ou? remember also that I am your bone and your
flesh." This advice was well received; it flattered the vanity of the
people to think that the new king was to be one of themselves; "their
hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother.
And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house
of Baal-berith (the Lord of the Covenant), wherewith Abimelech hired
vain and light fellows, which followed him.... He slew his brethren the
sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone."
The massacre having been effected, "all the men of Shechem assembled
themselves together, and all the house of Millo,* and made Abimelech
king, by the oak of the pillar which was in Shechem."** He dwelt at
Ophrah, in the residence, and near the sanctuary, of his father, and
from thence governed the territories constituting the little kingdom
of Manasseh, levying tribute upon the vassal villages, and exacting
probably tolls from caravans passing through his domain.

* The word "Millo" is a generic term, meaning citadel or
stronghold of the city: there was a Millo in every important
town, Jerusalem included.

** The "oak of the pillar" was a sacred tree overshadowing
probably a _cippus_: it may have been the tree mentioned in
Gen. xxxv. 4, under which Jacob buried the strange gods; or
that referred to in Josh. xxiv. 26, under which Joshua set
up a stone commemorative of the establishment of the law.
Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, escaped the massacre. As
soon as he heard of the election of Abimelech, he ascended
Mount Gerizim, and gave out from there the fable of the
trees, applying it to the circumstances of the time, and
then fled. Some critics think that this fable--which is
confessedly old--was inserted in the text at a time when
prophetical ideas prevailed and monarchy was not yet
accepted.

This condition of things lasted for three years, and then the
Shechemites, who had shown themselves so pleased at the idea of having
"one of their brethren" as sovereign, found it irksome to pay the taxes
levied upon them by him, as if they were in no way related to him. The
presence among them of a certain Zebul, the officer and representative
of Abimelech, restrained them at first from breaking out into rebellion,
but they returned soon to their ancient predatory ways, and demanded
ransom for the travellers the