Gaal spoke again and said, Behold, there come people down by the middle of the land, and one company comes by the way of the oak of Meonenim.
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.] 