9:4 Pieces of silver - Not shekels, which were too small a sum for this purpose; but far larger pieces, the exact worth whereof it is not possible for us now to know. The house of Baal - berith - Out of his sacred treasury; having since Gideon's death built this temple (which he would never have suffered whilst he lived) and endowed it with considerable revenues. Light persons - Unsettled, idle and necessitous persons, the proper instruments of tyranny and cruelty.
9:1-6 The men of Shechem chose Abimelech king. God was not consulted whether they should have any king, much less who it should be. If parents could see what their children would do, and what they are to suffer, their joy in them often would be turned into sorrow: we may be thankful that we cannot know what shall happen. Above all, we should fear and watch against sin; for our evil conduct may produce fatal effects upon our families, after we are in our graves.
