Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother's brothers, and spoke with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying,
This chapter relates the crowning of Abimelech, probably at that same oak where Jacob's family had buried the false gods, and the speech of Jotham from that pulpit-like rock projecting from Mount Gerizim, the narrow valley between Ebal and Gerizim forming a natural amphitheater with very remarkable acoustics.  It seems strange that in this chapter, the citizens of Shechem seem to be almost totally Canaanite.