Judges 9:8
The trees went to anoint a king over them: and they said to the olive tree: Reign thou over us.
Open Judges 9:8 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Ierunt ligna, ut ungerent super se regem : dixeruntque olivæ : Impera nobis.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- πορευόμενα ἐπορεύθη τὰ ξύλα τοῦ χρίσαι ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτὰ βασιλέα, καὶ εἶπον τῇ ἐλαίᾳ Βασίλευσον ἐφ᾽ ἡμῶν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- הָל֤וֹךְ הָֽלְכוּ֙ הָעֵצִ֔ים לִמְשֹׁ֥חַ עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם מֶ֑לֶךְ וַיֹּאמְר֥וּ לַזַּ֖יִת מלוכה עָלֵֽינוּ
Haydock's commentary
Us. By this parable, Joatham expostulates with the men of Sichem, who had so basely requited the labours of Gedeon, and had given the preference to the son of a servant, who was of the most savage temper. (Haydock)
In a spiritual sense, which the Fathers chiefly regard, heretics and schismatics act in this manner, and choose rather to be governed by those who will allow them to follow their passions, than by such governors as God has appointed, though the latter be endued with the grace of the Holy Ghost, and with all virtues, signified by the olive and other fruit trees. They prefer the bramble, or the worst dispositions, like Nemrod, Mahomet, Antichrist, &c., who, after persecuting the virtuous, and Catholics for a time, (2 Thessalonians ii.) will, in the end, prove their ruin, though they themselves be involved in the common destruction. "Fire shall rise (says Ven. Bede, q. 6.) against this bramble, Antichrist, and shall devour him, and all his together." (Worthington)
The use of parables has been very general. (Menochius)
Agrippa brought the Roman plebeians, who had retired to the sacred mount, to a sense of their duty, and to a love of mutual harmony with the nobles, by observing that the members once refused to supply the wants of the belly, because it did not labour like the rest. (Livy ii.)
In the application of these parables, Maimonides justly remarks, that we must consider their general scope, and not pretend to explain every circumstance; (More. Neboc.) a remark which Origen had already made. Many things are only added for the sake of ornament. (Haydock)
Read on
Thus we need not imagine that the people of Sichem offered the sovereign authority to many, who refused to accept of it, and at last only prevailed upon Abimelech. Gedeon had, indeed, rejected a similar offer, (chap. viii. 22.) and his other sons not endeavouring to retain the authority of their father, the Sichemites acceded to the petition of Abimelech, to anoint him king. This expression does not always imply a material unction, though such was used among the Jews. It signifies the granting of all the power of a king; in which sense it is applied to foreign princes, (Isaias lxv. 1.) and to Jesus Christ, (Daniel ix. 24.) who received the reality of that sovereign dominion, of which this unction was only a figure. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Methodius The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity, Chapter II
Chapter II. The Allegory of the Trees Demanding a King, in the Book of Judges, Explained.
St Augustine Against Lying, Section 28
28. Hence is also that which thou hast mentioned that they speak of, that the Lord Jesus, after He was risen, walked in the way with two disciples; and upon their drawing near to the village whither they were going, He made as though He would have gone farther: where the Evangelist, saying, “But He Himself feigned that He would go further,” hath put that very word in which liars too greatly delight, that they may with impunity lie: as if every thing that is feigned is a lie, whereas in a truthful way, for the sake of signifying one thing by another, so many things use to be feigned. If then there had been no other thing that Jesus signified, in that He feigned to be going further, with reason might it be judged to be a lie: but then if it be rightly understood and referred to that which He willed to signify, it is a mystery. …