Day 202—Abimelech
When Power Seizes What It Was Never Given
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The written portion gives an overview, with verses broken down into smaller bites, and journaling/prayer prompts for reflection. In the podcast, Steve Traylor reflects on today’s passage with Scripture reading, a deeper pastoral teaching, and prayer (about 15 minutes). Perfect for morning coffee, commutes, or when your eyes need a rest.
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Judges 9
Read slowly today. This chapter is long, and it moves quickly—which is part of the point. Everything in Judges 9 happens hurriedly: a murder, a crown, three years of violent rule, a curse fulfilled, and a death so ironic it is almost unbearable. There is no redemption arc here. There is only a man who took what he was not given, a community that chose what they should have refused, and a God who kept the account.
Judges 9 introduces Israel’s first would-be king. He seized the title; he was never given it. He is remembered instead by the name his father gave him—a name that contained its own warning from the beginning. Abimelech means my father is king. Saul will be Israel’s first true king. Abimelech was a man who wanted the position, took it by violence, and held it for three years before God’s account came due.
The chapter you are about to read is one of the most compressed tragedies in Scripture. But it also contains one of the oldest political parables in all of ancient literature, spoken by a young man standing on a mountainside, with nowhere to go and nothing to lose, before he runs for his life.
Today we see that God is never absent from the catastrophes human ambition creates. He remains sovereign over them, patient through them, and exact in His justice.
1. Murder and Maneuvering
Judges 9:1–6
Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, 2 “Please speak in the ears of all the men of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are seventy persons, rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”
3 His mother’s brothers spoke of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words. Their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, “He is our brother.” 4 They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal Berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and reckless fellows who followed him. 5 He went to his father’s house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone; but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself. 6 All the men of Shechem assembled themselves together with all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem.
Abimelech was Gideon’s (also called Jerubbaal) son—but not by one of his wives. He was the son of a concubine from Shechem, which made him an outsider to his father’s legitimate household. He had seventy brothers ahead of him. He had no path to power through the ordinary channels.
So he created a different channel. Seeking power, Abimelech appealed to his mother’s clan in Shechem for tribal backing. They gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith—the “Lord of the Covenant”—a pagan god guarding local political alliances. With this blood money, he hired ruthless mercenaries to execute his coup. He brought them to Ophrah and butchered his own brothers on a single stone. Seventy men. One stone.
The detail is not accidental. The stone will matter later.
Notice where the money came from: the house of Baal Berith, whose temple served as both a shrine and a treasury. Israel had gone after Baal Berith after Gideon’s death (8:33). The same silver that funded false worship funded this massacre. The Shechemites did not simply tolerate what Abimelech did—they financed it. They are not bystanders in this chapter. They are participants.
What we knowingly support, we should not be surprised to share responsibility for.
Journaling/Prayer: Is there something you have been funding—with your time, your loyalty, your silence—that you know is not good? Not catastrophic, perhaps. Just not right.
You don’t have to name it out loud to anyone but God. He already knows what it is. He is waiting for you to bring it to Him.
2. Parable and Prophecy
Judges 9:7–21
7 When they told it to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and lifted up his voice, cried out, and said to them, “Listen to me, you men of Shechem, that God may listen to you. 8 The trees set out to anoint a king over themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’
9 “But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I stop producing my oil, with which they honor God and man by me, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?’
10 “The trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and reign over us.’
11 “But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?’
12 “The trees said to the vine, ‘Come and reign over us.’
13 “The vine said to them, ‘Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?’
14 “Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘Come and reign over us.’
15 “The bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’
16 “Now therefore, if you have dealt truly and righteously, in that you have made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands 17 (for my father fought for you, risked his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian; 18 and you have risen up against my father’s house today and have slain his sons, seventy persons, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother); 19 if you then have dealt truly and righteously with Jerubbaal and with his house today, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you; 20 but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem and from the house of Millo and devour Abimelech.”
21 Jotham ran away and fled, and went to Beer and lived there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.
Jotham was the only surviving son of Gideon. He had hidden himself during the massacre. Now, with his seventy brothers dead and his half-brother crowned king, he climbed Mount Gerizim—the mountain of blessing from Deuteronomy 27, overlooking the very valley where the coronation had just taken place—and he told a story.
The parable is devastatingly simple. The trees look for a king. The olive refuses: shall I leave my richness? The fig refuses: shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit? The vine refuses: shall I leave my new wine? The worthy candidates know what they are for. They are not available to abandon their calling for the sake of a title.
So the trees ask the bramble.
The bramble accepts immediately—and with a threat. Come take refuge in my shade, it says. Which is ironic, because a bramble produces almost no shade. It has nothing to offer but thorns. What it does have is the capacity to catch fire and burn everything around it.
Jotham’s point is not complicated: Shechem had access to legitimate leadership, and they chose violence and tribal favoritism instead. They chose the bramble. And the bramble will do what brambles do.
When a community chooses leaders for the wrong reasons, the wrong reasons follow them into everything that comes next.
Jotham finishes his parable, applies it explicitly to what Shechem has done, calls down a curse—“let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem, and let fire come out from the men of Shechem and devour Abimelech” (9:20)—and then runs. He flees to Beer and disappears from the record entirely. He has said what needed to be said. There is nothing left to do but wait.
Journaling/Prayer: Have you ever said the true thing, the necessary thing, and then had to step back and let God do the rest—because there was nothing else you could do?
That is not weakness. That is the limit of human faithfulness. You speak the truth you’ve been given to speak, and then you leave the outcome where it has always been—in God’s hands, not yours.
3. Discord and Destruction
Judges 9:22–49
22 Abimelech was prince over Israel three years. 23 Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, 24 that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother who killed them, and on the men of Shechem who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. 25 The men of Shechem set an ambush for him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who came along that way by them; and Abimelech was told about it.
26 Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers and went over to Shechem; and the men of Shechem put their trust in him. 27 They went out into the field, harvested their vineyards, trod the grapes, celebrated, and went into the house of their god and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech. 28 Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Isn’t he the son of Jerubbaal? Isn’t Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem, but why should we serve him? 29 I wish that this people were under my hand! Then I would remove Abimelech.” He said to Abimelech, “Increase your army and come out!”
30 When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger burned. 31 He sent messengers to Abimelech craftily, saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem; and behold, they incite the city against you. 32 Now therefore, go up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. 33 It shall be that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, you shall rise early and rush on the city. Behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against you, then may you do to them as you shall find occasion.”
34 Abimelech rose up, and all the people who were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies. 35 Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city. Abimelech rose up, and the people who were with him, from the ambush.
36 When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Behold, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains.”
Zebul said to him, “You see the shadows of the mountains as if they were men.”
37 Gaal spoke again and said, “Behold, people are coming down by the middle of the land, and one company comes by the way of the oak of Meonenim.”
38 Then Zebul said to him, “Now where is your mouth, that you said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Isn’t this the people that you have despised? Please go out now and fight with them.”
39 Gaal went out before the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech. 40 Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and many fell wounded, even to the entrance of the gate. 41 Abimelech lived at Arumah; and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers, that they should not dwell in Shechem. 42 On the next day, the people went out into the field; and they told Abimelech. 43 He took the people and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the field; and he looked, and behold, the people came out of the city. So, he rose up against them and struck them. 44 Abimelech and the companies that were with him rushed forward and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city; and the two companies rushed on all who were in the field and struck them. 45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city and killed the people in it. He beat down the city and sowed it with salt.
46 When all the men of the tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered into the stronghold of the house of Elberith. 47 Abimelech was told that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. 48 Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an ax in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done!” 49 All the people likewise each cut down his bough, followed Abimelech, and put them at the base of the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.
After three years, God sent discord between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. The text does not let us wonder why: “that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid on Abimelech their brother... and on the men of Shechem.” This is not random. God is precise. The account is being settled.
The revolt fails. The city falls. A thousand men and women die in the burning tower. The very people who funded the massacre are consumed by the fire the bramble promised.
Jotham’s parable was not poetry. It was prophecy.
God does not forget what He has seen. He may be patient for years—but He is not absent, and He is not confused about what happened. None of this unfolds outside His rule. Human beings freely pursue evil, yet even their rebellion never escapes God’s sovereign government.
This is not comfortable. But for readers who have watched violence go unpunished, who have seen the wicked prosper and the powerful escape—this chapter is important. Abimelech ruled for three years. It felt permanent. It was not.
Journaling/Prayer: Is there something you have watched go unaddressed—a wrong that felt permanent, a situation that looked like it would never be corrected?
You are not required to resolve it. That is not your assignment. God saw what happened. He does not need your reminder, though He welcomes your prayer. The account has not been forgotten—it is simply not yet settled.
4. Millstone and Mercy
Judges 9:50–57
50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez and encamped against Thebez, and took it. 51 But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women of the city fled there, and shut themselves in, and went up to the roof of the tower. 52 Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it, and came near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. 53 A certain woman cast an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, and broke his skull.
54 Then he called hastily to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, that men not say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’ His young man thrust him through, and he died.”
55 When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they each departed to his place. 56 Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father in killing his seventy brothers; 57 and God repaid all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads; and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came on them.
Abimelech approaches the door of another tower. He has done this before. He will burn it down, as he burned down the tower of Shechem.
But a woman—unnamed, unheralded, simply present—drops an upper millstone from the roof. It crushes his skull. He is dying, and what concerns him most is the record: not a woman. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so the story will say a sword killed him.
The story says a woman killed him.
He began by murdering his brothers on one stone. He ends with a stone on his head. The text makes no comment on this symmetry. It does not need to.
The last two verses do the only work that remains: God repaid. Abimelech. The men of Shechem. Both accounts settled. The warning Jotham declared—spoken from a mountainside by a fleeing young man with nothing but his voice—came to pass exactly as he said it would. He had not cursed them by his own authority. He had announced what God would do. And God did it.
The word of God does not return void—not even when it is spoken by an exile with nothing left to lose.
This chapter began with blood on a stone at Ophrah and ends with a stone on Abimelech’s skull. Between those two stones, God was present, patient, and deliberate. He did not intervene in every moment. He did not prevent the massacre or the three years of violent rule. He allowed it to run its course—and then He repaid it.
For those reading this in the middle of a situation that hasn’t been repaid yet: you are somewhere in the middle chapters of a story that has not reached verse 56.
God has not confused your situation with someone else’s. He has not forgotten the stone at Ophrah. He will not forget yours.
Summary
Abimelech is a cautionary figure, not a heroic one—and the text treats him exactly that way. He is efficient in his violence and comprehensive in his destruction, but the chapter spends more time on Jotham’s parable than on Abimelech’s campaigns. That is the proportion. The parable matters more than the king, because the parable tells the truth the king was trying to suppress.
What the bramble cannot provide is real shade. What ambition seized from murder cannot produce is real leadership. And what three years of violent rule cannot outlast is the word of God spoken from a mountainside by a man who had to run immediately after.
God repaid Abimelech. God repaid the men of Shechem. The account was not forgotten—it was deferred, and then it was settled with precision.
For the reader who has watched injustice persist long past the point where it should have been corrected: God is not late. He is not absent. He is keeping an account you cannot see, and He will be meticulous in what He repays—whether in this life or, if not until then, at the final judgment. Scripture ultimately answers Judges’ longing in the true King, Jesus Christ, who will judge perfectly and make every wrong right in His time.
Action / Attitude for Today
If you have been funding something you know is wrong—with your silence, your loyalty, your presence—ask God today what He is asking you to step back from. You don’t have to announce it. You don’t have to confront anyone. Start by naming it honestly to God, because He already knows.
If you have spoken a truth that was not received, made a witness that seemed to disappear into the air like Jotham’s voice from the mountain—rest in this: the truth you spoke did not return void. It has an address. God heard it. And Jotham’s curse came to pass.
If you are in the middle chapters right now—in the middle of something that hasn’t reached verse 56 yet, where the account hasn’t been settled and the wicked still seem to be winning—take only this:
You are not at the end of the story. God has not forgotten what happened. He kept the account with unfailing care for Abimelech and Shechem, and He keeps it with the same care for you—whether the settling comes in this life or not until the last day.
Sit with that today, as much of it as you can hold. If the whole thing is unreachable, take the last line and let it be enough.
Say this, or as much of it as is true right now: “Lord, I am tired of waiting for things to be made right. I am not sure I believe anymore that they will be. But Jotham ran to Beer and disappeared, and his word still came to pass. Help me leave what I cannot settle in Your hands—and trust that You are keeping an account I cannot see.”
The account is not lost. It is simply not yet collected—and God has not misplaced a single entry.
The Bible for the Broken is published by Aurion Press LLC. © Aurion Press LLC. All rights reserved.