Judges Chapter 9

We had read the exciting exploits of Gideon in the past few chapters. His acts as a judge was impressive – leading Israel to overcome the enemies despite insurmountable odds. But God was with him and this was the source of his victory.

When we last read of Gideon, the people wanted to make him king but he refused (Judges 8:22-23). Although Israel had peace after his victories, Gideon’s time as a judge did not end well. During his time, Israel played the harlot with the ephod he set up in his city. It became a snare to him and his family.

His family was no ordinary family! He had 70 sons! From many wives and concubines!

With this background we may now understand better Chapter 9.

Normally in Judges, we would read of how Israel did wrong to God and all sorts of evil. The pattern is familiar. Judge dies. People start their evil. God sends an oppressor. And in all the cases we read so far, the oppressors are foreigners. But in this chapter, the oppressor is an Israelite. In fact, he was one of Gideon’s many sons!

It may take some time to fully understand this story but in summary, Abimelech – the son of one of Gideon’s concubines wanted to rule of Israel. He started with the kinsmen of his mother – from Shechem by warning them if they do not support him, they will be ruled by the other 70 sons of Gideon. So with what money they gave to him, he hire scoundrels to work for him. And in this way, he had 69 of his brother killed in a most cruel fashion.

Only one brother, the youngest son of Gideon – Jotham, managed to escape.

And the people decided to make Abimelech king, despite the cruelty that he showed.

Jotham then proceeded to pronounce a curse on Abimelech and the people of Shechem through a parable about the trees that were asked to be king. It started with the big olive tree who refused – wanting to continue giving oil. Then the smaller fig tree was appoached – who also refused because it wanted to continue providing sweet fruits. Then the vine, not much of a tree, was asked and again, it rejected as it wanted to continue providing wine.

Finally the bramble was asked. The bramble who produced nothing and was only good for being burned up. The bramble gladly accepted the request to be king.

What did the parable mean? In verses 16-21, Jotham explained that Abimelech was the bramble that the people at Shechem had chosen to be their king. And the ending for both would be fire coming from both sides consuming the other side. The rest of the chapter shows how this curse came about.

Abimelech was indeed a vicious and cruel man. Although the people of Shechem had supported him initially, we read from 26-41 how Abimelech systematically cut them down – men and women.

But from verses 42 onwards, Abimelech decided to attack another city, Thebez, nearby. And he tried the same attack against the tower again. But this time, an unnamed woman threw a mill stone down from the tower and it cracked Abimelech’s head.

And in not wanting to be known that a woman killed him, Abimelech asked for his armour bearer to kill him with the sword. And so he died – but he could not hide the fact that he was killed by an unknown woman!

And this ugly chapter ends with these words:

56 Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers. 57 And all the evil of the men of Shechem God returned on their own heads, and on them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

~ Judges 9: 56-57 ~

After so many words, the key lesson for me here is that we reap what we sow.

Abimelech became king through murder and treacherous acts. His act of killing all of his brothers on a single stone is really heartless and cruel.

But the irony is that he was later killed whe a single large mill stone struck him.

Paul wrote to the Galatians,

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7).

If there is another lesson we can learn from this chapter is that sin – falling away from God – can be happen very fast – even within one generation. Gideon had led the people to overcome the Midianites and there was peace in the land. But even though he was a good military leader, he was not a good spiritual leader.

The proper faith and spirit of service was not passed on. And his son’s selfish ambition led to this blot in Israel’s history. It does tell us as parents, or even Ministers or RE teachers in our service – that we must help our next generation walk in the Spirit and not in the deeds of the flesh.

Withough the right guidance and the willingness to obey God – it can be quite scary how our faith may even fall from within.

May God preserve us all in our faith.

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