Abimelech, the son of a concubine (Judges 8:31; see study note on Judges 19:1), claimed he could create the royal dynasty that his father had rejected.
The absence of any record of a conquest of Shechem, despite Israel’s covenant activities in the city (Joshua 24), suggests that Shechem’s people became part of Israel. Abimelech’s uncles and his mother might have been of non-Israelite origin.