Man living before Israel's Monarchy
Zebul was the governor of Shechem who served under Abimelech, the son of Gideon, during his reign as king.
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Zebul was the governor of the city of Shechem during the reign of Abimelech, the son of Gideon, who had declared himself king over Israel. When Gaal, son of Ebed, came to Shechem and incited the people against Abimelech, Zebul remained loyal to Abimelech and informed him of the rebellion. Acting on Abimelech's instructions, Zebul challenged Gaal to fight against Abimelech's forces. In the ensuing battle, Gaal and his followers were defeated, and Abimelech took control of the city. Zebul then drove out Gaal and his brothers from Shechem. Zebul's actions demonstrate his loyalty to Abimelech and his role in quelling the rebellion and maintaining Abimelech's authority over the city of Shechem. The narrative highlights the political tensions and power struggles that existed during the period of the judges.
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Habitation, the governor of Shechem under Abimelech (Judg. 9:28, 30, 36). He informed his master of the intention of the people of Shechem to transfer their allegiance to the Hivite tribe of Hamor. This led to Abimelech’s destroying the city, when he put its entire population to the sword, and sowed the ruins with salt (Judg. 9:28-45).
(habitation), chief man (Authorized Version “ruler”) of the city of Shechem at the time of the contest between Abimelech and the native Canaanites. (Judges 9:28,30,36,41) (B.C. 1209.)
ZE'BUL (habitation), Abimelech's officer in the city of Sheehem during his contest with the Canaanites. Jud 9:28-41.
ZE'BUL (habitation), Abimelech's officer in the city of Sheehem during his contest with the Canaanites. Jud 9:28-41.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
5 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H2083
Then Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? You are to serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelech?
When Zebul the governor of the city heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, he burned with anger.
When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountains!” But Zebul replied, “The shadows of the mountains look like men to you.”
“Where is your gloating now?” Zebul replied. “You said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the people you ridiculed? Go out now and fight them!”
Abimelech stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.