Judges - 8
Amimelech
This time we are going to look at a man called Abimelech, although he is not one of the judges of the people of Israel. We read his story in the Book of Judges chapter nine. He comes upon the scene as a ruthless, ambitious usurper, someone who overturns a fairly settled state of affairs and plunges the people into chaos and upheaval. He is a picture of what a judge ought not to be. He is a ruler who does his people no good at all.
This whole episode is a warning about choosing our leaders carefully and wisely as God's people. A wrong choice of pastor, church officer, youth leader or Sunday School teacher can bring disastrous spiritual consequences. To behave like the people did who so readily chose Abimelech to be their leader is not unlike that which sometimes happens in local churches. Easily led and undiscerning Christians can have their heads turned by an impressive or forceful personality and then live to it. That is how it was with Abimelech.
The seeds of the trouble were sown earlier. The closing part of chapter eight reveals that, although Gideon would not yield to the popular demand that he be the king, his lifestyle showed that it was something he really wanted. He built up what can only be described as a royal harem for he had many wives and no less than seventy sons. Gideon also had a mistress who lived in Shechem and their son was Abimelech, the man who would cause the people of God so much trouble.
It is tragic to read at the end of chapter eight that the children of Israel were no better spiritually than they were before the Lord had come to their aid through Gideon. We read that after the death of Gideon "they set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of their enemies on every side." they forgot God's mercy and they forgot about the peace they had enjoyed during Gideon's forty years as their judge. Despite his faults, Gideon's guiding principle was "the Lord will rule over you." How quickly the people turned away from this after his influence was removed.
As Christians today let us thank God for His mercy when we have leaders and teachers whose guiding principle is obedience to God's Word, and who teach us faithfully, and who lead us by example in the ways of the Lord. Let us beware of the danger of forgetting how important this is. It is sometimes the case, when faithful leaden move on or die, that there is an abandoning of the old paths and of gospel truth. These are left in favour of crowd-pleasing messages that do not humble men and women in the presence of a holy God. Beware of being led astray into teaching and practices that result in spiritual confusion and a lack of reverence for the Lord.
The Israelites had become disobedient and forgetful of God's blessings. So the stage was set in Abimelech's day for something to go seriously wrong. This evil man gained power for himself by murdering all his half-brothers except one, Jotham , who managed to escape. And so Abimelech was crowned king in his home town of Shechem.
In verses seven to twenty of Judges chapter nine we are taken to the slopes of Mount Gerizim which lay south of Shechem. Jotham the surviving half-brother, shouts a message from the Lord to the people. The message came in the form of a fable. He spoke of all the trees wanting a king but the olive, the fig and the vine refused as they all had useful fruit-bearing to do. Finally, the bramble, or thorn bush, was asked to be king, and he agreed and invited the trees to take refuge under his prickly shade.
Jotham's point in all this was that men of wisdom and integrity would never have chosen a man like Abimelech who had come by his position through murder and intrigue. He challenged them to ask themselves if they had acted honourably and in good faith in view of all that Gideon had done for them. He warned them that they faced certain judgement, saying that their murderous lack of gratitude, and by implication their disregard of the Lord, would surely bum up in their faces in due course.
And God did judge the wickedness of Abimelech and the Shechemites in His own way and in His own time. He permitted an evil spirit to stir up strife and discontent among those who originally supported Abimelech. This eventually led to outright war between them during the course of which the evil king was mortally wounded and put to death by his armour-bearer. The followers of Abimelech were scattered and so a most unhappy period of internal conflict among the people of Israel came to an end. It had all been so unnecessary and fruitless at a time when the real need was for the people to pull together, turn away from their false beliefs and practices, and humbly seek their God.
Abimelech governed Israel for three years and it must have seemed to those who longed for God to bring justice that evil had prevailed. But God's justice was being worked out stage by stage and the fire of his judgement eventually broke out and Abimelech and all who supported him fell. All may look smooth and successful in the pathway of wrongdoing, but in His good time God will bring it all down.
The writer of Psalm seventy-three faced the same question: "why do the wicked seem to prosper and succeed?" It may he a question you have asked as you have looked at the evil that goes on in the world today. It seems unjust that those who take no account of God and live only for themselves, and whose lives are far from holy, appear to sail through life without trouble. The psalmist had his eyes opened to the reality of the situation when he went into God's presence - into the sanctuary. He writes in verses sixteen and seventeen of Psalm seventy-three: "When 1 tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me until I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny." What is the final destiny of those who continue in their sinful ways? The psalmist goes on to say: “Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin." Eternal ruin is the certain end for all who turn their backs on God.
The judgement of God against sin is certain and one day it will fall as it did on the people of Israel when they turned their backs on Him to worship false gods and live lives full of wickedness. This theme of God's judgement is not a pleasant one, but it runs throughout Scripture. Without this justice the thought of God as holy and righteous becomes meaningless. God always judges sin and that is what the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is all about. It was on the cross that your sin and mine was dealt with once and for all. The death of Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. He has been punished in our place so that we need never face God's righteous judgement.
Again and again, in the times of the judges, God reached out to his people in mercy to restore them and forgive them because He loved them. So today, this same holy, righteous God reaches out in love to a lost world ready to pardon, cleanse and accept all who come to Him in repentance trusting in his Son, Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord. Have you seen your danger and responded to God's love and accepted Christ as your Saviour?