A tyrant called Abimelech
9
📚And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them and with the whole family of the household of his mother’s father, saying,9:1 Jud 8:29-31. Once again, as the following story reveals, the having of multiple wives proved disastrous. See Gen 30:1; 2 Sam 3:2-5; 1 Kings 11:1-8. Those who do not follow God’s appointed way will suffer the consequences.⚜
2 📚“Please say in the hearing of all the men of Shechem, ‘What is better for you, that all the seventy sons of Jerubbaal reign over you, or that one reign over you? Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.’ ”
3 📚And his mother’s brothers spoke all these words about him in the hearing of all the men of Shechem; and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother”.
9:3 They did not inquire what sort of man Abimelech was. Since he was a relative he was acceptable as their leader, regardless of his character. In this way people will often get the worst kind of leaders, and will deserve them.⚜
4 📚And they gave him seventy pieces of silver 📖 from the house of Baal-Berith 📖. With it Abimelech hired worthless and reckless persons to follow him. 5 📚And he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, on the same stone. However Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, was left, for he hid himself. 6 📚And all the men of Shechem and all Beth Millo 📖 gathered together and went and made Abimelech king 📖, by the oak at the pillar in Shechem.
7 📚And when they told this to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and raised his voice and shouted and said to them, “Listen to me, you men of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.
Parable of the thorn bush
8 📚Once the trees went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’
9 📚“But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I leave my fatness, with which God and man are honoured, and go to hold sway over the trees?’
10 “And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ 11 📚“But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I leave my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to hold sway over the trees?’
12 “Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’
13 📚“And the vine said to them, ‘Should I leave my wine, which cheers God and man, and go to hold sway over the trees?’
14 📚“Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’
15 📚“And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If you anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow. But if not, may fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’
9:8-15 Jotham means that his slain brothers were like good and profitable trees and not one had desired to be king. The people of Shechem had chosen one like a thorn bush to rule them.⚜
16 📚“Now therefore, if you have acted in truth and sincerity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt fairly with Jerubbaal and his household and have done to him as he deserved 17 📚(For my father fought for you and risked his life and delivered you from the hands of Midian. 18 📚And at this time you have risen up against my father’s household and have killed his seventy sons on the same stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female slave, king over the people of Shechem, because he is your brother); 19 📚if then you have dealt in truth and sincerity with Jerubbaal and with his household this day, then be happy with Abimelech, and let him also be happy with you. 20 📚But if not, may fire come out from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and Beth-Millo, and may fire come out from the men of Shechem and Beth-Millo, and devour Abimelech”.
9:20 Jotham is saying that Abimelech and the people of Shechem would be the destruction of one another. This curse on them God fulfilled (v 57).⚜
21 📚And Jotham ran off and escaped. He went to Beer and stayed there, for fear of his brother Abimelech.
22 And Abimelech reigned three years over Israel.
9:22 Abimelech ruled only that part of Israel that submitted to him.⚜
23 📚Then God sent an evil spirit 📖 between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech. 24 📚God’s purpose was that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come back on their brother Abimelech who killed them, and the shedding of their blood be put on him and on the men of Shechem who assisted him in the killing of his brothers.
9:24 Verses 56,57 – an example of how God takes vengeance on evil men for their evil deeds. Note and references at Num 31:1-3.⚜
25 📚And the men of Shechem set men in ambush for him on the top of the mountains, and they robbed everyone who came near them along that way. And this was told to Abimelech.
26 📚And Gaal, the son of Ebed, came with his brothers and went over to Shechem. And the men of Shechem put their confidence in him. 27 📚And they went out into the fields, and harvested their vineyards and trampled out the grapes and held a festival, and went into the house of their god and ate and drank and cursed Abimelech. 28 📚And Gaal, the son of Ebed, said, “Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal? And isn’t Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor 📖 the father of Shechem; for why should we serve him? 29 📚Would to God that this people were under my hand! Then I would get rid of Abimelech”. And he said to Abimelech, “Increase your army and come out”.
30 And when Zebul, the governor of the city, heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger burned. 31 And he sent messengers to Abimelech secretly, saying, “Look, Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his brothers have come to Shechem. And, see, they are stirring up the city against you. 32 📚Now therefore get up at night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. 33 📚And in the morning, as soon as the sun rises, it should be that you get up early and attack the city. And, look when he and the people who are with him come out against you, then you can do to them as you see the opportunity”.
34 And Abimelech, and all the people who were with him, got up at night and set an ambush against Shechem in four groups. 35 And Gaal, the son of Ebed, went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city. And Abimelech, and the people who were with him, got up out of the ambush.
36 📚And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the top of the mountains”. And Zebul said to him, “You see the shadow of the mountains looking like men”.
37 📚And Gaal spoke again and said, “See, people are coming down from the middle of the land, and another group is coming along by the plain of Meonenim”.
38 📚Then Zebul said to him, “Now where is your mouth with which you said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the people whom you have despised? Please go out and fight with them”.
39 And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem and fought with Abimelech. 40 📚And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and many fell wounded, up to the entrance of the gate. 41 📚And Abimelech stayed at Arumah. And Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out, so that they could not stay in Shechem.
42 And it came about on the next day, that the people went out into the field and told Abimelech. 43 And he took the people and divided them into three groups and set an ambush in the field, and watched. And now the people came out of the city, and he rose up against them and attacked them. 44 📚And Abimelech, and the group that was with him, rushed forward and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city. And the other two groups rushed on all the people who were in the fields and killed them. 45 📚And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city and killed the people who were in it, and broke down the city and sowed it with salt.
46 📚And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered the inner room of the temple of the god Berith 📖. 47 And it was told Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem had gathered together. 48 📚And Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. And Abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a branch from the trees and picked it up and put it on his shoulder, and said to the people who were with him, “Hurry and do the same thing that you have seen me do”. 49 📚And each man among all the people also cut down his branch and followed Abimelech, and put them against the inner room and set fire to the room on the men; so that all the persons of the tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.
9:49 Verses 3,20.⚜
50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez and camped against Thebez and captured it. 51 But there was a strong tower inside the city, and all the men and women, everyone in the city, fled there and shut themselves in and went up to the top of the tower.
God punishes Abimelech
52 📚And Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it, and went near the door of the tower to burn it with fire. 53 📚And a certain woman threw a piece of a millstone on Abimelech’s head and broke his skull.
54 📚Then he quickly called to the young man who was his armour-bearer and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that men do not say about me, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” And his young man pierced him through, and he died.
9:54 Even while dying, pride was the ruling passion of his heart. There is no confession of sin, no calling on God. So ends the sad account of the son of a great man in Israel.⚜
55 📚And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, each man left for his place.
9:26-55 An example of the way men behave when God is not their king and they do what they please (Jud 21:25).⚜
56 📚In this way God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech which he did to his father, in killing his seventy brothers. 57 📚And God returned on the heads of the men of Shechem all their evil. And the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubbaal, came on them.
9:56-57 Once again we see the unseen God justly judging the actions of men and causing them to reap what they sow. See Esther 7:10; Ps 18:25-27.⚜