Read verses 1-2: Abimelech goes to the leaders of Shechem (his hometown) and persuades them he should be king. Now he had no right to the throne. First, his dad (Gideon) isn't the king; he may live like it, but he does not hold an official position. Secondly, the firstborn is the logical successor. Abimelech is not the firstborn, and more importantly, his mother was a concubine, so he was in essence an illegitimate son. No way should this guy be king!
Read verses 3-4: However, the men of Shechem seem rather indifferent and let him do what he wants. They even give him some money to use in his quest to be king. He uses the money to hire "worthless and reckless fellows." Now if you didn't have a bad feeling about Abimelech having no rights to the throne, this should definitely be some info that causes you to wonder what he's thinking. No one should want to be associated with worthless, reckless people.
Read verse 5: The wording here suggests that Abimelech held a public execution to kill all of his brothers "on one stone." He would have needed lots of help to pull off this feat. Only one other brother survives this massacre--Jotham. And you can be sure that this will come into play later.
Read verse 6: The leaders of Shechem make Abimelech king.
Read verse 7: Jotham goes to Mount Gerizim (which is just outside Shechem and climbs just high enough so his voice carry throughout the town). He calls the people's attention and begins his speech.
Read verses 8-15: He starts with this parable-like story about the trees wanting a king and trying to pick each other to do so. However each tree says they have a job they need to do and refuse the position. Until they ask the bramble (aka thornbush) to be king. The bramble, unlike the other trees asked, had nothing of value to offer. There is no benefit to having the bramble be the king.
Read verses 16-20: Jotham then explains the parable. Basically it boils down to: if you did everything on the up and up, you'll be fine. However, if things are not on the up and up, you'll be destroyed.
Read verses 21-22: Jotham flees and hides out in Beer (means "well"). Abimelech rules over Israel for three years. (Notice he's king of all of Israel, not just Shechem.)
Read verse 23: God did not pick Abimelech as king, but we see He is still in control of what is happening. He is the one who is causing (or allowing) the dissension between Abimelech and the men of Shechem.
Read verses 24-25: The men of Shechem start setting up ambushes. This is making them wealthy as well as undermining Abimelech's control.
Read verses 26-27: Now this guy Gaal enters the scene. He was evidently from Shechem and the people of Shechem feel more allegiance to him than Abimelech.
Read verses 28-29: Gaal, being rather full of himself, persuades the people he should be in charge, not Abimelech. So he challenges Abimelech to bring and army and come fight.
Read verses 30-34: Zebul, a leader of Shechem whose allegiance is still with Abimelech, hears all of this and gets upset. He sends word to Abimelech about what's happening and suggests Abimelech come with his men and set up an ambush. Abimelech agrees and gets his men ready.
Read verses 35-36: In the morning, Gaal and Zebul are talking and Gaal thinks he sees Abimelech and his men. However, Zebul is able to convince him that it's just shadows.
Read verses 37-39: Gaal figures out it really is men not shadows. So with some encouragement from Zebul, he goes out to fight.
Read verses 40-41: Abimelech (with help from Zebul) is able to defeat Gaal and drives out his family from the city.
Read verses 42-45: Because the people of the city had turned against him, Abimelech also kills them. Then to add insult to injury, he then started "sowing with salt." This would make the land rather useless, it would be dry and suck up nutrients so that it was unusable for farming.
Read verses 46-49: Some of the leaders have fled to a nearby tower to hide-out, claiming sanctuary. Abimelech disregards this and gets his men to help him cut down some trees and set the tower on fire. This kills 1,000 people.
Read verses 50-52: Abimelech heads to the next town and captures it, except for a tower which a number of people have barricaded themselves inside of. However, Abimelech is not deterred. He decides to burn this one as well.
Read verse 53: His plans are foiled by a woman who drops a millstone (huge boulder) on his head from inside the tower. It crushes his skull, critically injuring him, not killing him.
Read verse 54: Like any chauvinistic male, he doesn't want it to go down in history that a woman killed him. Rather than suffer that humiliation, he has his armor-bearer kill him.
Read verse 55: Since their leader is now dead, all of Abimelech's men go home.
Read verses 56-57: These last two verses recap the story for us. God divinely punishes both Abimelech and the men of Shechem for their evil. The "curse of Jotham" comes true.
Read verses 3-4: However, the men of Shechem seem rather indifferent and let him do what he wants. They even give him some money to use in his quest to be king. He uses the money to hire "worthless and reckless fellows." Now if you didn't have a bad feeling about Abimelech having no rights to the throne, this should definitely be some info that causes you to wonder what he's thinking. No one should want to be associated with worthless, reckless people.
Read verse 5: The wording here suggests that Abimelech held a public execution to kill all of his brothers "on one stone." He would have needed lots of help to pull off this feat. Only one other brother survives this massacre--Jotham. And you can be sure that this will come into play later.
Read verse 6: The leaders of Shechem make Abimelech king.
Read verse 7: Jotham goes to Mount Gerizim (which is just outside Shechem and climbs just high enough so his voice carry throughout the town). He calls the people's attention and begins his speech.
Read verses 8-15: He starts with this parable-like story about the trees wanting a king and trying to pick each other to do so. However each tree says they have a job they need to do and refuse the position. Until they ask the bramble (aka thornbush) to be king. The bramble, unlike the other trees asked, had nothing of value to offer. There is no benefit to having the bramble be the king.
Read verses 16-20: Jotham then explains the parable. Basically it boils down to: if you did everything on the up and up, you'll be fine. However, if things are not on the up and up, you'll be destroyed.
Read verses 21-22: Jotham flees and hides out in Beer (means "well"). Abimelech rules over Israel for three years. (Notice he's king of all of Israel, not just Shechem.)
Read verse 23: God did not pick Abimelech as king, but we see He is still in control of what is happening. He is the one who is causing (or allowing) the dissension between Abimelech and the men of Shechem.
Read verses 24-25: The men of Shechem start setting up ambushes. This is making them wealthy as well as undermining Abimelech's control.
Read verses 26-27: Now this guy Gaal enters the scene. He was evidently from Shechem and the people of Shechem feel more allegiance to him than Abimelech.
Read verses 28-29: Gaal, being rather full of himself, persuades the people he should be in charge, not Abimelech. So he challenges Abimelech to bring and army and come fight.
Read verses 30-34: Zebul, a leader of Shechem whose allegiance is still with Abimelech, hears all of this and gets upset. He sends word to Abimelech about what's happening and suggests Abimelech come with his men and set up an ambush. Abimelech agrees and gets his men ready.
Read verses 35-36: In the morning, Gaal and Zebul are talking and Gaal thinks he sees Abimelech and his men. However, Zebul is able to convince him that it's just shadows.
Read verses 37-39: Gaal figures out it really is men not shadows. So with some encouragement from Zebul, he goes out to fight.
Read verses 40-41: Abimelech (with help from Zebul) is able to defeat Gaal and drives out his family from the city.
Read verses 42-45: Because the people of the city had turned against him, Abimelech also kills them. Then to add insult to injury, he then started "sowing with salt." This would make the land rather useless, it would be dry and suck up nutrients so that it was unusable for farming.
Read verses 46-49: Some of the leaders have fled to a nearby tower to hide-out, claiming sanctuary. Abimelech disregards this and gets his men to help him cut down some trees and set the tower on fire. This kills 1,000 people.
Read verses 50-52: Abimelech heads to the next town and captures it, except for a tower which a number of people have barricaded themselves inside of. However, Abimelech is not deterred. He decides to burn this one as well.
Read verse 53: His plans are foiled by a woman who drops a millstone (huge boulder) on his head from inside the tower. It crushes his skull, critically injuring him, not killing him.
Read verse 54: Like any chauvinistic male, he doesn't want it to go down in history that a woman killed him. Rather than suffer that humiliation, he has his armor-bearer kill him.
Read verse 55: Since their leader is now dead, all of Abimelech's men go home.
Read verses 56-57: These last two verses recap the story for us. God divinely punishes both Abimelech and the men of Shechem for their evil. The "curse of Jotham" comes true.
Application:
- Actions have consequences. Abimelech lived ruling over Israel for three years before the consequences caught up to him, but they did.
- God is in control. You can choose to do it His way or the hard way. He sent evil spirits and women with rocks to make hings happen the way He wanted them to. He has the ability to make things happen whether we agree or not. The question really is whether we are willing to obey and cooperate the first time or will things be difficult as we fight His ways.
- Inaction is a choice with consequences too. The men of Shechem didn't seem to care about Abimelech's plans, but just let him do what he wanted. This made them part of the problem too! They are faulted for all that happens, just as Abimelech is.
**All Scripture is quotes from the New American Standard.
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I'm currently teaching on the book of Judges for the youth group Sunday school class. We normally spend half our time playing a game and the other half studying the Bible. These are my lessons and some funny tidbits that happen during the course of the morning.
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I'm currently teaching on the book of Judges for the youth group Sunday school class. We normally spend half our time playing a game and the other half studying the Bible. These are my lessons and some funny tidbits that happen during the course of the morning.
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