(29) Would to God this people were under my hand !--Comp. 2Samuel 15:4.

And he said to Abimelech.--The "he said" may be the impersonal idiom (comp. Joshua 7:26, &c.), meaning "it was told" (Vulg., Dictum est). It is less likely that "he" means Zebul, or that it is Gaal's drunken vaunt to the absent Abimelech. Another reading is, "And I would say to Abimelech," &c.

Verse 29. - And would to God, etc., i.e. "If you will only trust me as your leader, I will soon remove Abimelech, and then you can have a national government." It seems that the people at once closed with his offer, and, thus emboldened, he sent a challenge to Abimelech to come out and fight him.

9:22-29 Abimelech is seated in the throne his father refused. But how long does this glory last? Stay but three years, and see the bramble withered and burned. The prosperity of the wicked is short and fickle. The Shechemites are plagued by no other hand than Abimelech's. They raised him unjustly to the throne; they first feel the weight of his sceptre.And would to God this people were under my hand,.... Or government, that I were but the ruler of their city, and general of their forces:

then would I remove Abimelech; from his kingly office, and rid Shechem of him, and all the country round about, and indeed remove him out of the world:

and he said to Abimelech; as if he was present, in a hectoring and blustering manner; or he said what follows to his officer under him, that represented him; or he sent a messenger to him, saying:

increase thine army, and come out; bidding him defiance, challenging him to come into the open field and fight him, and bring as many forces along with him as he could or would, not doubting but he should be a match for him; and the men of Shechem would see they had nothing to fear from him, having such a man as Gaal at the head of them; this he said to engage the Shechemites to make him their ruler.