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26 Abimelech.
Gideon left behind
him seventy sons. And besides these he had a son named Abimelech, who
was by one of Gideon's concubines, who lived in the city of Shechem, a
worthless soul. Abimelech went to Shechem and spoke to his mother's
brothers and all their relatives. ‘Which is better for you, that seventy
men should rule over you, all the sons of Jerubbaal, or that one man
should rule over you? Remember that I am of your family.’ Those seventy
sons of Gideon may have been held in high esteem by the people because
of their unity and righteousness, but the unworthy Abimelech was
despised and excluded by them.
The men of Shechem understood Abimelech's opinion. They gave him as much
money as he needed from an idol's house. No doubt it was from the spoils
his father had taken from the Midianites. He used the money to hire a
band of reckless men like himself. He attacked his brothers, his
father's sons, with them and murdered them one by one on a stone. Only
Jotham, the youngest among them, escaped his brother's murderous sword.
It was not known where he had gone. After these terrible murders, the
men of Shechem came together and elected Abimelech as their king in the
open air.
Then they heard a voice from a mountain. On Mount Grisim stood a man who
announced their future destiny to them with the following words: ‘Hear
me, you men of Shechem! The trees went to anoint a king over them. They
said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king! The olive tree answered them,
‘Shall I give my fatness to be anointed over the trees? Then the trees
said to the fig tree, ‘Come and be our king! And the fig tree said to
them, ‘Shall I give away my sweetness and my good fruit and go and soar
above the trees? Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come and be our king.
And the vine said, ‘Shall I give away my must and go to hover over the
trees? -
Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and be our king. The
bush said, ‘If you are serious about anointing me king, come and trust
yourselves under my shadow. If not, fire will come out of the bush and
consume the cedars of Lebanon.’ The man on Mount Grizim who said this
was Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, who had escaped the murderous
sword of Abimelech.
‘And now,’ Jotham continued, ’if you have done right and uprightly and
have done well by Jerubbaal and his house, then rejoice over Abimelech,
and let him rejoice over you! If not, fire will go out from Abimelech
and consume the men of Shechem, and fire will go out from the men of
Shechem and consume Abimelech.’ Abimelech ruled over Israel with bloody
hands for three years. He had a governor in Shechem. The inhabitants of
Shechem and Thebez rebelled against the king. The governor informed him.
A man named Goal went out to meet him with the men of valour outside the
city. Abimelech defeated them in a field battle, conquered the city,
killed the inhabitants, destroyed the city and scattered salt on it so
that nettles soon grew. Shechem still had a castle and in the castle a
high tower built of wooden beams. When the king learnt that many people
had taken refuge in the tower, he, the furious monster, surrounded it
with fire and let no one out. This was the fire that came out of the
bush and consumed the cedars of Lebanon. A thousand people, men and
women, were consumed by the flames.
He wanted to do the same in Thebez. Wild vengefulness finds no satiation.
It only comes to rest when it has destroyed itself. Abimelech had
already reached the tower of Thebez. He had already lit a fire to burn
it. Then a woman threw down a piece of a broken millstone. The stone
fell on Abimelech and crushed the head of the fratricide and tyrant. So
God paid Abimelech for the evil he had done in murdering his brothers,
and for all the evil deeds of the men of Shechem, and the curse of
Jotham came upon them. Such salvation comes to a people where there is
no justice and no laws, where cunning and violence prevail.
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