Judges 9

Judges 9

'And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother's brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying, Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.

And his mother's brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baalberith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him. And he went unto his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.

And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem. And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye

men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you.

Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands; (For my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian: And ye are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother;) If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you: 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. And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.'

Judges 9:1-7; 16-21

So we have a guy named Abimelech who went to his brothers, and asked them if they should all reign over each other, or if one of them should just reign over all of them. His proposition was, of course, that he be named the ruler over them. His brothers agreed to this, and gave him 70 pieces of silver, with which Abimelech hired 'vain and light persons, which followed him.' He then went and killed all of his brothers, exept for Jotham, Jerubbaal's youngest son, who hid himself. Then, all the men of Shechem went to Abimelech and made him king over themselves. But Jotham came and told the men of Shechem a parable about trees. He said that the trees wanted to have a king over themselves. So, they went and asked the olive tree, the fig tree, the vine, and finally the bramble. Neither of the first two trees had any desire to be king, and it was the same with the vine. When they came to the bramble it said that it would be willing to be a king over them if they would come and put their trust in its shadow. Now, Jotham's point was that the men of Shechem should not be willing to put their trust and get their protection from the bramble, (Abimelech) Jotham then ran away, and hid himself in fear of his brother.

Am I foolish like Abimelech in wanting my own way, even enough to murder my own family to get what I want?

Or am I more like Jotham, who loved his brother, even though he could have been killed for what he said to the men of Shechem?