Now therefore up by night, thou and the people that is with thee, and lie in wait in the field:
Abimelech, in whose story the verse occurs, was the son of Gideon by his maid, and he had Gideon's sons slain so that he might become ruler of Israel. Shechem, the city involved in the account, was a very ancient place where Jacob stopped when he returned from Padan-aram to Canaan. The verse belongs to Abimelech's attack that utterly destroyed Shechem when the Shechemites rebelled against him.
In the verse the order is for Abimelech to go up by night with the people with him and set an ambush by lying in wait in the field. The episode shows that the men who had helped Abimelech seize power turned against him, and that both his rule and their attempt to remove him were marked by treachery and violence.
Abimelech, in whose story the verse occurs, was the son of Gideon by his maid, and he had Gideon's sons slain so that he might become ruler of Israel. Shechem, the city involved in the account, was a very ancient place where Jacob stopped when he returned from Padan-aram to Canaan. The verse belongs to Abimelech's attack that utterly destroyed Shechem when the Shechemites rebelled against him.
In the verse the order is for Abimelech to go up by night with the people with him and set an ambush by lying in wait in the field. The episode shows that the men who had helped Abimelech seize power turned against him, and that both his rule and their attempt to remove him were marked by treachery and violence.