This is quite a chapter. Gideon has died and his son Abimelech makes his move.
The name Ab/Melek is a combination of:
Ab = father
and
Melek = king
Put em together and you get Father of the king or King’s Father. Pretty fancy handle for a guy who is the son of Gideon’s slave woman, rather than one of his actual wives.
(Just typing that sentence above makes me stop and thank the Lord is do not live in that time or culture.)
Do you remember WAY back in Genesis when Jacob settled near Shechem? The king was called Hamor. He was the one who tried to make a deal to get Jacob’s daughter Dinah for his son- whose name was Shechem. The town was named after the guy who raped Dinah. 😒 The inhabitants of Shechem prided themselves on being descended from Hamor.
And Gideon was an outsider; a Jew. So his son Abimelech is not a real “Shechemite” even though he lives in Shechem and his mother’s brothers are locals.
But Abimelech has political ambition and, like most politicians, he is persuasive. He gets financial backing from the residents of Shechem to hire thugs. Then he and his thugs go and kill 69 of the 70 sons of Gideon. They line them up and execute them in the same spot. It’s hateful. It’s evil. And God isn’t going to let him or his Shechemite supporters get away with it.
😧 But why would Abimelech kill his half-brothers? What did they ever do? Was he just a cold-blooded murderer?
😐 Well, it was pretty typical in the ancient (and not so ancient) world to kill off any other potential claims to the throne.
😧 But Israel didn’t have a throne. Right?
😐 They didn’t have a throne yet, but Abimelech had plans to change that. Remember from yesterday’s reading in 8:22 that the men of Israel wanted Gideon “and his son” to rule over them. Abimelech seems to be thinking that his dad missed the perfect opportunity to, well, “live like a king.”
🤔 But why kill his brothers? They weren’t trying to be king too were they?
😐 No. But as soon as Abimelech makes his move, at least one of them would probably have contested his right to reign. He is, after all, only Gideon’s son by a slave. So Abimelech strikes first and removes any possible competition.
😒 It’s horrible and I don’t like it.
😐 I agree.
So Abimelech kills all his half brothers except for the youngest- Jotham- who escapes.
Jotham knows exactly what’s going on. He understands what Abimelech is up to.
Abimelech is proclaimed king at an oak tree. Many translations have 9:6 as “oak of the pillar” or “oak of the memorial stone.” The Septuagint has it as “Oak of Sedition,” which makes the most sense. That’s exactly what’s happening.
Jotham races up nearby Mount Gerizim. That’s the mountain where Israel stood and pronounced the blessings of following God’s law. Shechem sits in the valley between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal.
Only, instead of pronouncing any blessings, Jotham pronounces a curse in the form a story about trees. 🌳🌴🌱🌵
Just like Gideon (and his sons) had refused to rule over the people (because YHWH is to be their ruler), the Olive Tree, the Fig Tree, and the Grapevine all refuse to rule over the forest. So the forest asks the bramble to rule.
Then Jotham pronounces a curse (which always has an if/then):
If you (city of Shechem) have done right in making Abimelech king and killing the sons of the man who risked his life to free us all from Midian, then enjoy your king.
BUT, if not, then may you and your king destroy each other.
Then Jotham flees and goes into hiding.
So Abimelech reigns as king for 3 years. Now, he wasn’t actually ruling over ALL Israel like Saul or David or Solomon, but technically, he’s Israel’s first king- even if it’s only over a small region. And Abimelech appoints a city steward (Zebul) to do all the real administrative work so he can – I dunno – maybe relax at his summer home and live like a king.
Then check out this wild verse:
“And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the Lords of Shechem, and the Lords of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech.”
Judges 9:23 LEB
This will not be the last time that Yahweh appoints or allows an evil spirit to do what it does (sow discord and lies and hatred) in order to accompany His purpose. It’s a bit uncomfortable to stretch our minds to fit that reality. The Lord Almighty can and does use wicked people and spirits (whether they are aware of it or not) to bring about His divine will.
The honeymoon period with Abimelech is over. The residents of Shechem are finding fault. There is banditry going on. Tensions are getting higher. And into this powder keg comes a guy called Gaal.
😏 A guy called gal? I see what you did there.
🤨 It’s actually pronounced “gah-all.”
Gaal means “loathing” and he loathed Abilmelech. Gaal seems to have been a true “native son” of Shechem and he starts the anti-Abimelech party. So the king who was crowned at “The Oak of Sedition” now has a seditious faction in town.
Zebul gets wind of the talk of overthrowing the government, warns Abimelech, and the fight is on.
Abimelech does the typical thing that psychopathic dictators do when their power is threatened: he killed a LOT of people.
But before you shed any tears, remember, these were the people that funded his thug army to go slaughter Gideon’s family who were minding their own business.
So God has punished them.
That’s half of Jotham’s curse.
While on his maniacal killing spree, Abimelech is about to burn down a tower where the civilians had fled for protection, and an unknown woman dropped a piece of millstone from the top of the tower and it struck Abimelech in the head. He asked his armor bearer to finish him off so he wouldn’t be known to have been killed by a woman.
So the other part of Jotham’s curse comes to pass. The citizens punish Abimelech for what he did to Gideon’s family.
Sometimes, people in a relationship are so bad, that they are each other’s punishment.
The Shechemites and Abimelech deserved each other.
To The Reader 