Abimelech, born of a Shechemite woman, convinced the citizens of Shechem to make him king and to kill his half-brothers, the seventy sons of Gideon. Only Jotham escaped the slaughter. From Mount Gerizim, which overlooks Shechem, he taunted them by telling the fable of the “Bramble King” (9:7–15). He cursed them and predicted that they too would be killed by the treachery of Abimelech (9:19–20).

After three years the LORD caused dissent between the Shechemites and Abimelech (9:22–23). The ensuing bloodshed and cruel deaths of Gaal and the Shechemites (9:26–49) was God’s vengeance for murdering Gideon’s sons (9:24).

The rebellion against Abimelech spread to the city of Thebez. Abimelech stormed the city’s tower. From the tower a woman dropped a millstone, crushing his skull. To escape the shame of being killed by a woman, he called for his armor bearer to kill him (9:50–54). The careers of Tola and Jair followed Abimelech’s debacle. Tola led Israel for twenty-three years.

8:22–23. Following this significant victory, the Israelites turned to Gideon with the request that he rule as king over them, that is, establish a ruling dynasty (you, your son, and your grandson). Gideon declined both the rule and the dynasty (but one of his sons, Abimelech, would later speak for himself; cf. 9:1–6). Probably Gideon spoke words more significant than he realized when he affirmed the theocratic kingship of Yahweh—The LORD will rule over you.

(14) The snare of the ephod of Gideon (8:24–27).

8:24–26. Though he rejected kingship, Gideon did take occasion to indulge in a form of virtual taxation by requesting a share of the plunder in the form of gold earrings, the total weight coming to about 43 pounds. The term Ishmaelites originally referred to another nomadic tribe descended from Hagar (Gen. 16:15) but the term apparently took on a broader usage so that it is here applied to the Midianites.

8:29–32. Though Jerub-Baal (i.e., Gideon; cf. 6:32; 7:1) declined the kingship, he generally lived like a king (he had many wives who bore him 70 sons). He also had a concubine … in Shechem (who characteristically lived with her parents’ family) who bore him a son … named Abimelech. This set the stage for the next downward spiral in Israel’s history of apostasy, a spiral which began in earnest after the death of Gideon.

It may be significant that none of the judgeships recorded in the rest of the Book of Judges resulted in a designated period of peace (contrast 3:11, 30; 5:31; 8:28). This seems to fit the general pattern of progressive political and social decline and moral degeneration in the book. The event that launched the declining phase of the period of the Judges was the abortive kingship of Abimelech. Abimelech, a son of Gideon by a concubine, was not called a judge. In fact his rule included some elements of oppression which were eliminated only by his death and by the subsequent positive judgeship of Tola (who lived in the same general area of the central highlands).

9:1. (Interestingly in chap. 9 Gideon is always called Jerub-Baal, and never Gideon. (Cf. comments on “Jerub-Baal” in 6:32.) Abimelech was a son of Gideon by a concubine (8:31), a secondary wife who might live with her own family and be visited occasionally by her husband. In this social environment, Abimelech was no doubt shunned by his half-brothers (cf. his retaliation, 9:5) but he was accepted by his mother’s family who lived in Shechem.

The city of Shechem had been a significant religious center since the time of Abraham (Gen. 12:6–7). It was located in the narrow valley between the prominent hills of Gerizim and Ebal, the site of the recitation under Joshua of the blessings and cursings of the Law (Josh. 8:30–35) and of the further covenant renewal ceremony before Joshua’s death (Josh. 24:1–28). Shechem was situated on a strategic crossroads of the latitudinal route ascending from the coastal highway in the west and descending to Adam, on the Jordan River, and the longitudinal route along the central ridge from Jerusalem in the south to the northern accesses to the Jezreel Valley.

9:2–5. Abimelech appealed to his Shechemite heritage in offering himself to the citizens of Shechem in place of a corporate rule by Jerub-Baal’s sons, who may have had neither the desire nor the following to be kings anyway. Some silver from the public temple of Baal-Berith was donated to Abimelech … to hire reckless adventurers as his personal cadre. Their first assignment was to murder Abimelech’s 70 brothers on one stone, implying a mass public execution. Significantly Jotham, Gideon’s youngest son … escaped.

9:22–25. Three years of life under the leadership of Abimelech set the stage for a Shechemite revolt. An evil (demonic) spirit was sent by God to fulfill Jotham’s curse by arousing distrust or jealousy in the Shechemites, who set men on the hilltops to ambush and rob the caravans and other travelers on the strategic trade routes through Shechem. Such action would reduce travel and deprive Abimelech of tributes and tolls from travelers. That God would send an evil spirit, a demon, shows that He sovereignly rules over all the universe. Even Satan could not attack Job without God’s permission (Job 1:12; 2:6).

9:26–29. The undisciplined populace of Shechem found a new leader in Gaal son of Ebed, who moved into Shechem with his brothers (perhaps his personal army of brigands). At the time of grape harvest (June–July) the Shechemites held a pagan religious festival comparable to but earlier than the Israelite Feast of Ingathering or Tabernacles, which was in September–October (cf. Deut. 16:13–15). At this time of festivity, they cursed Abimelech and put their confidence in Gaal, who ridiculed both Abimelech and Zebul his deputy, who was Shechem’s governor (Jud. 9:30). Gaal exhorted them to serve the men of Hamor, the ancestor of their clan (Gen. 34:26) rather than the half-breed Abimelech. This suggests that a large portion of the Shechemite populace were native Canaanites. Gaal boldly challenged the absent Abimelech, Call out your whole army!

The wrong kind of king fails to promote “good faith and integrity” (9:16, 19) and instead motivates God’s people to devour one another (vv. 20–21; cf. vv. 46–57; Gal. 5:15). God loves his people too much to allow this mutual destroying to continue indefinitely. We need the king of God’s own choosing (1 Sam. 16:1; Mark 1:9–11; Luke 9:35). In the rule of King Jesus—the ultimate righteous King that Israel desired and truly needed but could not find in her human ranks—we have a shepherd under whom we flourish, who frees us to love one another well rather than feeding upon one another (Jer. 23:1–6; Gal. 5:13–15). Our freedom comes because King Jesus loved and led us well, even to the point of dying for us (2 Cor. 5:14–15).