Judges 9
Yesterday we watched Gideon wrestle with success and the lure of pride. Today we meet his son Abimelech, a man who surrenders completely to that lure. Chapter 9 is the longest single narrative in Judges and reads like a tragic play in three acts:
The refrain so common in Judges—“again the Israelites did evil”—is strikingly absent here. Instead, God’s name is almost silent until the closing verses (v. 56-57). The writer wants us to feel the chill of a society that has pushed God to the margins and filled the vacuum with raw ambition.
• Shechem, the Setting
Archaeology locates ancient Shechem at Tell Balata, between Mount Ebal
and Mount Gerizim. Joshua renewed Israel’s covenant there (Joshua 24);
Abraham built his first altar there (Genesis 12). By Abimelech’s time,
however, the city that once echoed with covenant vows will echo with the
cries of civil war.
• Abimelech, the Name
אַבִימֶלֶךְ (’ăvî-meleḵ) means “my father is king.” Gideon claimed he would
not be king (8:23), yet named his son as if he were. Our private
compromises often become our children’s public downfall.
• The Silver from Beth-El Berith
“House of Baal-Berith” (v. 4) should be translated “Temple of the
Covenant-Baal.” The people still talk about covenant, but they have
yoked Yahweh’s language to a Canaanite idol. A Western reader may miss
the bitter irony: money meant for covenant worship funds the slaughter
of covenant people.
• Jotham’s “Fable” (Hebrew mashal)
Oldest parable in Scripture. Olive, fig, and vine—Israel’s three main
fruit bearers—refuse the throne because service is better than power.
The thornbush (’âtâd) accepts gladly, promising shade it cannot
give and threatening fire it can easily start. Brambles grow one to two
feet tall; their only real use is fuel. A bramble-king offers false
security and inevitable destruction.
• Poetic Form
The fable uses chiastic movement—offer, refusal (three times),
acceptance, threat—creating a verbal staircase that leads listeners
upward to Mount Gerizim and then drops them suddenly into moral
free-fall.
Illegitimate Power
Abimelech is the Bible’s first self-appointed king. Unlike later kings
anointed by prophets, he is crowned by hired thugs. Scripture allows us
to study “leadership without God” under a microscope.
Bloodguilt and Divine Justice
Verse 23 speaks of “an evil spirit from God.” Hebrew rûaḥ rā‘â
can mean a spirit of discord. The Lord does not author evil, but He
turns human evil back upon itself (Romans 1:24). Abimelech sows violence
and reaps violence (Galatians 6:7).
The Silence and Surprise of God
God’s name surfaces only at the turning points (v. 23, 56-57). His
apparent absence is part of the lesson: when God seems silent, He is
still steering history toward justice.
Covenant Memory
The stone set up by Joshua at Shechem (Joshua 24:26-27) silently watches
Abimelech’s carnage. Holy places offer no magic protection when covenant
memory fades.
• Augustine (City of God 3.1) saw Abimelech as a window into all earthly politics bent on self-love: “A state without justice is only a band of robbers.”
• John Calvin observed, “God often allows tyrants to arise, that the people may learn through suffering what they refused to learn through scripture.”
• Charles Spurgeon preached Jotham’s fable as a call to serve rather than rule: “The olive is content to fatten others with its oil; so should a Christian enrich the world with grace, not grasp for crowns of thorn.”
A. Ambition
Success can be a test even harsher than failure. Yesterday we traced
Gideon’s flirtation with celebrity; today we watch the full-blown
affair. Where do we detect Abimelech’s spirit—in our careers,
ministries, or even church politics?
B. Community Discernment
Shechem willingly funds Abimelech. Evil leadership requires a consenting
populace. Are we complicit through apathy or misplaced loyalty?
C. Service Over Status
Olive, fig, and vine remind us that the greatest calling is not to
“reign” but to bear fruit (John 15:8). The cross is a tree that refused
the throne of this world but produced the wine of salvation.
D. Delayed Justice
Three years pass before judgment unfolds (v. 22). Divine patience is not
divine indifference. Waiting believers can anchor in Psalm 37:7: “Be
still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (New International
Version).
• 1 Samuel 8:10-18 – Samuel’s later warning about kingship sounds
like Jotham’s thornbush prophecy.
• 2 Kings 14:8-10 – Jehoash’s parable of the thistle and the cedar
echoes Jotham’s style.
• Matthew 7:15-20 – Jesus warns about false prophets: “Do people pick
grapes from thornbushes?”
• James 3:13-18 – Contrast between selfish ambition and the wisdom from
above.
• Revelation 19:11-16 – A vision of the true King whose crown is
rightful, whose rule brings healing, not fire.
Consider singing or meditating on “Crown Him with Many Crowns.” Written by Matthew Bridges (1851) and Godfrey Thring (1874), the hymn juxtaposes Jesus’ rightful sovereignty with the hollow crowns of earth. Each stanza offers the antidote to Abimelech’s counterfeit reign.
• Temple of Baal-Berith: Excavations at Shechem show a massive fortress-temple (circa 17th c. BC). Its foundations could house a thousand people—the very towers Abimelech burns (v. 49).
• Salting a City (v. 45): Scattering salt symbolized permanent desolation. Comparable to the Roman treatment of Carthage (146 BC). Abimelech performs a ritual curse, but it cannot outlast God’s greater story—Shechem will be rebuilt in the days of Jeroboam.
Righteous King,
guard our hearts from the hunger for status and the fear of
obscurity.
Teach us the holy ambition that longs only to bear Your fruit.
Expose every bramble that claims our loyalty,
and grant us grace to stand, like Jotham,
on the heights of truth in an age of easy compromise.
May Your unhurried justice give us courage,
and may we crown You—and You alone—today.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.