And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of {d} Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem.

(d) Which was as the town house, or common hall, which he calls the tower of Shechem in Jud 9:49.

Wesley's Notes

9:6 House of Millo - Some eminent and potent family living in Shechem, or near it. King - Over all Israel, ver.22, which was a strange presumption for the inhabitants of one city; but they had many advantages for it; as the eager, and general, and constant inclination of the Israelites to kingly government; Abimelech's being the son of Gideon, to whom, and to his sons, they offered the kingdom. And though the father could, and did refuse it for himself; yet they might imagine, that he could not give away his sons' right, conveyed to them by the Israelites, in their offer; the universal defection of the Israelites from God to Baal, whose great patron and champion Abimelech pretended to be; the power and prevalency of the tribe of Ephraim, in which Shechem was, whose proud and imperious spirit, would make them readily close with a king of their own brethren; and Abimelech's getting the start of all others, having the crown actually put upon his head, and an army already raised to maintain his tyranny. Of the pillar - Or, by the oak of the pillar, by the oak, where Joshua erected a pillar as a witness of the covenant renewed between God and Israel, Josh 24:26. This place they chose, to signify that they still owned God, and their covenant with him; and did not worship Baal in opposition to God, but in conjunction with him, or in subordination to him.

King James Translators' Notes

plain: or, oak

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. all the men of Shechem ., and all the house of Millo-that is, a mound or rampart, so that the meaning is, all the men in the house or temple; namely, the priests of Baal.

made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar-rather, "by the oak near a raised mound"-so that the ceremony of coronation might be conspicuous to a crowd.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:1-6 The men of Shechem chose Abimelech king. God was not consulted whether they should have any king, much less who it should be. If parents could see what their children would do, and what they are to suffer, their joy in them often would be turned into sorrow: we may be thankful that we cannot know what shall happen. Above all, we should fear and watch against sin; for our evil conduct may produce fatal effects upon our families, after we are in our graves.