Judges 9 explained: The Rise and Fall of Abimelek

Abimelek grabs power (vv. 1-6)

Gideon (also called Jerub-Baal) had refused to be king, but his son Abimelek, whose mother was from Shechem, wins the town's backing by reminding them he is their own kin. Paid with silver from the local Baal temple, he hires reckless men and kills his seventy brothers on one stone, and only the youngest, Jotham, escapes.

Jotham's story of the trees (vv. 7-21)

From the hill above the town, Jotham tells of useful trees that turn down the crown and a thornbush that eagerly accepts, promising shade it can hardly give and threatening fire. The thornbush is commonly read as a ruler with little real to offer, and Jotham's own point is that if Shechem has acted wrongly, Abimelek and the town will burn each other up.

The partnership turns sour (vv. 22-29)

After Abimelek has ruled three years, the text says God sent ill will between him and Shechem as payback for the murders they carried out together. At a grape harvest festival a newcomer named Gaal mocks Abimelek and urges the town to serve the family of Hamor, the old Canaanite founder of Shechem, instead.

Zebul's trap for Gaal (vv. 30-41)

Zebul, Abimelek's governor in the city, secretly warns him and then stalls Gaal by claiming the approaching soldiers are only mountain shadows. Shamed into fighting, Gaal loses and is driven out of the town.

Shechem destroyed (vv. 42-49)

Abimelek ambushes the townspeople in their fields, captures the city, and scatters salt over it, probably a symbolic act cursing the place to stay barren, though its exact meaning is debated. About a thousand men and women sheltering in the temple stronghold are burned alive.

Death by a millstone (vv. 50-57)

At nearby Thebez a woman drops a heavy grinding stone on Abimelek's head, and he has his attendant kill him so no one can say a woman did it. The writer concludes that God repaid both Abimelek and Shechem, and that Jotham's curse came true.

Key verse: Judges 9:56

Where Christians differ

Readers differ on whether Jotham's story condemns having a king at all or only condemns an unworthy king like Abimelek.

Something to think about

When people back a leader mainly because "he's one of us," what do you think they tend to overlook?