Judges 9:22-25- God's Judgment Begins Against Abimelech and Shechem

As we begin I would like to consider something from Judges 9:6. When Jotham hears that Abimelech is being anointed king he comes out of hiding and goes to Mount Gerizim. He looks down upon the people and sees them anointing Abimelech king by the ‘oak of the pillar of Shechem’. Question: What is the significance of this oak and pillar?

In Joshua 23-24 we see that this is the same place where Joshua called upon the leaders of Israel to gather before the LORD where there would be a covenant renewal. (24:1) At that time Joshua reminded them of how the LORD had redeemed them from their enemies and given them this land as an inheritance and he said, “Now therefore fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness..” (14)

Question: Do those words sound familiar? This language is similar to what Jotham said to these people on this occasion when he asks them if they have acted in ‘good faith’ and ‘integrity’. (16&19) These faithless people probably won’t make this connection.

• These people are probably using this location as a means to make what their doing seem legitimate even though what their doing is evil and condemned by the LORD.

• They have strayed so far from the LORD that they can stand in this important spot and hear these words and they won’t be moved to repent.

• Through Joshua and now through Jotham the LORD is speaking and will fulfill this word.

When Joshua calls upon Israel to serve the LORD in ‘good faith’ and ‘integrity’ the proper response would be to put away their idols and serve the LORD. (24:14) Joshua says, “If it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (15)

Having said this, the people declare that they will serve the LORD. (16-18) Joshua warns them that they are unable to serve a holy and jealous God with their whole hearts. (19-20) It is as if Joshua could look down into the future and see a day like the one that Jotham is witnessing! However, the people respond, “No, but we will serve the LORD.” (21) So Joshua says to them, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve Him.” (22)

Then Joshua commands them to put away their foreign gods and incline their hearts to the LORD. (23) In verse 26-27 we read, “And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said to all the people, ‘Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.’” Note: It is by this monument that Shechem has made Abimelech their king.

Let’s read Judges 9:22-25, “Abimelech ruled over Israel three years. And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. And the leaders of Shechem put men in ambush against him on the mountaintops, and they robbed all who passed by them along that way. And it was told to Abimelech.” (Possibly read whole text 9:22-57)

In this text we see what transpired when the LORD began to bring about justice for the evil that had been done to Gideon’s family. This is emphasized twice in this chapter.

• Judges 9:23-24- “And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.”

• Judges 9:56-57- “Thus God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. And God also made all the evil of the men of Shechem return on their heads, and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.”

• This emphasizes the fact that God is sovereign and is fulfilling His Word against these covenant breakers. Gospel Truth: we expect a holy and jealous God to judge covenant breakers, but we often forget that God sent His Son into the world to save covenant breakers. (Romans 5:6-11) Here God will send an evil spirit to judge these people. In the future God will allow Satan to harm Christ and kill him, but through His suffering sinners will be saved.

Notice that verse 22 begins with the words, ‘Abimelech ruled’ or ‘Abimelech reigned’. The word ‘ruled’ and ‘reigned’ speaks of the fact that the people had made Abimelech their king. He was given authority and power to govern and rule over them. When this all began in Judges 9:6 it appeared that Abimelech’s rule would be concentrated in a small area. However, over these three years his reign seemed to spread much farther and now he rules ‘over Israel’. (22) Similarly, that initial sin by Adam quickly spread to all men throughout every gerneration. (Romans 5:12-14)

In Judges 9 there are three verses that emphasizes that the people made Abimelech king.

• In Judges 9:6 we read, “And all the leaders of Shechem came together, and all Beth-millo, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar at Schechem.”

• Jotham says in Judges 9:16, “Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and integrity when you made Abimelech king…”.

• In verse 18 Jotham says, “...and if you have risen up against my father’s house this day and have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, a king…”.

Having pointed these facts out I must make a couple other observations regarding Abimelech’s reign. First, Abimelech’s name is used thirty-nine times in Judges 9, but he is never addressed as “king Abimelech”. Is this significant? Perhaps the Holy Spirit’s is showing the invalid nature of this reign. The people have given Abimelech this position but the LORD has not sanctioned this.

Second, this particular word that is translated as ‘ruled’ and ‘reigned’ is only used one other time in the Old Testament. This is not the word that is most often used for a person who ‘rules’ and ‘reigns’ with legitimate authority. This particular word speaks of someone who is made a prince, they rule, and they play the part. Again, perhaps the Holy Spirit is showing us that Abimelech never achieved his ambitions of being a legitimate ‘ruler’ in Israel. He played that part for a while, but this part would be short lived. (23,54)

The word that is normally used for someone who ‘rules’ and ‘reigns’ was used in Judges 8 when the people asked Gideon to ‘rule’ over them. Therefore, Gideon knew immediately that the people wanted him to be their king. Because of this, Gideon rejected this invitation by stating emphatically that he would not ‘rule’ over them. Gideon said, “...the LORD will rule over you.” (8:22-23) In all these cases, the word masal is used. This is the word for ‘rule’ and ‘reign’ which is most often used in the OT. (82x)

Application: The LORD is King of kings and He is not merely a wanna be King who is willing to ‘play the part’ if we will allow Him to do so. We are to repent, believe, and faithfully obey our LORD. If we proclaim ‘Jesus is LORD’ then it ought to be evident that we are His bond-servants who seek to do His will.

We know that Abimelech desired to be a legitimate king because he uses this same word in Judges 9:2, saying, “Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that one rule over you?” Abimelech used the word ‘masal’ because he desired to have dominion, rule, and to reign in Israel as king.

The word ‘masal’ is the word that the LORD used when spoke to Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:18,  saying, “...then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’”

This is also the word that is used in 2 Samuel 23:1-4, “Now these are the last words of David: The oracle of David, the son of Jesse, the oracle of the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel: ‘The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; his word is on my tongue. The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.’”

The type of ‘rule’ that is ordained by God in these verses is not a fitting description of the rule of Abimelech. Israel had made Abimelech their king by the ‘oak of the pillar of Shechem’ probably to give this action a sense of legitimacy (6), but the LORD had not ordained this and He was not obligated to bless it.

During these first three years of Abimelech’s reign it must have been exciting. His ‘rule’ and ‘reign’ expanded quickly till it was said that he was ‘ruling over Israel’. (22)  In Judges 9:22-54 we are NOT given any reason to believe that Abmimelech was a terrible leader and that is why his rule ended. No, everything appears to have been going well for Abimelech but it all came to an abrupt end. The scriptures tell us what caused the downfall of Abimelech. We read, “And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem.” (23)

Previously in the Book of Judges the LORD sends a nation or a person to judge people, but this time the LORD sends an evil spirit to do this. When the LORD does this we begin to see the fruit of this evil spirit’s presence among them immediately: mistrust (23), treachery (23), violence and robbery (25), misplaced confidence (26), drunkenness (27), rivalry (27), sinful speech (28), insubordination (29), self-exaltation (29), warmongering (29), anger (30), riotous (31), war (34-55).

Abimelech’s ‘rule’ and ‘reign’ has often reminded me of Satan’s rule in this world. Like Abimelch, pride was found in Satan’s heart and he tried to exalt himself against the LORD. We considered Abimelech a very foolish man for trying to exalt himself over God’s people, but how much more foolish is Satan who tries to exalt himself up against the LORD. Isaiah 14:12-15 speaks of this, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”

After Satan was cast down from heaven we discover in the book of Genesis that he Satan sought to deceive Adam in a time of temptation. Like Abimelech, Satan twisted God’s word and tried to confuse Adam and Eve. In that moment, Adam succumbed to this temptation all of humanity fell and death came upon all mankind.

Through these things Satan was given the right to rule and reign in this world. (Ephesians 2:2, 6:12) And yet, even though Satan played the part of a sovereign ruler, he was still very much under the control of the LORD. The LORD had determined that He would do what no one else could. He would make a way to save sinners and defeat this enemy, saying, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put emnity between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15)

Like Jotham, the faithful saints who believed this promise had to wait patiently for the LORD to fulfill the word that had been spoken. They believed the Word of the LORD and trusted in that promise even while Satan’s kingdom seemed to gain ground and grow stronger.

At this time of year we are beginning to turn our attention towards celebrating Christmas. We are reminded that God did fulfill His Word when He sent His Son, the Sovereign King, into the world to defeat every one of our foes.

Jesus came into this world as a child, so meekly, mildly, and humbly. He was born in the small town of Bethlehem and when He was born he was laid in a crib in a manger. At that time so few knew that this child would grow up to defeat Satan decisively as He rescues His people from Satan’s kingdom.

Our great King took upon flesh so that He might rescue us from our great foes: indwelling sin, sin in the world, and Satan. Hebrews 2:14-15 says, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

Through Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross Colossians 2:15 tells us, “He (Jesus) disarmed the rulers and authorites and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.” And Hebrews 2:8-9 says, “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

Abimelech’s reign over God’s people was not legitimate. As a result, his rule and reign would come to an end very quickly. Jesus Christ, however, has conquered death through the resurrection from the grave and reigns forevermore in righteousness and justice. To all those who repent and believe upon Him, to them will be given the gift of the Holy Spirit and an eternal inheritance in the Kingdom of God.

Joshua had warned the people in Joshua 24 that they could not serve the LORD without sin. All are covenant breakers and deserve punishment, but God is faithful to save sinners who will look to Him and receive His free gift of grace that comes through Jesus Christ alone.