Judges 9-10
King Abimelech. (Jg. 9:6,22 — Oh, you thought Saul was the first king of Israel? Well, now you are a bit better prepared for Bible Trivia Night!) Clearly, although Abimelech carries his father Gideon’s DNA, that DNA does not convey Gideon’s faith in the LORD. He convinces the men of Shechem to act wickedly, enabling him to murder his brothers. Though the scheme works for a while, and Abimelech is proclaimed king, God is not mocked. God brings their sin back upon their own heads, and they all come to a violent end. (Jg. 9:56-57)
So what are we supposed to do with this story? Why is it here? Why does wicked Abimelech occupy an entire chapter of the Bible, while many faithful people are barely mentioned, or not mentioned at all? When was the last time you heard a sermon about King Abimelech? Never? Hmm, me neither. Yet Judges 9 is here, so maybe we shouldn’t skip it.
It seems to me that at the very least this story portrays how things go when people abandon God and His ways — and we should be appalled, and warned. Remember, in this period of Israel’s history, even when God has a judge in place to deliver Israel from its oppressors, the inclination of Israel’s heart is progressively away from God. Idolatry is everywhere. Righteousness is scarce. And Abimelech and the men of Shechem are the natural result. The only reason we expect anything else is because God, in His mercy and compassion and steadfast love for Israel, shows up to deliver and sustain them.
Another thing we should see in this story is how God can use human actors — in their own wickedness — to accomplish His purposes. God does not confront Abimelech with leprosy. Nor does He smite him with lightning. Nor does He have the earth open up and swallow him alive. (He could, of course, do any of those things, as we have previously seen.) Instead, God lets the people of Shechem grow discontent with their own choice of Abimelech, so that in the end all the wicked actors destroy one another.
Maybe we should take heed and wake up to these realities. Maybe we should listen to the words of Jotham (Jg. 9:7-20), especially with regard to acting in good faith and integrity. Maybe we should honor the honorable and not make deals with scoundrels. Maybe we should walk in faith and obedience to the LORD, and not pursue our own agenda. In short, maybe we should repent.
Just a question out of curiosity: Abimelech is not actually made king of Israel, is he? — just a part of it, although I have a difficult time figuring out just which territory (or territories) it was. But when David was made king, wasn’t he truly considered the king over all of Israel?
That’s a fair question about Abimelech. In defense of my “Bible Trivia” joke, I offer you the two verses I cited: Judges 9:6 and Judges 9:22. Verse 6 says that they “made Abimelech king“; verse 22 says he “ruled over Israel“. So, taken together, one could make a case that, in some sense at least, Abimelech is king of Israel.
On the other hand, if we look at the wider picture, we can surmise that calling Abimelech the “king of Israel” probably overstates his position. At this point Israel here does not look much like a “nation” at all. It is certainly nothing like the (reasonably) cohesive community that we saw under Moses and Joshua. At best it is a loose confederation of the 12 tribes, which are often at odds with one another, some tribes failing to show up to help other tribes, fighting among themselves, even developing their own speech patterns in their isolation from one another. (Jg. 12:6) So, no, the answer to whether Abimelech is “king of Israel” is probably, “No, not really,” but we’ll never know for sure.
And, of course, the same applies to virtually all the judges. Each judge’s sphere of influence is likely much more localized than “all of Israel”. And although our text reads as though each judge comes along sequentially, one after another, there is likely considerable overlap, with one judge in one place doing his thing while another judge operates concurrently in some other area. It’s just impossible to tell.
As for kings that really do reign over all of Israel, we wind up with three: Saul, David, and Solomon. And then things fall apart again. But we’re not quite there yet.