1. Judges 9:28 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is the gist of Gaal’s speech?

Judges 9:28 (ESV)

28 And Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who are we of 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?

The general tone is that Gaal is fomenting revolt. Yet he spoke it while drunk. He basically says, “Who is this Abimelech? He is not even a Shechemite! His father Jerubbaal is from somewhere else! Shechemites should only be ruled by Shechemites! I’m family. If I were king, I’d do a better job of running Shechem than Abimelech. I’d kick him out!” His speech in the Hebrew actually sounds slurred and confused. The crowd is too drunk to notice that Gaal is not a Shechemite, as he just relocated into Shechem.