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“[Gideon] had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives. His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech.Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. They also failed to show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) in spite of all the good things he had done for them.”
“Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to his mother’s brothers in Shechem and said to them and to all his mother’s clan, “Ask all the citizens of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you: to have all seventy of Jerub-Baal’s sons rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember, I am your flesh and blood.”When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is related to us.”They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelech used it to hire reckless scoundrels, who became his followers. He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, escaped by hiding. Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Shechem to crown Abimelech king”.
Abimelech: The Anti-Judge • Abimelech was a son of Gideon’s “slave-girl”, a Canaanite concubine from Shechem, making him an inferior half-Canaanite son of the great Gideon, 71st in line to succeed his father. • Abimelech leveraged Canaanite expectations of kingship and the Israelite desire for a king to reinforce an aspect of pagan culture - the need for a king. • Instead of cultivating something godly in culture, Abimelech did precisely the opposite, setting a cultural snare based on an Israelite whim.
Abimelech attempted to become a judge over Israel by force, seeking to set himself up like a king with the help of Baal in the centre of a pagan Canaanite revival. • Abimelech initiated his coup funded through the profits of pagan worship in Shechem, the very same place when Joshua had previously reaffirmed Israel’s allegiance to the Lord (Joshua 24:14-27). • By breaking faith with God in the exact place where Joshua pledged allegiance to God, Abimelech was tainting a place of God’s victory with the stench of oppositional culture.
As Abimelech was being crowned king, Jotham, the only surviving son of Gideon, pronounced that, due to the dishonourable way Abimelech had become king , he and the Shechemites would destroy each another. • God did not immediately intervene in the circumstances, revealing that God will not force himself upon His people, but will allow them to pursue their own desires, superintending from a distance, waiting for the time to be right to re-insert Himself into their story. • The people of Israel were willing to accept a bramble king in lieu of a strong, secure, fruitful king because it fulfilled their desire for a king just like the pagan culture now seeping into Israel.
God “stirred up animosity between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem so that they acted treacherously against Abimelech” (Judges 9:23).
APPLICATION • Our hearts, whether we are following Jesus or not, are desperate for a king. • When we exchange “God as King” as Gideon reinforced to the people of Israel for “me as king” as Abimelech did, we’ve begun creating idols. • What is the idol of our culture in 2019?
Application • We ought to be actively cultivating something godly in culture and not just “Christianizing” a cultural whims.
Application • Abimelech’s was a plan that called for an exercise of might and power but no consideration of the work of God’s Spirit. We ought to be those who operate by the Spirit. • “Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the Lord, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit” (Isaiah 30:1). • “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:14-15)
Might we be a people who regularly check our motives to ensure that our direction is set in response to God’s call and not driven by our own desires. • Might we be a people who honour our fathers by how we live, living in such a way that glory, honour and praise are directed to our Heavenly Father. • Might we prove to be good children of our Heavenly Father, enjoying long life in His Kingdom.
