Abimelech

Intro

In the best Batman movie ever made, The Dark Knight there is an incredible scene where we get to know better a main character of that film, Harvey Dent

Dent is out to dinner with Bruce Wayne’s ex romantic partner Rachel, and then Bruce ends up starting a meal discussion with them

The conversation of course begins to speak of the state of Gotham, and what they thing of Batman, and Harvey says he admires Batman for standing up for what is right

Then Dent drops this line, in regard to what happens to people

“Either you die a hero, or live long enough to become the Villain!”

Is this not what we have been seeing in Judges, and particularly in the last few weeks with the story of Gideon

We saw a timid man, who God assured over and over, and saw him get drunk on power, and make an unofficial kingdom, which leads directly to our story today!

It led Israel to be worse of than it was before Gideon

Sure Midian was dealt with, but the spiritual life of Israel was worse off than it was pre-Gideon, they prostituted themselves to Baal!

We thought Gideon would be an upright hero of God, but in reality, he became a villain, and his son simply continued the trajectory his dad had begun!

Epilogue of Gideon (v.29-35)

Gideon had refused to become a king, but he acted like one

He gathered a harem of wives and had seventy sons

Yet, he also went to a woman in Shechem and made her a concubine

The only issue is that Shechem is a Canaanite city, and it is not a good one

This is the same city from Genesis 34, who raped Dinah the daughter of Jacob and Leah

So expected this city to have good people according to the Bible is not likely

So when Gideon died, even though he was a pretty wicked guy himself, he still acted in some sort of restraint for the people in their demon god worship to Baal

It says that Israel forgot who God was, and they went even harder after the demon god Baal, and made baal-berith their god

Baal Berith translates literally ‘God of the Covenant’. So they turn from the living God of the universe, the one who made a great covenant with Abraham and Moses, to worship a demon god who said they are ‘God of the Covenant”!

This sets us up for what is the biggest point of this story

You and I will mimic what we worship

The First King (v.1- 6)

We only know two of the sons of Gideon: Jotham and Abimelech

Abimelech was the son of that woman from Shechem, and certainly would not of fit well in with his brothers who were seemingly fully Jewish

So he uses his connections to eliminate his brothers in a heinous way

They go into the temple of Baal, and give him seventy pieces of silver to hire a band of mercenaries

They then go and round up Gideon’s kids, except for the youngest and murder them indiscriminately

The people see this bloodshed, and don’t care, and proceed to make Abimelech into their king

They don’t care the means he used or the qualifications he has, it’s simply some quasi relationship to Gideon, and themselves by his mother

So the first ‘king of Israel’ is a half-breed with pagan Canaanites who set up his rule by slaughtering the sons of the hero who delivered Israel from Midian

The Curse (v.7-21)

Rightfully so, one of the sons, Jotham, escapes by hiding, and then gets up and gives a parable of cursing upon Abimelech and the people

Yet this is not just any mountain

Although he is running for his life, this is the mountain that Moses gave the covenant stipulations to the people of Israel to

So the people are turning from YHWH to ‘Baal of the Covenant” by committing mass murder of Gideon’s family

Then they are cursed on the mountain that God called the people to uphold their covenant faithfulness to him!

What great irony

God had called them to a high standard of living, and it resulted in Israel being blessed

So when they throw off God, and are finally able to be themselves, what results?

They end up becoming what they worship, they worship a god that loves killing and human sacrifice, and so they start off the kingship with human sacrifice

This curse is a call to see if they will pay for their actions, or if God will be indifferent

God’s Judgment (v.22-57)

Abimelech was king for three years until things started to get difficult

But these are difficulties sent by God himself, God sends a demon to insight fighting in these wicked people’s lives

What does that look like

First god has the people start robbing passer by’s, which of course is never good for a king, it makes them look bad

Then a man of ignoble character called Gaal enters the picture, and basically offers the same deal to the people

Hey guys, you are under Abimelech, well, my family lineage is even better and more pure, you should have me as king!

So a power struggle ensues, and Abimelech’s governor tells him about this troublesome man, and they go to fight the insurrection of Gaal

Gaal and his man are killed, and the revolution squished before it really begins

Yet here is where we see the character of Abimelech come out

In verse 42, we see that Gaal was already gone, there was peace.

The people of the land thought they were safe, but then Abimelech comes back and attacks the city, but these are simply citizens, farmers, innocent bystanders

Abimelech comes and massacres the city, even tearing it down!

Those that had escaped from the initial onslaught run and hide in the temple of Baal

This is where perhaps the greatest irony in the entire book happens

The people have turned away from worshipping YHWH, and so have lost his protection

Instead they run to the temple of the Baal of the Covenant hoping for his protection

So what does Baal of the covenant ask for to be in a covenant with him?

He oft asks for their children to be thrown alive into fire

So while they are locked in the chambers of this temple, Abimelech goes and cuts down a bunch of branches and piles them around the temple and sets it ablaze

So the judgement on the people who would have their children thrown into the fire to worship demons? They themselves are killed in the same way

Yet, we must not view Abimelech as any sort of hero for doing this, this is God taking care of evil with evil, and so when he continues on his rage against another random city for an unknown reason, he is looking to do the same

He’s hoping that he can set it ablaze and win the day, but this time a woman throws down a millstone and it hits Abimelech in the head, and he commits suicide and dies

Yet the weird thing is that in verse 55, it says that when Abimelech dies, everyone goes home, like they were under some sort of illusion cast by Abimelech

They stop the seige, and just return to normal

So the author shows us the purpose of this story in v. 56-57

God brought back the evil of Abimelech had done to his brothers, and brought back the evil on Schechem so the curse Jotham was brought upon them

Application

So in this crazy story, we see that God brings judgement in a different way, and perhaps a more terrifying way, by simply using their existing character to bring about the end result

All God did was put some tension between the people and Abimelech

It was their own character that made it escalate to what it became

Which brings us back to my point earlier:

You and I will mimic what we worship

On a lesser scale, maybe you remember the advertising slogan ‘Be Like Mike’

It is rather seared into the consciousness of us 90’s babies!

I had to look it up, but it was for Jordan’s Gatorade commercial

But it took a life of it’s own

When I was young and my parents would go to the store, I would oft sneak off to the video game system area or to the handheld games section, to help pass the time while they shopped

At some point I was playing some hand held electronic game by my mom and was really into it, and when I was younger, and sometimes today still, I will actually stick out my tongue when consecrating really hard

Where did I get that? Well it goes back to MJ! He did that when he went to dunk and made those crazy plays! So I unintentionally, or perhaps intentionally became like MJ

On a broader scale, we see that Abimelech removes any dignity found in people

He comes to power by simply regicide, and then stays in power with that same ruthlessness

People are not people, they are simply things to be extorted and killed if they don’t bend to his will

He worships a God that is all about self-pleasure with no self-control via temple prostitution, as well as throwing your kids into the fire to show your commitment

So is it any wonder that he is ok with simply burning a 1000 people alive in the temple of Baal, and was going to do it again before he was killed?

Abimelech took on the characteristics of Baal!

Where a Jewish/Christian view has the idea of Imago Dei, where murder is never alright, as each person has innate worth

Take God out of the picture, we will still worship something, even if that is ourselves

In Iceland, if a woman is pregnant and then found to have a child with down’s syndrome the law allows her to have an abortion up to 16 weeks in

In 2018, that abortion rate for a test with positive down’s syndrome (which by the way is only 85% accurate) was 98% would kill the child

To put it in perspective, that means there are only about 2 Down’s Syndrome births in Iceland a year!

Do you see the issue, Down’s Syndrome is treated as a deformity, as if they are lesser people that should be eliminated while still in the womb

When we worship things like Money you end up with stories like “The Wolf on Wall Street” of a real estate broker that cons so many people just for him to climb up the ladder of success

Now you might be thinking, Kyle, I don’t do those things!

I’m not conning people out of money at work

I’m not working the system at the expense of others

I’m not advocating for the termination of kids with Down’s Syndrome

Yet, there is something we all do at different times in our lives

We say we worship God, but it only comes out in Crisis

Israel cries out to God in times of crisis, but when it was day to day, the other gods they worshipped were fine

When we think our God, the creator of the universe is too grand or busy to deal with our day to day tasks, it makes us turn to others

You see turning to self-sufficient ways of survival is doing the same

When we turn to God only because we lost our job, we have a big test, a loved one is sick, are we practically any different than the Israelites in this chapter

We are ok with pushing on with our own power, and when we do that, eventually we start saying that we start setting the standards and compromising

We say, it would really bring honor to my parents if I got into this school, so it doesn’t matter how I get the good grades as long as I have them

It doesn’t matter how I treat the members on my team at work, since I need that promotion to get that pay raise, to move up the ladder of corporate sucess, or that pay raise so you can use it for what you need

It can even be good things, a pay raise to pay for your kids college, or your aging parents nursing home care

Yet, when we start to compromise, it is a red flag that God is not the God we are worshipping at that point, it very well might be ourselves

You see our God is not so grand that he does not care about you or I, he is the God of the mundane as much as the ordering of the universe

There is a book called “God of the Mundane” and here is a telling quote from it,

We think the small, mundane, ordinary things we do each and every day are worth nothing before God because they are worth nothing before the gods of this world.

Our God is a God of the great, small, mundane and extra-ordinary!

So we can’t fall into the trap that we don’t need God in those moments, we need him in every moment!

We need God in every moment, because if we don’t, the consequences are terrifying

God’s judgment in this story is slow, gradual, there is no sudden earthquake or voice from heaven, just sin slowly chipping away at the people, and their hearts becoming more and more like the demons they love

We see that God’s judgment and sin’s consequences are oft aligned

In our state we know of a wonderful thing called potholes!

I’ve broken at least one tire by blowing out the sidewall from said pothole

Have you ever wondered why the potholes are so prolific here?

It is not simply our winters and the salt of the roads

It is also the quality of the pavement used

If you go to Minnesota, which has even worse winters than us, you will find far fewer potholes and the roads in generally better conditions than IL

The reason why is that in IL, corrupt politicians play favorites to who gets the big government deals to repave the roads

These companies then use lesser quality asphalt, which then means there will be work for them sooner since they will need to repair it again in less time

So the consequences of our state being corrupt result in something like big potholes, and broken tires

It’s much like God’s judgement with our sins,

Our sin is spooling up in the background, silently and unobserved

Then we suddenly hit a pothole and blow out the side wall on our tire and we are aware of the situation

We can’t fall into the trap that our sin will never be answered for, or that we can escape the consequences of it

Because we will mimic what we worship\

This is the call for us, much like the Israelites we need to turn back to God each and every day

WE have to remember, we are sinners until we die

When we simply put our faith into cruise control, don’t be surprised that you drift

If you find yourself at odds with other people all the time, arguing or in broken relationships, how closely are you following God or y

If you find yourself living in lust, don’t be surprised if you look at people as objects to be used for your gratification

If you find yourself hoarding your wealth, stingy with generosity, are you serving God or greed?

Even good things can be worshipped things, our families, spouses, friends, etc.

Paul David Tripp said it this way,

“The blinding ability of sin is so powerful and persuasive that you and I literally need daily intervention.”

We need to perpetually make sure that we are following Jesus, and his calling to be like him

Which looks so different from anything else

Eph. 5:1-2 “1 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.”