1. Judges 9:42 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What does the narrator wish to communicate by saying that the people went out into the field?

Judges 9:42 (ESV)

42 On the following day, the people went out into the field, and Abimelech was told.

The narrator is communicating with this that the people of Shechem tried to resume their normal lives, going out of the city the next day to work in the fields.1 They figured that since Abimelech had dealt with Gaal, everything would return to normal.