When Bramble Rules

Summary

Abimelech, Gideon’s son by a concubine, persuades his mother’s relatives at Shechem to make him king, hires worthless men with silver from the temple of Baal-berith, and kills his seventy brothers on one stone. Jotham, the youngest, escapes. The slides place Shechem in its Old Testament history (Abraham, Jacob, Joshua) and note an archaeological connection with the temple of Baal-berith.

From Mount Gerizim, Jotham tells the fable of the trees, in which the olive, fig and vine refuse to rule and only the bramble accepts. He asks the leaders of Shechem whether they have acted in good faith and integrity. Abimelech and Shechem fall out, Gaal stirs up the city, and Abimelech destroys Shechem and burns the tower with about a thousand people inside.

At Thebez a woman drops an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, and he asks his armor-bearer to kill him. The chapter ends with God returning the evil of Abimelech and the men of Shechem on their own heads. Takeaways: charisma is not character, unchecked ambition is deadly, you are accountable for your followership, and God’s justice is patient, precise and unavoidable.

The chapter in four scenes

Abimelech’s rise and fall.

Practical takeaways

The slides draw out these lessons: