56 Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers. 57 Also God returned all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads, and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came upon them.
Message: Danger from Within
Time: Judges covers about 250 years from death of Joshua to birth of Samuel (1360-1110 BC). The people of Israel largely divided with different local triable judges. It was a period of stirring interventions by the Lord and also great disobedience on the part of the Israelites. Without a king, everyone did right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25).
What the Lord is Saying: Gideon has died and now his son Abimelech is coming into power, but appears to be starting off on the wrong foot - focusing on himself instead of God as he becomes king (verse 7) at the expense of others who fall dead.
I have seen this cycle in Judges with the people - Evil, Discipline, Prayer/Revival, Restoration. It now seems that the restoration period, as mentioned for example in Judges 8:28 as being 40 years was also marked by a period of people falling away. So it wasn't all good. It was simply that it wasn't a period of discipline. The Lord gave the people grace, but in that time was a gradual falling away. For instance, 8:30 mentions that Gideon had many wives (70 descendants) for soon after his death, without him around the people dove head first into idolatry (8:33). And so that descent is the precursor of this chapter.
Abimelech decides that he should be king. He convinces the people around him that with all of the descendants Gideon has had, it makes the most sense to let himself be the ruling heir. He receives jewels from a worship house of Baal that allows him to hire fellows that will come with him to his father's house and kill his siblings, all 70 of them, though it is actually 69, as Jotham was spared (v. 4-5) because he hid himself. Jotham has still an allegiance with God. He tries to speak of this to the men of Shechem (v.7-21) a warning that God will judge these people for going their own way.
After 3 years of Abimelech ruling (v. 22), an evil spirit is sent to create discord between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. This discord continues when the men of Shechem switch their trust from Abimelech now to a new leader - Gaal the son of Ebed. One of Abimelech's rulers hears of this and sets up an ambush (v. 32 "lie in wait in the field") and eventually overtook these other people creating the discord (v. 41) and eventually slaying all of these other companies of people (v. 45). But victory did not last long for Abimelech. A woman would end up throwing a stone on Abimelech, crushing his skull (53). He lived and rather than it being said a woman killed him, he has another man kill his with a sword (54).
The discord had been set and God had used these evil men and their choices to eventually take away the opposition and presence of evil.
Summary: After the death of Gideon, his son Abimelech basically erects himself as king, slaying the his siblings, though one son Jotham remains, but discord erupts and Abimelech and the people of Shechem eventually period because of their sin.
Promise: We must be careful of the sin we tolerate, it creates a discord among people, among us, that can be damaging.
Prayer: O Lord, my allegiance to You needs to be one of my whole heart. It is not simply one of duty in order to receive blessings and yet blessings come when our lives are lived before you of heartfelt obedience. My trust in You needs to be one of trust in You not duty so that I will receive a blessing. It is hard to hear of discord that occurs. It is hard to be around it. Thank you for these lessons and the reminder to me of not letting sin be tolerated but also to remain consistent in my faith and trust of you. Teach me the meaning of this and help me to be guarded against the world and their ways.
Note: If you are interested in other studies/devotions, check out my index of Bible Study's.
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