Judges 9:16
Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands; Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands;
Jotham's closing challenge in his parable was spoken from Mount Gerizim to the men of Shechem while they were celebrating Abimelech as king, condemning their course. Abimelech, the son of Gideon's maid, caused Gideon's sons, his brothers, to be slain in order to become ruler of Israel, and he afterward utterly destroyed Shechem. The account belongs to Israel's backsliding from God and the suffering and oppression that followed, showing how Gideon's family degenerated after the victory God wrought through him by trusting in things which are seen instead of in the power that is unseen.
The verse challenges the Shechemites to consider whether making Abimelech king and dealing with Jerubbaal, that is Gideon, and his house was done truly, sincerely, honorably and according to the deserving of his hands. It exposes the folly, injustice and ingratitude of their course in light of the unselfish and unambitious conduct of Gideon and his sons. It lays down a prophetic condition testing that choice and dealing: if done truly and sincerely, mutual rejoicing between them and Abimelech will follow, but if not, mutual destruction by fire will follow.
In literary form the verse belongs to a parable, allegory and satirical invective in which trees are pictured holding a council and an election and making speeches, asking the fig tree to reign over them. It is given as an example of the Old Testament's eloquent oratory and literary value. The trees speaking and acting as rational beings is personification, the representing of lifeless things as speaking and acting like people and giving them the sentiments, actions and language of a person. The scene is figurative and imaginary, not an account of trees actually talking, and does not mean trees literally think, choose or talk. It stands with the blood of Abel crying, the depth and sea and destruction and death speaking, the stone hearing words, the thistle proposing marriage to the cedar, the hire of laborers crying, and the dead speaking, showing that speech by the lifeless in Scripture is a figure and not proof of consciousness. The parable teaches that those doing valuable work for the Lord do not seek rule over fellow believers, and that ambition to be exalted over others shows a person is unfit to rule.