Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 9:37

"And Gaal spake again and said, See, there come people down by the middle of the land, and one company cometh by the way of the oak of Meonenim." — Judges 9:37 (ASV)

By the middle of the land. —Literally, by the navel of the land. Probably the expression means some gently-swelling hill, but it perplexed the translators. The Chaldee renders it “the strength,” and the Syriac “the fortification of the land.” In Ezekiel 38:12 it is rendered in the midst of the land. The Septuagint here has the strangely blundering addition, “by sea.”

Another company. —Literally, one head (Vulgate, cuneus unus).

By the plain of Meonenim. —Rather, from the way to the Enchanters’ Terebinth (Septuagint, “of the oak of those that look away; ” Vulgate, “which looks toward the oak; ” Luther, more correctly, “ zur Zaubereiche”). Meonen in Leviticus 19:28 is rendered enchantment, and means especially the kind of “enchantment” which affects the eye (the “evil eye,” etc.), and therefore implies the use of amulets, etc. Hence, though the terebinth is nowhere else mentioned by this particular name, it is at least a probable conjecture that it may be the ancient tree under which Jacob’s family had buried their idolatrous amulets (Genesis 35:4).