“Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”
Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, that all the sons of Gideon, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? also remember that I am your bone and your flesh — Abimelech's rhetorical question is calculated: should 70 rulers govern you, or one? His invocation of kinship ('I am your bone and your flesh,' עֶצֶם וּבָשַׂר, etzem u-basar) appeals to shared blood. Yet he is a bastard (בֶן־שִׁפְחָה, ben-shifchah), and kinship claim depends solely on maternal lineage.
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