‘ And Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech? And who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal? And is not Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. But why should we serve him?” '
Gaal challenged them about their loyalty to Abimelech. He cleverly used the same argument that Abimelech had used against his brothers. He accused him of not being related to the true ancient occupants of Shechem. Note that he now included himself as one of them - ‘we'.
“Who is Abimelech? And who is Shechem, that we should serve him?” He contrasted Abimelech with the people of Shechem. Who was Abimelech to be served by them? Was he not the son of an Israelite prince who destroyed the altar of Baal and the Asherah, and had he not placed there his officer Zebul to keep watch over them? He was an outsider. And who were the Shechemites (spoken of as ‘Shechem') that they should serve him? Should they really be serving an Israelite? Should they not be serving the true rulers of Shechem, the descendants of Hamor?
“Is not Zebul his officer?” Zebul means ‘exalted one, prince'. Zebul may thus have been a title demonstrating his position. This foreigner Zebul was there as Abimelech's officer to keep an eye on them as his appointee. He may even have been sent to discover who was responsible for the highway robbery. That is at least probably what Gaal wanted them to suspect. Possibly at this stage he revealed that in fact, by coincidence, he himself was such an ancestor of Hamor and Shechem.