Judges 9

Judges 9:1

9:1-6 Abimelech (my father was king), a son of Gideon, was not a judge of Israel but a usurperone who sought to rule Israel without proper authority. To eliminate any threats to his rule, he murdered all his brothers except Jotham, the youngest. Working through worthless and reckless relatives in Shechem, he persuaded the people of that area to recognize him as king. Since Gideon had seventy . . . sons (v. 2), and not all were slain, the seventy of verse 5 must be a round number. 9:7-15 The Gospels contain many parables, or stories with a deeper meaning. Here is one of the few OT parables. Jensen comments on it as follows: When Jotham heard of Abimelech’s coronation, he hurried to the top of Mount Gerizim at a time when the people were gathered in the valley below. From that vantage point his voice could be heard across the valley, and the people listened intently to the strange parable he related. Using the figure of a republic of trees electing a king, he pictured Israel’s conduct. He spoke of Gideon and his sons as the olive tree, the fig tree, and the vine, who wisely refused to leave their God-appointed places of usefulness in order to go and reign over the trees. But he likened Abimelech to a bramble, who not only eagerly accepted the invitation but warned that he would destroy the cedars of Lebanon if the trees did not elect him king. 9:16-21 Jotham then announced boldly to the people that if they had done right in destroying his brothers, then they could rejoice in their new ruler. But if not, the men of Shechem and Abimelech would become embroiled in civil war and destroy each other. 9:22-33 This is exactly what happened. Three years later God sent a spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. God is not the author of evil, but He does allow evil, and even uses it to accomplish His purposes with evil men (cf. 1Sa_16:14; 1Ki_22:19-23). The men of Shechem . . . robbed those who traveled the trade routes near Shechem, thus depriving Abimelech of the taxes he would ordinarily collect (v. 25). Gaal the son of Ebed used the harvest festival as the occasion to call for a rebellion against Abimelech, saying, “Who is Abimelech, and who are we of Shechem, that we should serve him?” Zebul, Abimelech’s puppet-governor of Shechem, secretly notified Abimelech of the conspiracy and advised him to march against the city . . . in the morning. 9:34-40 When Gaal . . . went . . . to the city gate in the morning, he thought he saw people moving down from the tops of the mountains. At first Zebul pretended that what he saw were just shadows, hoping to gain time for Abimelech. Finally Gaal realized that it was actually people, with a second company . . . coming from a different direction. Then Zebul challenged him to go out . . . and fight the one whose rule he had despised. When Gaal and his band of outlaws engaged the foe, many of his men fell and he was soon chased back into the city. 9:41-44 With Abimelech camped at nearby Arumah, Zebul expelled Gaal and his brothers from Shechem. The next day . . . people from Shechem went out into the field to work, or perhaps to take spoil from the fallen men. When Abimelech heard of this, he . . . divided his men into three companies and set an ambush. Two companies were to rush upon them and another was to cut off any retreat back into the city. The ambush was successful. 9:45 After a day of fighting, the city fell. The people were all slain and their city was demolished and sown . . . with salt. (Sowing with salt makes the ground sterile. Here it was a symbolic action on the part of Abimelech, expressing his determination that the place be forever a barren salt waste.) 9:46-49 Nearby was the tower of Shechem, where there was a temple of the god Berith. The people of the tower hid in a large room of the temple. Abimelech and his men took boughs from the forest of nearby Mount Zalmon and made a huge fire over the stronghold. About a thousand men and women perished in the inferno. 9:50-57 In capturing Thebez, Abimelech met his downfall. As he attacked a . . . tower where many of the people had sought refuge, a . . . woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head. Seriously injured, he asked one of his own men to slay him rather than have it said he was slain by a woman. Thus the bramble was devoured, as Jotham had predicted. Justice has its own way of suiting the punishment to the crime. Abimelech had slain his brothers on a stone (v. 5), and a stone crushed his own proud head. Those who live by violence will die by the same.