1. Consider in this story:
   (a) the sin of Gideon in association with a Shechemite women and having a son by her (see 8:31; cf. Deut. 7:3);
   (b) the sin of the men of Shechem (9:4, 5, 16-18);
   (c) the sin of Abimelech (9:1-5). Compare verses 56 and 57 and consider how in each the words of Num. 32:23b were fulfilled.
2. Shechem was a Canaanite city which, most probably, had been assimilated into Israel.
   What does this chapter teach us about the dangers of such a compromise?

Note. Verses 7-15. The first part of the parable contains a reference to 8:22, 23. Verse 15 presents the incongruous picture of great trees seeking shelter under a lowly bramble, and being destroyed in a forest fire that originated in the very thorn bush whose shade they had sought. The point of the parable is not that the Shechemites had chosen a king, but that they had selected the wrong person to rule over them.