1. Who was Abimelech?
Abimelech was the Son of Gideon and the grandson of Joash. He was born to Gideon and a concubine of Gideon’s who lived in Shechem. A Concubine is a woman living with a man lawfully. He was therefore related to the family of Manesseh so then he could go on to state his place for leadership on the basis of being a son of Gideon.
Although Gideon, ‘Abimelech’s father’, didn’t want to be king over Israel, Abimelech wanted it badly. He first won the support of the members of his mother’s family. Then he murdered all the sons of his father to protect his claim to the inheritance of Gideon.
2. Why did he go to Shechem?
Remember his mother was a woman who was living with Gideon, she was also called a slave girl.
That’s why he went to Shechem.
3. Why did the men of Shechem follow Abimelech?
Abimelech had very cunningly approached his relatives in Shechem. They are called ‘his mother’s clan’, Judges 9:1
These men had a mistaken idea of what was to happen to place someone in the place of a king. Abimelech approached these men suggesting he should succeed his father, Gideon, in the place of leadership.
Nevertheless, fooled by Abimelech as they were, these men who were relatives of Abimelech persuaded the other men of Shechem to allow Abimelech to take leadership over them.
4. Why did they give him seventy pieces of silver?
These dishonourable men of Shechem supported Abimelech’s campaign by providing seventy pieces of silver out of ‘the house of Baal-Berith’ who was there pagan god. With this money, Abimelech was able to hire vain and wicked men who would follow him.
Since there were seventy sons of Gideon, we are left to suppose Abimelech was paid one piece of silver each for the sons of Gideon whom he killed.
5. Which son of Gideon escaped?
Jotham, the youngest of Gideon’s sons, escaped by hiding from Abimelech’s assassins.
Abimelech a son of Gideon by one of his concubines seemingly wanted to become king over Israel. He killed his brother so that no one else would be in contention for king. Abimelech stands in contrast to Gideon. Gideon wanted to restore the worship of the true God.
Abimelech was seeking power for himself. He had no interest in spiritual things. He goes about founding his kingdom on bloodshed. He was an evil man. The people gathered together in the plain of Shechem which was in the plain below Mount Gerizim. Jotham the youngest son of Gideon who had escaped being executed stands on top of the mount and cries out in a loud voice this parable.
The parable is this. Those who were loyal to Gideon would refuse to allow Abimelech to reign over them. Only the unworthy would do this. When the kingdom was offered to the Olive, Fig and Vine they refused choosing to serve rather than rule. To do good rather than evil.
Only the lowly bramble, who was unfit to rule, accepts the call to be over the people. But with a threat of fiery destruction if they do not allow him to rule. So, in other words, if anyone would not accept Abimelech as king, he would surely kill them.
In verse 53 we find that Abimelech is killed by a piece of millstone. God repays him for all his evil against the household of Gideon.
Well Abimelech wanted to become king and ruler, he wanted to become the greatest by forcing his way to the top by using bloodshed. What about us, as Christians? Do we sometimes try to be the greatest? Whether it be the best song leader, the best speaker or the best at delivering sermons!
Three young boys were discussing whose father was the greatest. The first young boy said, ‘Well my dad writes a few words on a piece of paper and calls it a poem. He sends it off to some publisher and gets £30 for it.’ The second young boy said, ‘Well you think that’s good, you should see my dad. He writes a few words down on a piece paper and calls it a song. He sends it away to big bands and gets £50 for it.’ The third young boy says, ‘Well that’s nothing. My dad writes down some words on a piece of paper and calls it a sermon, and it takes eight men to bring in all the money!’
We are sometimes like that. We think if we’ve got into the best jobs, higher up that executive ladder we can make the change. If we can get more power we can change everybody. Jesus’s disciples asked that very same question, Matthew 20:20-28.
The apostles were starting to juggle themselves into positions of authority because Jesus had just finished telling them that He was going to die. Jesus knew it wasn’t James and John’s mother who was asking, she was asking on behalf of James and John, because when Jesus answered, He answered to the all of them.
‘Them’, is plural. Jesus knew what was happening.
The apostles were trying to get into positions of authority, when Jesus had already just brought them out of that position. ‘Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.’ Matthew 20:25
Jesus says remember the authoritarians! Do you remember what it was like when you were told to do this and do that? Jesus says, ‘my people do these things because they want to, because they love me and my father’.
You see, the disciples still did not understand and many Christians today, still don’t understand.
Jesus came to serve and not to be served. Jesus had the chance to change the world from the top down when the Devil offered Him that temptation in the desert, Matthew 4:8-9.
Jesus knew that He couldn’t change hearts with power. Jesus knew that the only way you can change people’s hearts was by serving. Jesus knew that trying to get people to repent would need a change of heart, which could only happen by serving. Because no one will want to serve if they have to and are told to, alright, they might, but they would do it without joy and pleasure. Jesus calls us today to serve but Jesus calls for us to change the world from the bottom up.
We change the world and people from the bottom up. We change people by washing their feet and serving others, John 13:7-17.
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."