Judges 9: Abimelech

Introduction

Coming off the back and forth story of Gideon, one might think we get a “fresh start” with a new story in the book of Judges. That is the furthest thing from the truth. Instead, we meet Gideon’s son Abimelech.

The story of Abimelech is the turning point in the book of Judges. Any pretense of “good” things, comes to an end right here. He is arguably the most “purely evil” person in Judges. He is an extension of his father’s wicked personality - the Jerubbaal side. Abimelech is an example of why family influences are so important and how people ultimately get the leaders that they deserve.

9:1-21: One way to get elected

We learned at the end of Gideon’s story that he had at least 70 children who lived with him Ophrah, his home town. But he also had a concubine who lived in Shechem and with her he fathered Abimelech. Abi’s name means “My Father is king”.

This seems to have created a complex with Abi. His father of course, wasn’t really king (Gideon had turned that down). But growing up in another town, perhaps his mother told him the heroic tales of his father (whom maybe he never or rarely even met). Maybe she thought that Gideon really was a king, too.

Shechem had a not so great history in Israel. In Genesis 34, we learn that it is named after the man who raped Dinah, one of the daughter’s of Israel. In retaliation, her brothers trick Shechem and his people into getting circumcised, and while they are recovering, they killed them all.

There’s historical “bad blood” between Shechem and Israel leading into this story.

Abimelech decides he wants the power of kingship that his father rejected (but he seems to assume is also his by birthright/name?) So he puts a bug in the ear of his mother’s family: who should rule over you, me (your flesh and blood) or the other sons of Gideon?

It seems unlikely that any of the 70 sons of Gideon would have actually cared to rule over Shechem...or anyone else. But, they are seen as a threat to Abim.

The people are convinced to follow Abimelech...but first they have to get rid of those pesky brothers of his.

They give him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of their god (notice they aren’t even Yahweh worshippers!), to go hire a gang of criminals.

Some translations gloss over this with some nicer language. ESV gets close with “worthless and reckless fellows”. The Hebrew literally means “empty men and insolent”. These were soulless men that followed Abimelech.

The 70 pieces of silver was worth about $12,000 in today’s money.

The job: murder all the sons of Gideon. Doing the math, that means these men got paid less than $200 to per kill. Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap.

They kill all 70 sons on “one stone”, likely a symbolic place of execution, power, and revolution. Think the image of the guillotine and the French Revolution.

Again, this story seems to be the inversion of the events of Genesis 34. Instead of the Israelites killing Shechem and his brothers, Shechem kills Israel’s brothers. The cruel twist is that the perpetrator was related to both of them.

One of Gideon’s sons, Jotham, manages to escape, but that doesn’t stop Abimelech from being named king.

Once Jotham hears about this, he sticks his neck out in order to give a warning to the people for their actions. He tells them a parable (which is rare in the OT!).

The parable tells of how the “trees” try to find a king to rule over them. All of the “good” trees turn it down (probably a reference to how Gideon turned down kingship). The finally find a thorn bush, and ask him to be their king, and he eagerly accepts.

Jotham challenges the people to check their conscience on their actions. If they really think they’ve done the right thing by killing all of Gideon’s sons and making Abimelech king, so be it! But if not...”let fire come out from Abimelech and devour” them.

This becomes known as “Jotham’s Curse”, and even though Jotham exits stage right, never to be heard of again, his words linger in the background of the rest of Abimilech’s story.

9:22-41

The “reign” of King Abimelech does not last long. A mere 3 years. And the people, as Jotham predicted, quickly start to have regrets. Interestingly, Abimelech doesn’t seem to actually live in Shechem anymore, choosing to rule from afar.

We’re given the interesting detail that “God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem”.

Some might see the presence of demonic activity here, and that is possible. But it seems more generic than that. Theologically, the mention of an “evil spirit” seems to be the opposite of the “Spirit of the Lord” (which we’ve God put on certain individuals).

God himself is creating a negative “atmosphere”, between the king and his people. We will see this later with Israel’s first king Saul, where God sends an “evil spirit” that makes Saul increasingly agitated and angry.

Scripture shows us that the Lord has no problem further leading us down a path we are already headed. It also shows, as in the case here, that God punishes us for our sins! This friction is a direct consequence of his murder of his brothers. Both parties played a role in it, and now both parties are turning on each other.

It gets so bad that the leaders of Shechem hire men to try and assassinate Abimelech! (But it ends up being the people who suffer, as they get robbed by these men.)

Inside the city we meet a new character - Gaal the son of Ebed.

Ebed means “slave/servant”, so he’s apparently the son of a slave.

He’s also a foreigner, not originally from Shechem. The people seem to like him, and plus, he’s local! He seems better than the “homegrown talent” they picked to rule over them.

They throw a party, get drunk, and start trash talking the government. Gaal himself gets particularly mouthy, mocking Abimelech and his commander Zebul.

He insults Abim by saying he’s “not really a son of Jerubbaal” nor is he a true son of Shechem (he references Genesis 34 with the mention of Hamor).

Finally he makes the bold claim that he could take Abimelech in battle!

Realistically, these are all probably just ramblings of a discontent drunk against the government. Who among us hasn’t done that a time or two?

But as we know, governments, kings, presidents, whoever is in charge, typically don’t like it when people bad mouth them. And unfortunately for Gaal, ancient Israel didn’t have the first amendment.

Zebul, the local mayor who caught a stray from Gaal’s tirade, gets angry and alerts Abimelech and convinces him to set a trap to kill Gaal.

There’s irony here that the “king” doesn’t apparently know how to best fight Gaal, and has to be taught from a subordinate. But he listens. And the trap is set.

Gaal stands in the gate - in the ancient world this was where the leaders of the people would hang out, do business, ect. He can’t believe what he’s saying, and thanks to the goading of Zebul, actually goes out to fight....but loses.

Interestingly Gaal manages to escape. That’s rare for the stories of Judges. And kind of an indictment of Abimelech. Just like his little brother escaped, so does the one who challenges his authority. He just can’t seem to finish the job. Unfortunately, that means the people suffer.

9:42-57

The “evil spirit” between Abimelech and Shechem comes to a head. Tired of the growing rebellion among the people, Abem redoes the battle plan, sets the same exact trap, and this time attacks the city itself, killing everyone and destroying it completely.

Sowing with salt was a way of polluting the ground symbolically, and also literally - it prevents things from growing.

The people themselves try to hide in their stronghold for safety, but like father like son, Abimelech attacks it just as Gideon attacked the tower of Penuel. This time, he sets it on fire.

The word translated as “stronghold” probably refers to a fortified hiding place, typically underground. So when it says “set the stronghold on fire over them”, it sure seems like he trapped the people in a hole and let them suffocate to death.

Just like his father, he moves on to a second town, Thebez, and attempts to kill them, too. But here the wicked king meets his end. In his attempt to burn down this tower, a woman drops a millstone on his head.

With his dying breath he wants to try to keep his masculinity intact (not that he’s proven to be a very manly leader anyway), by having a non-woman technically kill him. Still, his punishment is that the historical record holds: he died by a woman’s hand and he is the victim of his own misogyny.

The humiliation of Abimelech quickly entered into Israelite lore. He’s mentioned in the story of David getting Uriah killed in 2 Samuel 11:18–21 “Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting. And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, then, if the king’s anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’ ””

The story ends by giving us insight into “divine retribution”. It has been evident throughout the story, but now it is made clear: both Abimelech and the men of Shechem were punished for their role in the murder of Gideon’s children. The “curse of Jotham” came true.

God has a way of maneuvering us to dismantle our most precious idols - and often payback comes in the form of the opposite of what we want.

Abimelech wanted power at all costs. He got nothing. The people wanted a king at all costs. They got the worst “king” possible.

Conclusion

Abimelech, for obvious reasons, isn’t really even considered a “judge”. He was a wicked and power hungry dictator who had his own wickedness come down on his head, literally. On one level we could say he’s a cautionary tale of who we pick to be our leaders. But really this whole story points to how desperately people really do want a good king to lead them. We all want this. And yet, no earthly king, president, prime minister, or whoever, can truly fulfil that desire (no matter how good they may in fact be). What we need is a truly righteous King, and as Christians we know that this longing has finally been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.