Week 12 Judges 9
I don’t like Abimelech. Which isn’t saying much since it’s probably a pretty common feeling. He was a really terrible man. I think I’d be justified in totally disregarding him.
But I keep wondering about him. Mostly I wonder why he’s even in the book of the judges.
I know that not all the judges were stand-up guys. Abimelech not only wasn’t a stand-up guy but from what I can see he wasn’t even a judge.
Abimelech was one of Gideon’s sons and when Gideon died Abimelech hired mercenaries to assassinate his own brothers. And since he then had no rivals he had himself proclaimed king. Not judge…king.
And unlike other judges Abimelech didn’t save Israel from an external enemy. Instead he got involved in an intra-tribal war with the Shechemites that see-sawed back and forth until Abimelech was killed when a woman threw a big chunk of rock over the city wall and crushed his skull.
The other judges rescued Israel from its foes. Abimelech didn’t.
Judges helped bring peace and rest to Israel. Abimelech didn’t.
The story ends: God punished Abimelech for the evil he had done against his father by murdering his seventy brothers.
I saw a list somewhere that said there were thirteen judges (Abimelech’s name was on it).
But on my list – for now anyway – he’s got a pencil line through his name.
Note: quote from Judges 9:56 (NLT)