Judges 8, 9, + 10
In Judges 8, 9 and 10, we meet Gideon’s illegitimate son, Abimelek. Abimelek’s rise to power is full of violence toward strangers and family alike.
HAYLEY’S BIBLE BENDER:
My takeaway from this episode was the symbolic nature in which Abimelek killed his brothers. Susan highlights it this way, “Abimelek killed to be king. The murder itself was in his father’s home. All 70 couldn’t have lived in one home. Did he drag them there? Was this his way of getting back for all the happy times he missed being the outsider in that home? We can only guess.
He killed them on one stone, what relevance does that have? It could have been the rock on which Gideon built his altar to the Lord after his call from the angel. Stones were often used as altars, or it could have been that Abimelek was sacrificing his brothers to Baal. It is very likely that this slaughter killed two objectives with one stone. First, it was a personal vendetta against the family he was never accepted into. Second, it was a political vendetta of Baal against God to pay for what his father had done by removing Baal’s altars.
Abimelek has become the worst of his father Gideon. In a rage of revenge, Gideon killed fellow Israelites. In a rage of revenge, Abimelek killed fellow Israelites and brothers. Gideon wanted to have the riches of a king, wanted credit for his big battle, but stopped short out of some sense of faithfulness. Abimelek wanted it and made it happen without remorse.
There were 70 brothers, but not all were killed. Abimelech, drunk with blood, must have lost count because the youngest, Jotham, escaped. Jotham’s name means the Lord is perfect. A sharp comparison to Abimelek’s name which means my father is king. And so begins the battle for the hearts and minds of the Israelites. They must choose between the visible power of a fallible earthly king or the invisible power of the one perfect king.”
What was your Bible bender from Judges 8? Did you learn anything new?
VERSES MENTIONED:
The author of this article is Hayley Mowatt, producer of Bible Book Club.
