Gideon's household prepares the next disaster

Jerubbaal's household already looks like a court

Jerubbaal the son of Joash goes and dwells in his own house. He has seventy sons of his body begotten, for he had many wives. His concubine that is in Shechem also bears him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. Gideon dies in a good old age and is buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

A concubine is a woman in a secondary, unequal union, not a reproductive footnote. Abimelech means, in ordinary hearing, my father is king. After Gideon's spoken refusal of dynasty, the name and the polygynous household already carry royal weight. Many sons are not proof of blessing on the system. The Shechemite woman must not be blamed for the massacre her son will later choose.

Israel forgets the LORD and withholds hesed from Gideon's house

As soon as Gideon is dead, the children of Israel turn again and go a whoring after Baalim, and make Baal-berith their god, the lord of covenant, a rival covenant center. They remember not the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side, neither show they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shown unto Israel.

Ingratitude is real. It does not excuse Abimelech's coming fratricide. The transition is causal preparation: household scale, a royal name, a Shechemite tie, and forgotten rescue are the materials chapter 9 will use.