9:23 Then God {h} sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:
(h) Because the people consented with the king in shedding innocent blood, therefore God destroys both one and the other.
9:23 God sent - God gave the devil commission to work upon their minds.
9:22-29 Abimelech is seated in the throne his father refused. But how long does this glory last? Stay but three years, and see the bramble withered and burned. The prosperity of the wicked is short and fickle. The Shechemites are plagued by no other hand than Abimelech's. They raised him unjustly to the throne; they first feel the weight of his sceptre.
