Judges 9

Judges 9

This next low point in Israel’s history actually began with Gideon. The end of Judges 8 says that Gideon had several wives and concubines. Furthermore, he had children with women of other nations. The one that would cause the problems was the child he had with a woman from Shechem. The child’s name was Abimelech, and after Gideon’s death, Abimelech returned to his mother’s home. He went back to Shechem seeking to reign over them as their king. He had 70 brothers in Israel, however, and as a nation, they reigned over Shechem. So Abimelech conspired with the people of Shechem and appointed himself as king over their nation. He also killed 69 of his brothers. The youngest, Jotham, hid himself from Abimelech so that he might live.


When the time was right, Jotham went forth and spoke to the people of Shechem and his family. He used a parable about a group of trees searching for a king. In the parable, the trees were seeking for a king amongst all the wrong groups of plants. They asked the olive tree, the fig tree, the vine, and finally the bramble. As each plant denied the request, not wanting to leave what they had been blessed with, the bramble finally stepped up. In taking the role, the bramble warned the trees that they would be blessed if they had appointed him for the right reasons, but if not, they would suffer the consequences under his rule. Jotham paralleled the trees with the men of Shechem and the bramble with Abimelech. He was worried that the men of Shechem had not though the situation through and were stepping out in blindness in appointing Abimelech as their king. He gave them the benefit of the doubt, but he also warned them of the consequences they’d have to pay if it was found that they had not.

Abimelech was leader both in Israel and in Shechem, for there was no one else to step up in Gideon’s role at the time, and the men of Shechem allowed him to have control in their nation as well. Now although God had allowed the Israelites to rule over Shechem and the rest of their enemies during Gideon’s reign, He had not promised this for Abimelech. In fact, the opposite happened as God caused strife to rise between the two nations. Various conflicts arose, and eventually war broke out. Israel had the stronger army, and under Abimelech’s leadership, Israel went and wiped out Shechem. The battle lasted a few days in many different areas, fields, in the town, and on the mountains. But just as Jotham had warned the men of Shechem, they were destroyed because of the foolish decision they had made. They had supported Abimelech in his evil acts against his brothers, and they paid the consequences for it.

Do not think that Abimelech got off the hook either. He was able to completely destroy Shechem, but he paid the consequences as well. God was not happy with how he had treated his brothers and how he had assumed the role he held. God allowed Abimelech to die at the end of the battle. God showed the Israelites once again that He meant what He had told them through Moses and Joshua. If they chose to be obedient, as they had done under Gideon, they would be blessed, and when they chose to be disobedient, as they had been with Abimelech, they would be punished. It truly is amazing how quickly Israel went back and forth between obedience and disobedience, and we should be careful to watch how we are living each day as well. Sometimes, we go back and forth day after day. We too must decide if we are going to follow God’s commands or not.

Matt