Then said Zebul to him, Where is now your mouth, that you said, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? is not this the people that you have despised? go out now, I pray, and fight with them.
Gaal was evidently a Canaanite who disliked Abimelech (Judges 9:28) because he was the son of Gideon. He also opposed him because Gideon had both destroyed the altar of Baal in Ophrah and reestablished the worship of Yahweh in Israel (Judges 6:27; Judges 8:23). Gaal, whose name connects with a Hebrew word meaning "loathsome," and whose father’s name means "servant," did not want Abimelech to continue ruling over that part of Canaan. He did not want Shechem to remain under Abimelech’s control either.