Judges 8:22-9:21: Abimelech: Who will be King?

Introduction: In father’s footsteps

Who here ended up doing a job that there father did? Who went into the same trade or career as their father? I suspect it is not as usual as it used to be.

But most of us would agree: Fathers have a great affect on their sons, whether for good or evil.

There were some genealogical studies at the turn of the century. They focused on two men who lived in the early 1700s in America: Jonathan Edwards, the great American Theologian, and Max Jukes, a layabout, scoundrel, and vagabond. They studied their descendants down to the early 20^th century.

What was the character of their descendants? Jonathan Edward's line produced around 300 Christian ministers, 120 university professors, 100 lawyers, 30 judges, 5 parliamentarians, and 1 vice president of the United States,

By the 1870s, who were those who followed in the footsteps of Max Jukes? 300 died in infancy, 310 professional paupers, 440 crippled by disease, 60 thieves, 53 other criminals, 50 prostitutes, and 7 murderers. By 1874, only 20 out of 1200 of Jukes descendants had ever had gainful employment. By 1916, there had been some improvement. Many of Jukes descendants became honest, hardworking citizens. But still, degeneracy was rampant among them[1].

The decisions we fathers make affect our children, their children, even whole generations that follow and the very nation. How true it is that God visits the sins of the father to the son to the third and fourth generation (Exodus 34).

Of course, God is powerful and merciful, and there are great exceptions. Too frequently children from Christian families go astray. And many of us come from tough backgrounds and rise above our forebears. But my point is this: Fathers have a profound influence on our children.

How many men now walk around subconsciously trying to living up to their dad’s expectations? Who of us men subconsciously still pine for our father’s approval. Even the dead hand of the past still controls us, the tape recorder going on in our heads: ‘You’ll never amount to anything’, men who forever grieve that their dad never said: ‘Well done, Son. I am so proud of you!’, ‘This is my son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased!’

And so much harder is it if your dad was a great man. Imagine the pressure on James Packer or Lachlan Murdoch! How can any son live up to such expectations?

At a more humble level, doesn’t this explain parents’ behaviour at weekend sport? Kids' sport is the opportunity for men behaving badly. Why? Are fathers living out their fantasies through their children?

But now the kids whose father’s fight at weekend sport are the lucky ones. They at least have a father! We know that many children in our society grow up with no father. Nowdays, if you see three children walking down the street, two were born into a marriage, and the other one is not[2]. In 1997, it was calculated that 200,000 children did not live with their father[3]. And we are now 12 years further down the track!

There was a study done on 370 men who graduated from Harvard in the mid 1960s. So these men were the ones who survived the absent father to go to a prestigious university. Yet even many of these men were permanently scarred by the absence of their father. The researcher, Samuel Osherson, summed up his research:

‘The interviews that I have had with men in their thirties and forties convince me that the psychological or physical absence of fathers from their families is one of the great underestimated tragedies of our times.’ [cited in Steve Farrar, Point Man, p45. ]

Gideon: I won’t be king, but…

Last week we looked at Gideon. The New Testament includes him amongst the heroes of faith (Hebrews 11:32). He was a Judge, raised by God. God used him to bring about a great military victory and save his people. He was a great hero.

But he was a flawed hero: vascillating, doubting, scared, vengeful, weak. Our picture of Gideon is ‘warts and all’. That’s the way the bible paints him. God did great things through him. But his weakness was not without effect. No, Gideon’s sin sowed the seed of national disaster in the next generation. And the cause of this disaster was Gideon’s abandoned illegitimate son, Abimelech.

God gave Gideon success. Indeed, Israel had a long and lasting peace with Gideon as judge, 40 years, a golden age. But success for Gideon proved a dangerous thing. When we first met Gideon, he was small in his own eyes. ‘I’m not fit for the job, who am I?’ That was his tone. But by chapter 8 he has tasted victory. And afterwards, we see Gideon acting more and more like a Canaanite King. He does things typical of tyrannical Canaanite leaders. His unexpected military success presents him with opportunities for vengeance, settling some old scores, and a bit of personal profit on the side. He attacks Israelite cities because they refused to help him (Judges 8:13-17). And he carries out a vendetta against his brothers’ murderers (Judges 8:18-21).

It is no wonder then, that Israel comes to Gideon to make him king. Chapter 8 verses 22 and 23:

The Israelites said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us – you, your son and your grandson – because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian. 23But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.” (NIV)

Of course, Israel are wrong, worse, faithless. Already they have forgotten that YHWH saved them. That is where idolatory starts. They forget that God saved them by grace through faith, not of themselves. So they begin to flatter Gideon as their hero.

Gideon, of course, says the right thing in response. Whoever saves Israel is King. Yahweh saved Israel. Therefore, only Yahweh is rightful King of Israel. That was the whole point of God’s wacky battle tactics.

I understand it is very difficult for soldiers in the regular army to get into the SAS. They have very high standards. But imagine at the SAS interview, the commanding officer asks only one question: 'Do you lap water like a dog?' And when you say ‘Yes’, he gives you an empty goldfish bowl, a trumpet, and a box of jiffy fire lighters and says, 'Great, you’re just what we need in Afghanistan. You’re on the next Hercules to Uruzghan.' It is a ridiculous picture.

Israel did not save herself. Gideon did not save Israel. Yahweh saved Israel.

Yet, there is always a danger in misplaced compliments. We want to believe them to be true. We can start to believe our own press. Be careful how you flatter people. They might start to believe it. And that is what Gideon did.

It starts in small ways, of course. Gideon thinks it would be nice to have something for himself, a little token, a memoir, of this great day. 'I won’t be king, that’s God, of course. But what about a little tribute? Just an earring from each' (Judges 8:24-26; Compare Deuteronomy 17:14-20). That’s not much. A golden opportunity for a golden handshake. A great redundancy package, we might say. They will match the crescent ornaments, the pendants, the purple robes which he took of the kings of Midian. So Gideon starts to accumulate some Royal symbols, marks of Canaanite Kingship,

Then the next step. What about an Ephod? (8:27). 'If I’m gonna judge Israel, I need to consult Yahweh, don’t I?' The Ephod was a breast piece with two precious stones on it. Basically, it gave ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answers to questions. At one level, it is an acknowledgment that God is King. It says that Yahweh rules Israel, and that Gideon consults God. However, Gideon has taken it on himself to make this. Gideon thought it was a good idea. But God never asked for this Ephod. And there was already the God-ordained Ephod. That was in the custody of the high priest, with the tabernacle, and the ark and all the items for worship that God gave Israel. As he did with the fleeces, so now again, Gideon was seeking God’s guidance apart from God’s word. And this is always sin. No wonder it led Israel into idolatry.

And then Gideon thinks, 'What about a few domestic comforts? What about a harem?' (Judges 8:30) This, of course was the usual practice of ancient Kings. That’s why Yahweh had commanded Moses that the Kings of Israel must not take many wives (compare Deut 17:14-20). And they produced 70 sons for Gideon. But even that wasn’t enough. For if anyone knows the history of kings, it seems they felt they had a divine right to sow their wild oats. And Gideon was no exception. So we read in chapter 8 verse 31:

‘His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech.’ (NIV)

The son of his Shechemite concubine he calls ‘Abimelech’. What’s in a name? Well Abimelech’s name means ‘My Father, King’. Gideon calls his Son, ‘My Father, King.’ Though Gideon says with his words, ‘I will not be King’, all of his actions say, ‘I want to be king’. He massacres like a Canaanite King. He procreates like a Canaanite King. He collects Canaanite royal emblems. And he calls his Son, ‘My Father is a King’.

Gideon’s words say one thing. His actions say another. Gideon worships Yahweh with his lips, 'Yahweh is King', says Gideon, but his heart is far from Yahweh being king. Part of Gideon wants to be King.

The bible has a word for this. When you serve God with your words, but not with your actions, you are guilty of hypocrisy. It’s a perennial danger for the people of God. But if Gideon was a hypocrite and inconsistent, his abandoned, illegitimate Son became an out and out idolator and murderer. Gideon secretly desired Kingship, but denied it. But Abimelech will brutally take the Kingship his Father refused.

Abimelech: I will be King

Abimelech’s rise to the throne is a story of conspiracy and murder. Abimelech shows himself a cunning politician. He goes to his half brothers in Shechem. In a backroom deal, he obtains their support for his leadership. And the Shechemites give him money to take out and kill his half brothers in Ophrah. His brothers by his mother pay him to kill his brothers by his father.

But they left the youngest one. They killed 70, but Jotham escaped. And the parable that was read out for us was a parable of judgment. The olive tree, the fig, the vine, all noble, valuable trees, refused the kingship. But not the worthless bramble. The olive, the fig, the vine, all productive, fruit giving trees, are satisfied by serving others with their fruit (Judges 9:7-20). But the bramble is just a thorny weed. It cannot even provide shade, though it offers it. No, all that it does is consumes and eats up everything.

And Jotham’s curse is that Abimelech will consume Shechem, and Shechem will consume Abimelech.

Abimelech’s tyranny over Israel was ‘nasty, brutish and short’, three years. As it began, so it ended, with fratricide. Abimelech’s reign began with murdering his father’s sons, and it ended with murdering his mother’s sons.

From a human point of view, Abimelech’s war crimes were the result of political machinations and superior strategy. Shechem got sick of Abimelech, and found another hero, Gaal (Judges 9:26). They put their trust in Gaal, and Gaal started believing his own press. And under the influence, Gaal makes big boasts, like a title fight boxer with a big mouth. However, not only did Abimelech defeat his rival Gaal, but he also murdered everyone in Shechem. Abimelech was stronger, more ruthless, more cunning. So he destroyed Shechem.

However, from God’s point of view, we see why Abimelech acted why he did. God. God is paying back the men of Shechem and indeed Abimelech himself. Chapter 9 verse 23:

God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem… (NIV)

Abimelech and the men of Shechem started the bloodshed. So in response God set the process of retribution in train. He sent the evil spirit. It is an evil spirit because it God sends it in response to the evil that Abimelech and Shechem did to the sons of Gideon. They did evil. They will receive evil. Abimelech is caught up in an ever increasing lust for blood, until his blood lust consumes him at the base of the tower of Thebez. Like Sisera, he is killed by a woman who drops a large domestic appliance on his head. And when Abimelech is killed, his followers seem to awake from a bad dream. The spell is broken. The evil spirit departs, because it has done God’s work of retribution, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

Up until this time in Judges, God has tempered his judgment on Israel. He has not paid them back fully for their sins. He has mitigated his judgment with grace. But in this case, we see that God is just. He is a God who brings retribution. God has, like a skilful surgeon, removed Abimelech and Shechem from Israel, in a way that most accords with justice. He has paid them back for what they did. So in chapter 9 verses 56 and 57, we read:

Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. 57God also made the men of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them. (NIV)

What can we learn from Abimelech? Abimelech was not a judge. He was not raised by God in the sense that the Judges were. And he certainly didn’t save Israel. Rather, he sought to destroy her.

So what is Abimelech doing in Judges?

Why do we find him here in Judges?

First, Abimelech shows us the sinful seed of Gideon in full bloom. Abimelech is the product of Gideon’s secret desire to be King. Kingship was refused by Gideon but to be King was Gideon’s secret desire. Gideon rejected Kingship with his lips, but his actions said that he wanted it. But Abimelech not only desired to be King. He killed anyone who stood in his way, including his brothers. The secret desire of one generation became the murderous objective of the next, the sins of the father in full bloom in the sins of the son.

What sins are you passing on to your son? What scars do you make your children carry? Our sin and folly doesn’t just affect us now. It affects our children and their children, and the generations that will be. Do we say as Hezekiah once said, ‘Oh well, it won’t be in my time. At least I will have peace and safety?’ Does it matter to you what sort of world, what sort of legacy, what sort of Christianity, we will leave to our children. We cannot control the future, it is true. And the future is bigger than our decisions. But the way God has set up the world, our decisions, do affect our children and the next generation. Environmentalists are always asking us what heritage we are going to leave for our children.

What about us Christians? Do we ask the same question? For our concern is not just for this world, like the environmentalists. Ours is primarly for the world to come, that a people yet unborn would rejoice in Christ into eternity, and that we would meet them in heaven, when we meet our children, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren, however many generations God gives us. We care about the generations to come, because we don’t want to be bereft of them in heaven for an eternity.

Second, Abimelech shows us what the Kingship of the nations around Israel looks like. If Israel wants to have a king, just like the nations around them, this will be the result. They will have a butcher who murders his brothers, just like Cain. Human Kingship leads to oppression and slavery. Why? Because human Kings are sinful. So Samuel, the last judge says, when Israel some time later asks for a king:

He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the King you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day. (2 Samuel 8:17-18 NIV).

Even the best of them, David and Solomon, led to disaster for God’s people. Human Kingship cries out for a better King, for a King who does not consider Kingship something to be grasped, as Abimelech did, a king who comes not to be served, but to serve. We might even say, not to kill, but to be killed. For the King who Abimelech cries out for is King Jesus. The true King, who can really say ‘My Father is the King’. For he is both Son of God and God the Son.

Third, we see God’s retributive justice. God brings the evil of the men of Shechem on their own heads. God brings the evil of Abimelech crashing down literally on his own head, when the millstone shatters his skull.

Is the God you believe in a God who pays back, a God who avenges wrongdoing? Because this is not just the God of the Old Testament. This is also the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The God revealed to us in the New Testament is the same. Thus, the Apostle Paul says to the Thessalonian Christians who are suffering persecution:

God is just. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among those who have believed. (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 NIV)

God will pay back. Those who do not know God and obey God’s gospel will have that brought back on them for eternity. That is an eternal sin. For they reject an eternal God and disobey the gospel of God’s eternal son. And God will pay that back with eternal punishment. The very thing they once rejected, they are promised they will not have him forever. It is completely fair. You reject the Lord Jesus? You reject and persecute his people. Fine, you will be shut out from his presence. You will be cut off from him and his people, a punishment that fits the crime. And that’s what Hell is.

Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay”, says the Lord. (Romans 12:19 NIV)

And he will. But know now there is somewhere to go. There is somewhere to run and hide. Run to Jesus. He is a refuge, safe and secure. He is calling people now. Now is the time of rescue. Because then will be the time of his fury and anger.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry with you and you be destroyed in your way. For his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 2:12 NIV)

Translation

I won’t be king, but… (8:22-32)

8:22And the men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, also you, and your son, and your son, also the sons of your son, for you saved us from the hand of the Midianites.’ 8:23And Gideon said to them, ‘I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you. Yahweh will rule over you.’

…gold (8:24-26; Cf Dt 17:14-20)

8:24And Gideon said to them, ‘I request from you a request, and each of you give to me an earing of his spoil, (because they had earings of gold, for they were Ishmaelites). 8:25And they said, ‘We will surely give.’ And they spread a garment, and each threw there an earing of his spoil. 8:26And the weight of the earings of gold which he requested was 1700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the neck bands that were on their camels necks.

…ephod

8:27And Gideon made it for an ephod and placed it in his city, in Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there. And it became for Gideon and for his house for a snare.

8:28And Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads anymore, and the land was undisturbed 40 years in the days of Gideon.

29And Jerub-baal son of Joash went and he dwelt in his house.

…a harem (Cf Dt 17:14-20)

30And to Gideon were 70 sons who were his direct descendants, for he had for himself many wives .

…’My Father the King’

31And his concubine which [was] in Shechem also bore to him a son, and he named his name, ‘My Father, King’ (Abimelech). 32And Gideon son of Joash died in a good age, and he was buried in the burial place of Joash his father, in Ophrah, father of the Abiezrites.

Spiral into idolatry (Judges 8:33-35)

33And it came to pass just as soon as Gideon was dead, the sons of Israel repented, and they played the harlot after the baals, and they set for themselves ‘Baal of the Covenant’ for God. 34And the sons of Israel did not remember YHWH their God, the one delivering them from the hand of all their enemies surrounding them. 35And they did not do faithful love with the sons of Jerub-baal, Gideon, for all the good which he did with Israel.

My Father the King wants to be King The conspiracy, murder and coronation (Judges 9:1-6)

9:1And ‘My Father the King’ the Son of Jerub-baal went to Shechem, to his brothers of his mother, and he spoke to them and to all the clan of the house of the father of his mother, saying: 2‘Speak, please, in the ears of all the Baals of Shechem, What is better for you? That the seventy men, all sons of Jerub-Baal, rule over you, or one man rule over you? And remember that I am your bone and your flesh.'

9:3And the brothers of his mother spoke to him in the ears of all the Baals of Shechem all these words, and their hearts reached out after Abimelech, for they said, “he is our brother”. 9:4And they gave to him 70 shekels of silver from the house of ‘Baal of the Covenant’, and Abimelech hired with them empty and reckless men, and they walked after him. 9:5And he came to his father’s house in Ophrah and he killed his brothers, sons of Jerubaal, 70 men, upon one stone. And Jotham [YHWH is perfect/honest] was left, the son of Jerubaal, the smallest, because he hid himself.

9:6And all the baals of Shechem gathered and all the house of Milo, and they went, and they crowned Abimelech for king [They meleched Abimelech for a melech] by the oak of the pillar which was in Shechem.

Jotham’s curse (9:7-20)

9:7And they announced to Jotham, and he went and he stood in the head of the hill of Gerizim, and he lifted his voice and he called and he said to them: ‘Listen to me, Baals of Shechem, and God will listen to you (pl). 9:8 “Once the trees went to anoint over them a King, and they said to the Olive Tree, ‘Be king over us.’And the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my fatness which by it I honour God and men, and go to wave over the trees?’ 9:10And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come, be king over us.’ 9:11And the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and come to wave over the trees?’ 9:12And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come, be king over us’.9:13And the vine said to them: ‘Shall I leave my new wine which cheers God and men, and go to wave over the trees?’ 9:14And all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come, be king over us’. 9:15And the bramble said to the tree, ‘If in truth you are anointing me to be king over you (pl), Come and take refuge in my shade, and if not, fire will come out from the bramble, and eat the cedar of Lebanon.

9:16And now, if you did in truth and in integrity and you made Abimelech king, and if you did good with Jerubaal and with his house, and if according to the accomplishment of his hands you did to him, 9:17which my father battled for you and he stretched out his life forward, and delivered you from the hand of Midian, 9:18and you rose up against them house of my father today and you killed his sons, 70 men upon one stone, and you made king Abimelech the son of his slave girl, over the Baals of Shechem, because he is your brother, 9:19and if in truth and in integrity you did with Jerubaal, and with his house this day, [then] rejoice with Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you (pl), 9:20and if not, [then] Let fire come out from Abimelech and let it eat the Baal of Shechem and the house of Milo, and let fire go out from the Baal of Shechem and from the house of Milo, and eat Abimelech.

9:21Then Jotham escaped and fled, and he went to Beer, and he dwelt there from the face of Abimelech his brother.9:22And Abimelech governed over Israel three years.

[1] D Howard, The Family: Here Today, gone tomorrow? , 86, 139; S Farrar, Point Man, 37-38

[2] M Walter, ‘Parental involvement of unwed non resident fathers’ in Family Matters No 57, Spring/Summer 200 p34; Bettina Arndt ‘The US recognizes the peril of absent fathers. Why can’t we? The Age Dec 9 2002.

[3] ‘Children in Need’, Report by Wesley Mission at www.wesleymission.org.au/publications/r&d/introduction.html.