Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 9:48

"And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder: and he said unto the people that were with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done." — Judges 9:48 (ASV)

To mount Zalmon. — Evidently the nearest spot where he could get wood for his hideous design. Zalmon means shady. In Psalms 68:14 we find as white as snow in Zalmon, but whether the same mountain is referred to we cannot tell. It may be any of the hills near Gerizim.

An axe. — Literally, the axes — i.e., he took axes for himself and his army.

Cut down a bough. — The word for “a bough” is socath, which does not mean “a bundle of logs,” as the Septuagint renders it. Everyone will recall the scene in Macbeth where Malcolm says:—

“Let every soldier hew for himself a bough,
And bear it before him; thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host, and make reconnaissance
Err in its report of us.” — Act V, Scene 4.

But Abimelech merely wanted combustible materials.

What you have seen me do. — Compare what Gideon says in Judges 7:17.