and it shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, you shall rise early, and rush on the city; and, behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against you, then may you do to them as you shall find occasion.
The "evil spirit" that God sent between Abimelech and the men of Shechem (Judges 9:24) was a spirit of discontent that proved to be disastrous. Judges 9:25 probably means that the men of Shechem conspired to rob Abimelech of the tolls he received from the travelers and traders who passed through Shechem. They did this by ambushing them from Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal, the two mountains between which the road passed near Shechem. [Note: Cundall and Morris, pp. 130-31.] 