Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 9:54

"Then he called hastily unto the young man his armorbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword, and kill me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died." — Judges 9:54 (ASV)

A woman killed him—he did not, however, escape the taunt (2 Samuel 11:21). We also see from the narrative of the death of Saul in 2 Samuel 1:9 and 1 Samuel 31:4 how sensitive the ancients were about the manner of their death. The same feeling finds ample illustration in Homer and classical writers (Sophocles, Trachiniae, 1064). It was a similar feeling that made Deborah exult in the death of Sisera by the hand of a woman, and the Jews in the murder of Holofernes by Judith. It is remarkable that both of the first two Israelite kings died by suicide to avoid a death of greater shame.