Judges 9:4 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Threescore and ten, agreeably to the number of his enemies, Gideon's seventy sons. Pieces of silver; not shekels, as some fancy, which were too small a sum for this purpose; but far larger pieces, the exact worth whereof it is neither possible nor needful for us now to know. Out of the house of Baal-berith; out of his sacred treasury; for even they; who were very parsimonious and base in their expenses about God's service, were liberal in their contributions to idols; having since Gideon's death built this temple, (which he would never have suffered whilst he lived,) and endowed it with considerable revenues. Vain and light persons; unsettled, idle, and necessitous persons, the most proper instruments for tyranny and cruelty.