Bible Dictionary
AID
Aid means support or strengthening. In Judges, the men of Shechem strengthened Abimelech by giving him money to hire men for violence.
Definition
Aid means support, assistance, or strengthening. In the supplied biblical usage it has a military sense of giving someone strength or support.
Biblical Usage
The men of Shechem aided Abimelech by giving him money, enabling him to hire men to murder his brothers. The Revised Version renders the expression literally as “strengthened his hands.”
Historical Background
The underlying idea is abundant strength; the word occurs only once in the Old Testament in the King James Version.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ad (chazaq, "to strengthen," "to aid"): A military term used only once in Old Testament in the King James Version (Jud 9:24) and displaced in the Revised Version (British and American) by the literal rendering, "who strengthened his hands." The men of Shechem supported Abimelech in his fratricidal crime, with money, enabling him to hire men to murder his brethren. The fundamental idea in the word, as used in the Old Testament, is "abounding strength."</p>