And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink, and cursed Abimelech.
And they went out into the fields, gathered grapes from their vineyards, crushed the grapes to make wine, and celebrated. Then they went into their god's temple, ate and drank together, and spoke curses against Abimelech.
The people of Shechem celebrated their harvest festival in their pagan temple and openly cursed their ruler Abimelech.
📚 Historical Context
This occurs during Abimelech's troubled reign as a self-appointed king over Shechem. The Shechemites had initially supported Abimelech when he killed his 70 brothers to seize power, but now they were turning against him. Ancient harvest festivals often took place in religious settings and were times when people felt emboldened to express their true feelings about their leaders.
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