Judges 9:45

Jdg 9:45 And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that [was] therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.

Ver. 45. He took the city, and slew the people.] There was, as at Athens when taken by Sulla, ανελεης σφαγη, a merciless massacre, the streets running down with blood. {a}

And beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.] Milan was so served by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, A.D. 1162, but rebuilt not long after, {b} as was likewise Shechem by Jeroboam. {1Ki 12:25} But here the bramble, or thistle, made good his motto, Nemo me impune lacessit. He dealt most barbarously with his native country, turning the place of his birth into a place of "nettles and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation," {Zep 2:9} as far as in him lay.

{a} Appian.

{b} Sigon. Naucler.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jdg 9:45. And sowed it with salt — In token of his desire of their utter and irrecoverable destruction. For places situated in a salt soil being barren by nature, the sowing of salt upon a place was a symbolical custom among the eastern people, at that time, to express great hatred and anger against any place, being as much as to express a desire that it should never be inhabited again, or produce its usual products, but become barren like a salt soil. For we cannot imagine that sowing of salt could render any soil barren ever after, but rather in some time more fruitful.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That it should be unfruitful, and never serve to any use.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 45. And sowed it with salt.] Intending that the destruction of this city should be a perpetual memorial of his achievements. The salt was not designed to render it barren, as some have imagined; for who would think of cultivating a city? but as salt is an emblem of incorruption and perpetuity, it was no doubt designed to perpetuate the memorial of this transaction, and as a token that he wished this desolation to be eternal. This sowing a place with salt was a custom in different nations to express permanent desolation and abhorrence. Sigonius observes that when the city of Milan was taken, in A.D. 1162, the walls were razed, and it was sown with salt. And Brantome informs us that it was ancient custom in France to sow the house of a man with salt, who had been declared a traitor to his king. Charles IX., king of France, the most base and perfidious of human beings, caused the house of the Admiral Coligni (whom he and the Duke of Guise caused to be murdered, with thousands more of Protestants, on the eve of St. Bartholomew, 1572) to be sown with salt! How many houses have been since sown with salt in France by the just judgments of God, in revenge for the massacre of the Protestants on the eve of St. Bartholomew! Yet for all this God's wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(45) Beat down the city.—Comp. 2Sa_17:13; Mic_3:12.

Sowed it with salt.—Nothing can better show his deadly execration against the populace to whom he owed his elevation, and who had been the instrument of his crimes. By this symbolic act he devoted the city to barrenness and desolation. (See Psa_107:34; Deu_29:23; Job_39:6, and marg.) “When Milan was taken, in A.D. 1162, it was sown with salt, and the house of Admiral Coligny, A.D. 1572, was sown with salt by the command of Charles IX., king of France” (Wordsworth).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

45. sowed it with salt] Usually explained as a symbolic act shewing that A. had reduced the city to a salt, uninhabitable desert; cf. Deu_29:23, Jer_17:6, Psa_107:34, Job_39:6. More probably the strewing of salt had a religious significance (cf. Eze_43:24) and denoted the sacrificial consecration of the city which, to judge from its utter destruction, had been put under the ban to Jehovah (see on Jdg_1:17); Rel. of Sem., p. 435 n. The custom is mentioned only here in the O.T.; but it is referred to in the great historical inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser I (circ. 1100 b.c.) and Ashurbanipal (668–626 b.c.); Keilinschr. Biblioth. i. p. 37 and ii. p. 2071[42]. There is a tradition that Attila treated Padua, and Frederick Barbarossa treated Milan, in this way. Early in 1828 Ibrahim Pasha, after blowing up and burning Tripolitza, sprinkled salt over the ruins1[43].

[42] The transl. ‘stones’ and ‘dry sand’ given here is to be corrected to ‘salt’; Zimmern in Gunkel. Genesis, p. 193.

[43] K. Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Gesch. Griechenlands, ii. p. 99. This reference is due to Prof. J. E. B. Mayor.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that,.... That the city of Shechem was taken, the inhabitants of it slain, the city beaten down, and sowed with salt; by which it appears that this tower was not within the city, for then the men of it would have seen what was done, and not be said only to hear it; though it was not far from it, and possessed by Shechemites, and whither some of the principal inhabitants had now fled for safety; perhaps it is the same with the house of Millo, and so that part of Jotham's curse, which respected that, had now its accomplishment, otherwise no account is given of it:

they entered into an hold of the house of the god Berith; not thinking themselves safe enough in the tower, they betook themselves to the temple of Baalberith their god, see Jdg 9:4 which was a strong fortified place, as temples often were; or however had a strong hold belonging to it, and hither they fled, either because of the greater strength of the place, or because of the sanctity of it, and imagining Abimelech would not destroy it on that account; and the rather, because of the supply he had from it, which enabled him to raise himself to the government of Israel.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Sowed it with salt - Expressing by this action his hatred, and his wish, that when utterly destroyed as a city, it might not even be a fruitful field. Salt is the emblem of barrenness (see the marginal references).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Sowed salt. To make the ground barren, and fit for nothing; (Challoner) and to testify his eternal hatred towards the place, as salt is the symbol of duration. See Deuteronomy xxix. 23., Sophonias ii. 9., and Jeremias xvii. 6. --- Salsa autem tellus & quæ perhibetur amara---Frugibus infelix. (Virgil, Georg. ii.) Notwithstanding the fury of Abimelech, Sichem was afterwards rebuilt, and became as fertile as before. The city of Milan was destroyed and sowed with salt in 1162. (Sigon.) --- The houses of traitors were formerly treated in this manner in France, (Brantome) as was that of the admiral ed Chatillon. (Calmet) --- See on this custom Bochart, animal. iii. 16. --- Some think it denoted that the ground might henceforth be cultivated, and grow corn where houses had stood. Salt is the source of fertility, if there be not too much of it. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Not to make the place barren, as salt will do, for then he would have sowed the fields, not the city; but in token of his detestation and desire of their utter and irrecoverable destruction; for salt is the symbol or sign of perpetuity: compare Num 18:19; Deu 29:23; 2Ch 13:5; Zep 2:9.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

45. Sowed it with salt — A symbolical act denoting the utter desolation of the city, as if henceforth it were to become a barren desert. Note on Mat_5:13. This terrible massacre of the people and destruction of the city was one part of the fulfilment of Jotham’s prophecy. Jdg_9:20. By it Abimelech sought to punish the rebellious tendencies which were becoming so manifest among some of his subjects, doubtless in the hope of deterring others.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Abimelech fought against the city, etc. When all the Shechemites in the field were smitten or dispersed, Abimelech stormed the city, weakened as it was by the previous loss of so many of its defenders. The city made an obstinate defence notwithstanding, but was taken before night, and all the inhabitants were put to the sword. The walls were then razed to the ground, and the site was sown with salt to express the wish that it might be barren and uninhabited for ever. (cf. Psa_107:34,jer Psa_17:6) This action of sowing with salt is not elsewhere mentioned; but it is well known that salt destroys vegetation, and is used by gardeners for this very purpose. Pliny (quoted by Rosenmuller) says, Omnis locus in quo reperitur sal sterilis est.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With salt - In token of his desire of their utter and irrecoverable destruction.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Thus Abimelech fought all that day against the city and took it; and having slain all the people therein, he destroyed the city and strewed salt upon it. Strewing the ruined city with salt, which only occurs here, was a symbolical act, signifying that the city was to be turned for ever into a barren salt desert. Salt ground is a barren desert (see Job 39:6; Psa 107:34).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)