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Judges 9:35

ESV And Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city, and Abimelech and the people who were with him rose from the ambush.
NIV Now Gaal son of Ebed had gone out and was standing at the entrance of the city gate just as Abimelek and his troops came out from their hiding place.
NASB Now Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate; and Abimelech and the people who were with him arose from the ambush.
CSB Gaal son of Ebed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate. Then Abimelech and the troops who were with him got up from their ambush.
NLT Gaal was standing at the city gates when Abimelech and his army came out of hiding.
KJV And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entering of the gate of the city: and Abimelech rose up, and the people that were with him, from lying in wait.

What does Judges 9:35 mean?

The moment of the ambush has come. Gaal threatened to unseat Abimelech from his position over Shechem and the region (Judges 9:26–29). Zebul, Abimelech's officer in the city, has warned Abimelech and devised a plan for Abimelech to ambush Gaal and take the city (Judges 9:30–34).

When the attack comes, Gaal and Zebul are standing at the city's eastern gate at sunrise. Gaal is clearly unaware that Zebul is not loyal to him. Nor is he prepared for what is about to happen. As the sun rises, Abimelech and his four companies of men charge the city. Based on archaeology from the site of Shechem, they likely approached the gates in the shadow of the nearby hills as the sun rose. That would place the rising sun directly in the eyes of those at the gates. As the following verse shows, Gaal does not immediately understand what he's seeing. Zebul will further delay Gaal's understanding by taking advantage of the poor view (Judges 9:36).
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