Ver. 1. And communed with them.] What might be the likeliest means of effecting his design. Ambition rideth without reins; and like the crocodile, groweth as long as it liveth. These uncles of his might haply advise him, whom they saw thirsting after sovereignty, as Calvus once did Vatinius, Perfrica frontem, et digniorem te dic, qui Praetor fieres, quam Catonem. Set a good face upon it, and say that thou better deservest the office than ever Cato did. And with all the family.] Who haply were leading men, and might do much with that people. Quintilian.
Ver. 2. Whether is better for yon.] Heb., What is good? The public good is usually pretended to private interest. He taketh it for granted that they would have a king, because they offered that dignity to his father: who, not so wise as he should have been, Abimelech thinks, refused it. He cunningly insinuateth also, that all Gideon’s sons affected domination over them; for so ill minded men muse as they use, and measure others by themselves; and would divide the kingdom amongst them, which would cause great stirs in the state. Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.] And will therefore favour you, and promote you. Thus he singeth a song of utile in their ears, which he knew would take with them. Machiavel was not now in rerum natura: but the devil was as great a master then as afterwards.
Ver. 3. And his mother’s brethren spake of him.] And perhaps they gained the same commendation that the Duke of Buckingham, speaking to the Londoners for Richard III to be made likewise king, did, viz., that no man could deliver so much bad matter in so good words and quaint phrases.
Ver. 4. And they gave him threescore and ten pieces.] Pounds, saith the Vulgate: but more likely, shekels: which though it were a small sum, yet we must know that a little money would go a great way in those days; as also that such soldiers might be hired for small wages, &c. Hired vain and light persons.] Beggarly rascals, fit for his purpose, debauched desperadoes.
Ver. 5. And slew his brethren.] So did afterwards Joram, the degenerate son of good Jehoshaphat; Romulus, first king of Rome; Jugurtha, king of tbe Numidians; and so doth the great Turk to this day, so soon as he cometh to the kingdom, that he may have no competitors. Upon one stone.] Whereon, likely, they laid down their necks, and had their heads stricken off, under some pretence of justice, as if they had conspired against him, or against the state. Howsoever, Abimelech, knowing that it was no good policy to play the villain by half-deal, was resolved to suffer never a rub to lie in the way that might hinder the true running of his bowl.
Ver. 6. And all the men of Shechem.] They might have foreseen by his bloody fratricide what kind of king they should have of him; but they were set upon it, and they soon had enough of it; for as these Shechemites were first in raising Abimelech unjustly to the throne, so they were the first that felt the weight of his sceptre. The foolish bird fouls and smears herself with that which grew from her own excretion. Who wondereth to see the kind peasant stung with his own snake?
Ver. 7. And when they told it to Jotham.] He only escaped of all the seventy sons, to tell Abimelech and his Shechemites their own, and that on the coronation day too; thundering out God’s curses from the very mountain of blessings. This could not but be terrible, and much dissweeten that day’s solemnity. Sed surdis fabulam. Where ambition hath possessed itself thoroughly of the soul, it turneth the heart into steel, and maketh it incapable of a conscience. Hearken unto me, &c.] An august exordium, whereby, and by the whole speech, it appeareth that this young man was vir bonus dicendi peritus, as Quintilian saith an orator should be, one that could deliver his mind fitly, and that durst do it freely.
Ver. 8. The trees went forth on a time.] An apologue or parable. The like whereunto see 2 Kings 14:9 2Sa 12:2 Mt 13:2,3, &c. The trees, that is, the men of Israel (Plato compared a man to a tree inverted, with the root above and the branches below) went forth, eundo iverunt, they went hastily, but (to an ill bargain) they returned heavily. They might have foreseen, by his bloody dealing with his innocent brethren, what kind of king they should have of him. But, Deus quos destruit, demental they were infatuated, because destined to destruction. And they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.] Those that are most unworthy of honour are hottest in the chase of it; while the conscience of better deserts bids men sit still, and stay to be either importuned or neglected. The Venetians have magistrates called Pregadi; because at first men were prayed to take the office, and to help to govern the state.
Ver. 9. But the olive-tree said unto them.] The bramble thought it a great matter to reign over the rest; not so the olive. Animo mayno nihil magnum. The violent obtain heaven; but for earth, they look upon it as a magnum nihil. Should I leave my fatness?] That is, My fitness to serve God and men in my place and station. It is hard and happy not to be worse for outward honour and greatness. Vespasian is said to be the only one of all the emperors, qui accepto imperio melior factus est, who was made a better man by that preferment. And go to be promoted?] Or, Go up and down for other trees. Ut item vayatum, id est cireumcur satum ad regium munus exquendum, that I should go haliprancing from place to place in the execution of my kingly office. This made Florus the poet sing: “ Nolo ego Caesar esse, Ambulare per Britannos, Rigidas pati pruinas.’’—Carion. Chron. This made Rodolphus Rufus, the Emperor, thus bespeak his crown: “ Nobilis es fateor, rutilisque onerata lapillis: Innumeris curis sed comitata venis. Quod bene si nossent omnes expendere, nemo, Nemo foret qui te tollere vellet humo.’’—Par. Medul. Jun.