Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Lloyd Barre <barre AT c-zone.net>]

m hoping for some comments regarding my look into the political structures 
portrayed by tradition for pre-Saulide Israel.  Perhaps the most enlightening 
source is the account of AbiDear History Thread,

I amelech's rule found in Judges 9.  In this story we find several 
significant political parties.  There is the politically power group called 
the "lords or owners of Shechem (ba'alim sekem).  In the absence of a king, 
they rule the city just as the elders of Samaria were the ones to negotiate 
with Jehu after the death of their king.  Also imporant are the "sons of 
Jerubbaal," that is the princes of the city who are exterminated in a manner 
that is also reminicient of Jehu.  There is also of course the new king 
Abimelech, that once the leading citizens of the city withdrew their support 
made Abimelech's kingship vulnerable to a man such as Gaal son of Ebed.  He 
appears as an independently-minded military commander of some power, who 
traces his loyalty back beyond Jerubbaal to Hamor, the father of Shechem.  
Clearly Gaal thinks that he has deeper loyalties to Shechem and that his bid 
to replace Abimelech is a matter of city and king loyalty.

Lloyd M. Barre, Ph.D.

barre AT c-zone.net
http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/AncientIsrael

"Do I dare
 Disturb the universe?"

T.S. Eliot from, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." (1917)