Abimelech is the 71st son of Gideon. Abimelech stands out because he is born of a concubine who lived in Shechem instead of a wife who lived with Gideon (8:31). Abimelech stages a coup against his brothers which has the townspeople of Shechem pay him 70 shekels so that he can hire a mercenary force to kill his brothers (9:4). He succeeds in killing them all except brother number 70, Jotham (9:5). As the people of Shechem are crowning Abimelech king (9:6), Jotham shouts a curse at Abimelech and the people crowning him (9:7-21).
After some time a God sends an evil spirit between the elders of Shechem and Abimelech (9:23). Gaal son of Ebed leads a resistance against Abimelech (9:31). His rebellion gets destroyed and Abimelech kills all the people of Shechem and salts their town (9:45). He then moves on to Thebez in an effort to end any thoughts of rebellion again by destroying the tower and people inside it (9:50). While he is about to set the tower on fire a woman tosses a millstone from the top, and it cracks his skull (9:52-53). Abimelech is then killed by his sword-bearer (9:54).
^“56 Thus God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ 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 is an interesting story to me for because this is the first king in Israel. Before now I always thought that Saul was the first king. In a sense, Saul was because he was king over all of Israel. Abimelech was only a regional king, over a few cities maybe even a tribe of Israel. Perhaps the writer of the Book of Judges included this story to remind the people of Israel what it was like to have a king since they end up constantly calling for one from Samuel.
Are we any different though? We all want a king in our lives. Sometimes, in the case of Abimelech, we are the king. Sometimes the king is more ethereal like knowledge. Sometimes it is more concrete: a job, a house, a family. Regardless, we all make something a king in our lives besides God. Why?
I think we struggle to find security in God. I know I do. I find my security in my education, my wife, my ability to understand the world around me. Those things could be taken away or rendered useless. Can God be taken away? Will He ever be useless? Yet, I still struggle to be secure in Him. I want my security to be found in things I can see or control. The Israelites are the same way. I don’t want to be vulnerable to something I can’t see or control in any way, like God. But, that’s what we, as Christians, are called to. Jesus is repeatedly telling us that if we are to gain our life with must lose it, and that he came so that we might have life to the full. We just have to trust in God and be vulnerable to Him. Can we do it? History does not favor our success, but God has written a new testament.