What Does Judges 9:18 Mean?
And you have risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy living souls, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And ye are risen up against my father’s house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother;)THE KEY
The man named “my father is king” is enthroned by men who have killed the father’s sons.
THE MEANING
The verse exposes how a claim of brotherhood can sit beside violence against a family: the sons are killed, and their brother is made king. Abimelech’s name means “my father is king,” so kingship is echoed in his name as the verse names the cost of enthroning him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Calling Abimelech “your brother” does not erase that his kingship follows the killing of the father’s sons.
THE ROOT
וַתַּמְלִיכוּ
vatamlikhu
GROWS FROM
מלך
To be king, reign, or rule; in this verb, to make someone king.
“made king” in this verse is vatamlikhu. The verb shares its root with the word for king, and that root also appears in Abimelech’s name, meaning “my father is king.” The verse makes the name’s kingship concrete while placing it beside the slaughter of the father’s sons.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King; one who rules.
מֶלֶךְ
This is the title the men give Abimelech, the same kingship carried in his name.
malkhut: Kingship, reign, or kingdom.
מַלְכוּת
It names the rule this act establishes over the men of Shechem.
Avimelekh: Abimelech; “my father is king.”
אֲבִימֶלֶךְ
The name contains the same מלך root that the verse uses for making him king.
קַמְתֶּם
qamtem
GROWS FROM
קום
To rise, stand, or come into being.
“risen up” in this verse is qamtem. The verse begins with people rising against the father’s house and proceeds to the establishment of a king. The root’s related forms connect rising with raising or establishing, so the rebellion and the enthronement belong to one movement.
ALSO GROWS
qam: He rose or stood.
קָם
This is a basic form of the same root behind “ye are risen up.”
heqim: He raised, set up, or established.
הֵקִים
This related form shows how rising can become the act of establishing something, in this verse, a king.
tequmah: Rising, uprising, or restoration.
תְּקוּמָה
It carries the root’s sense of standing up into a noun for a rising or uprising.
THE PATTERN
When authority sees a rival, violence against a household can become a means of securing rule.
And Cain said to Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he struck down all the house of Baasha, leaving him not one who pisses against a wall, neither his redeemers nor his companions.Then Herod, when he perceived that he had been mocked by the wise men, burned with rage, and sent forth and killed all the children who were in Bethlehem and in all its borders, from two years old and under, according to the time he had carefully learned from the wise men.THE THREAD
And Cain said to Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.Judges says “ye are risen up” with the Hebrew root קום, and Genesis uses that same root when Cain “rose up” against his brother. In both verses, rising becomes the opening movement of violence between kin.
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