“And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? is not he the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him?”
And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? is not he the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? serve ye the men of Shechem, the family of Hamor; for why should we serve him? — Gaal mocks Abimelech's legitimacy. The rhetorical question 'Who is Abimelech?' strips away pretense. Gaal appeals to Shechem's identity: serve 'the men of Shechem, the family of Hamor' (בְנֵי־חֲמוֹר, b'nei Hamor). The cycle shows how the bastard king loses rhetorical authority to command obedience.
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