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Judges 9
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Chapter 9
4. THE REIGN OF ABIMELECH
Abimelech becomes king
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Abimelech son of Jerubbaal came to his mother’s brothers at Shechem and said to them and the whole clan of his mother’s family,
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‘Please put this question to the leading men of Shechem: Which is better for you, to be ruled by seventy-I mean all the sons of Jerubbaal-or to be ruled by one? Remind yourselves also that I am your own flesh and blood.’
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His mother’s brothers spoke of him to all the leading men of Shechem in these terms, and their hearts inclined towards Abimelech, for they told themselves, ‘He is our brother’.
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So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, and with this Abimelech paid worthless scoundrels to follow him.
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Then he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and murdered his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, on the selfsame stone. Only the youngest son of Jerubbaal escaped, for he had gone into hiding; this was Jotham.
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Then all the leading men of Shechem and all Beth-millo gathered, and proclaimed Abimelech king by the terebinth of the pillar at Shechem.
Jotham’s fable
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News of this was brought to Jotham. He came and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted aloud for them to hear: ‘Hear me, leaders of Shechem, that God may also hear you!
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‘One day the trees went out to anoint a king to rule over them. They said to the olive tree, “Be our king!”
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‘The olive tree answered them, “Must I forego my oil which gives honour to gods and men, to stand swaying above the trees?”
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‘Then the trees said to the fig tree, “Come now, you be our king!”
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‘The fig tree answered them, “Must I forego my sweetness, forego my excellent fruit, to stand swaying above the trees?”
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‘Then the trees said to the vine, “Come now, you be our king!”
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‘The vine answered them, “Must I forego my wine which cheers the heart of gods and men, to stand swaying above the trees?”
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Then all the trees said to the thorn bush, “Come now, you be our king!”
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‘And the thorn bush answered the trees, “If in all good faith you anoint me king to reign over you,
then come and shelter in my shade. If not, fire will come from the thorn bush and devour the cedars of Lebanon.”
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‘In the same way, therefore, if you have acted in sincerity and good faith in making Abimelech king, if you have dealt honourably with Jerubbaal and his family, and have acted towards him as his own deeds deserve. . .[*a]
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My father on his side fought for you, risked his life, rescued you from the power of Midian;
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you on your side have risen today against my father’s family, you have murdered his seventy sons on the selfsame stone; and to rule the leading men of Shechem you have set up Abimelech, the son of his slave-girl, because he is your brother.
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If, I say, you have acted in sincerity and good faith towards Jerubbaal and his family, then may Abimelech be your joy and may you be his.
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If not, may fire come out of Abimelech and devour the leading men of Shechem and Beth-millo, and fire come out of the leading men of Shechem and Beth-millo to devour Abimelech.’
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Then Jotham took flight; he escaped and made his way to Beer; and there he remained, to be out of the reach of his brother Abimelech.
The men of Shechem revolt against Abimelech
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Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years.[*b]
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Then God sent a spirit of discord between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem rebelled against Abimelech.
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And this was so that the crime committed against Jerubbaal’s seventy sons should be avenged, and their blood recoil on their brother Abimelech who had murdered them and on those leaders of Shechem who had helped him to murder his brothers.
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To spite him, the leaders of Shechem put men in ambush on the mountain tops, and these robbed anyone travelling their way. Abimelech was told of this.
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Gaal son of Ebed, with his brothers, happened to pass through Shechem and won the confidence of the leaders of Shechem.
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They went out into the countryside to harvest their vineyards; they trod the grapes and held rejoicings and went into the temple of their god. They ate and drank there and cursed Abimelech.
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Then Gaal son of Ebed exclaimed, ‘Who is Abimelech, and what is Shechem, that we should be his slaves? Would it not be more fitting for the son of Jerubbaal and Zebul his delegate to serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem? Why should we be his slaves?
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Who will put this people under my command? Then I would drive Abimelech out and say to him: Reinforce your army and come and fight:’
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Zebul the governor of the city was told what Gaal son of Ebed had said, and he was furious.
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He sent messengers to Abimelech at Arumah, bidding them tell him, ‘Listen! Gaal son of Ebed has come to Shechem with his brothers, and they are stirring up the town against you.
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Move, therefore, under cover of dark, you and the men you have with you, and take up concealed positions in the countryside;
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then in the morning at sunrise leave them quickly and advance against the town. When Gaal and his men come out to meet you, do with him as occasion serves.’
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So Abimelech set off under cover of dark with all the men he had and took up concealed positions opposite Shechem, in four companies.
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And as Gaal son of Ebed came out and paused at the entrance to the gate of the town, Abimelech and the men with him rose from their ambush.
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Gaal saw these men and said to Zebul, ‘Look, there are men coming down from the tops of the mountains!’ Zebul answered, ‘You mistake the shadow of the mountains for men’.
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But Gaal said again, ‘Look, there are men coming down from the Navel of the Land, and another band is on its way from Diviners’ Oak’.
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Then Zebul said to him, ‘What has become of your boasting now, you who said, “Who is Abimelech that we should be his slaves?” Are not these the men you made light of? Sally out now, then, and fight them.’
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So Gaal sallied out at the head of the leaders of Shechem and fought with Abimelech.
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But Abimelech drove Gaal before him; Abimelech went in pursuit of Gaal who fled before him, and many of his men fell dead before they reached the town gate.
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Then Abimelech went back to Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers and prevented them from living in Shechem.
Shechem destroyed and Migdal-shechem taken
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Next day the people went out into the country, and Abimelech was told of this.
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He took his men, divided them into three companies and lay in wait in the fields. When he saw the people leaving the town, he bore down on them and cut them to pieces.
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While Abimelech and the company with him advanced and took up their post at the entrance to the town gate, the two other companies fell on everyone in the fields and slaughtered them.
45
All that day Abimelech attacked the town. He stormed it and slaughtered the people inside, razed the town and sowed it with salt.
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On hearing this, the leading men of Migdal-shechem took refuge in the crypt of the temple of EI-berith.
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As soon as Abimelech heard that all the leaders of Migdal-shechem had gathered there,
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went up to Mount Zalmon with all his men. Then taking an axe in his hands, he cut off the branch of a tree, picked it up and put it on his shoulder, and said to the men with him, ‘Do what you have seen me do, and do it quickly’.
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all his men set to work cutting down branches, one each; then they followed Abimelech and heaped the branches on the crypt, and set it on fire over those inside[*c] All the inhabitants of Migdal-shechem perished too, about a thousand men and women.
The siege of Thehez: the death of Abimelech
50
Then Abimelech marched against Thebez, besieged it and stormed it.
51
In the middle of the town there was a fortified tower in which all the men and women and all the leading men of the town took refuge. They locked the door behind them and climbed up to the roof of the tower.
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Abimelech reached the tower and attacked it. As he was approaching the door of the tower to set it on fire,
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a woman threw down a millstone on his head and crushed his skull.
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He called his armour-bearer at once and said to him, ‘Draw your sword and kill me, that no one may say of me, “A woman killed him”‘. His armour-bearer ran him through, and he died.
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When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they withdrew, each to his own home.
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Thus God made the evil recoil on Abimelech that he had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers,
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as God made all the wickedness of the people of Shechem recoil on their own heads too. And so the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came true for them.
Chapters of Judges
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
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