Abimelech got him up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder: and he said to the people who were with him, What you have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done.
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.