
It is my understanding that Shechem is a city. This is a figure of speech called metonymy – where one thing represents another. Examples: I have 300 h<\/strong>ead <\/b>on my ranch. I hired another hand<\/strong> today. Jesus took the cup<\/strong>. We often refer to a leader or government by its capital. Do you know what Moscow did yesterday? London responds to a plea for help.<\/p>\n Is it\u00a0correct to assume that here Shechem is used as a metonymy for Abimelech?\u00a0 Because\u00a0(I’m told) that\u00a0Hebrew writing often uses parallelism – saying the same thing twice in slightly different words. \u00a0If so, such would be\u00a0the case here.<\/p>\n\t “After Abimelech had reigned over Israel three years, God sent a spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, that the crime done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be settled and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who aided him in the killing of his brothers. And the men of Shechem set men in ambush against him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who passed by them along that way; and it was told Abimelech. Now Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers and went over to Shechem; and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him. So they went out into the fields, and gathered grapes from their vineyards and trod them, and made merry. And they went into the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech. Then Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? If only this people were under my authority! Then I would remove Abimelech.” So he said to Abimelech, “Increase your army and come out!”<\/em>” (Judges 9:22-29).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yes, Shechem is being used as a metonymy in verse 28. It is not unusual to refer to a location as a person. For example,<\/p>\n “Envoys will come out of Egypt; Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God<\/em>” (Psalm 68:31).<\/p>\n “Egypt was glad when they departed, For the fear of them had fallen upon them<\/em>” (Psalm 105:38).<\/p>\n “Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him<\/em>” (Matthew 3:5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I don’t believe the reference to Shechem is a parallel to Abimelech, but rather a contrast to the people of Shechem. Notice that Gaal is addressing the people of Shechem. Gaal is asking what right does Abimelech have in ruling over the people of Shechem. If the people of Shechem need a ruler, they should look for a descendant of the original ruler of Shechem (Genesis 34:2). Gaal then states that if the people of Shechem would put him in charge he would remove Abimelech. Thus, Gaal is appealing to the pride of the people of Shechem, telling them they don’t need an “outsider” ruling them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I am teaching the book of Judges this evening and am not sure about one thing I read in 9:28 and hope you can help me. It is my understanding that Shechem is a city. This is a figure of speech called metonymy – where one thing represents another. Examples: I have 300 head…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[279,1391,76],"class_list":["post-12280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-history","tag-judges","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46925,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-abimelech-be-counted-as-a-judge-of-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":12280,"position":0},"title":"Should Abimelech be counted as a judge of Israel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am teaching the Judges to the children. My question was Abimelech really a judge? I have read both sides, and am interested to hear what your evaluation is. Thank you for your input, Jeff. Answer: \"After Abimelech had reigned over Israel three years, God sent a spirit of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37253,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-had-the-most-children-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":12280,"position":1},"title":"Who had the most children in the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who in the Bible had the most children? Since there was no form of birth control in the Bible days, the only way for women not to get pregnant is for the man to \"pull out\" (other than not having sex), but did any man fathered a child he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39583,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-you-explain-jothams-parable-of-the-trees\/","url_meta":{"origin":12280,"position":2},"title":"Could you explain Jotham’s parable of the trees?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would you please give your understanding of the\u00a0story of the trees in Judges 9:7-15? Thank you. Answer: \"Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted his voice and cried out. And he said to them: \"Listen to me, you men of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18207,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-word-lord-mean-baal\/","url_meta":{"origin":12280,"position":3},"title":"Does the word “lord” mean “baal?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: It is my understanding that the word \"lord\" means \"baal.\" Can you shed some light on this? Answer: The word\u00a0baal\u00a0is a root word in Hebrew and other Semitic languages which can mean lord, owner, master, possessor, or husband depending on the context in which it is used. Owner \"If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2340,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-god-change-his-mind-about-sexual-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":12280,"position":4},"title":"Did God change His mind about sexual sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did God change? How is it that God that was so quiet about fornication, adultery, and polygamy in the Old Testament and then suddenly changed in the New Testament? Answer: It is in the Old Testament that we learn that a man is to leave his family, get married,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35768,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-there-a-conflict-between-acts-715-16-and-genesis-5013\/","url_meta":{"origin":12280,"position":5},"title":"Why is there a conflict between Acts 7:15-16 and Genesis 50:13?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have some questions about the New Testament, which I hope you can clear for me. I became very interested in the New Testament, and I saw some verses in the Bible which seem to contradict the Old Testament. For example Acts 7:15-16 says, \"Then Jacob went down\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n