And they told it to Jotham, and he went and stood on the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said to them, Hearken to me, ye citizens of Shechem, that God may hearken to you.
Abimelech murdered his brothers and took the crown at Shechem. One son escaped. He climbed the mountain above the city and shouted down at the men who had crowned Abimelech. He asks them to listen to him so that God will listen to them. Then he tells them a story about trees.
Jotham speaks because he is the only one left alive to speak:
How quickly Israel forgot what they owed to Gideon! A power that has turned away from God always persecutes God's people... We read, "Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself." God enabled him to bear witness. He "went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim" (the mountain of blessing; Deut. 27). There he told Israel in the most serious terms where they stood in relation to the man who had seized power.
One writer sees that single voice as God's own light in a dark hour:
Jehovah, in His grace, caused a ray of light to shine in the middle of the darkness. He does not leave Himself without a witness. We can say that again with confidence as we pass through difficult times. Suppose only one witness is left for God in this world, as here. May we be that one — the despised Jotham, last of all, but standing firm for God.
The choice of mountain carried its own message:
In the past Moses had ordered six tribes to stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce the curse and six on Gerizim to pronounce the blessing. Joshua had remembered this when the people entered Canaan, but since then Israel had in practice chosen Ebal, the place of cursing. Jotham chose Gerizim, the place of blessing, and he stood there alone. As God's witness, he faced the whole people. He lifted up his voice and spoke a fable in their hearing. It proclaimed the blessing of faith, and also what would follow from the people's unfaithfulness.
The crowd below had gathered at a place Joshua once marked:
Jotham ("Jehovah is perfect") carries in his name the character of a true witness. With shameless boldness, the Shechemites gather at the stone Joshua set up, to make Abimelech, the killer of his own brothers, king. There Jotham appeals to them from Gerizim with the fable of the trees.
In Jotham's story the olive, the fig and the vine are each offered the crown, and each refuses:
The tendency of man's heart is to make someone other than God king. People put leaders in His place. So they destroy the use and blessing for which God gives the olive, the fig and the vine — His various gifts. But those who are truly worthiest are the surest to refuse. They will not leave their places of happy service, their sweetness and their fruit, just to "wave over" the trees, fluttering in the wind above them.
Another writer explains what these three trees stand for in Scripture:
The fatness of it in man honours God and means power for worship towards God and for service towards others. Saints who grasp this highest of all privileges want no promotion. It is enough to be what God has made them.
Only the thorn-bush takes the crown, and it has nothing to give up:
The bramble had no beauty and no use. It was known mainly for its thorns. Those thorns showed the curse resting on the plant world as the fruit of man's sin, according to Genesis 3:18. It was quite willing to accept promotion and lord it over others.
Jotham asked Shechem to hear him so that God would hear them. They did not hear. One writer reads the end of his speech, about their dealings with Gideon's family, as more than anger:
Of course it is clear this was not truthful dealing, but grossly wicked. So Jotham adds, "if not, let fire come from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem, and let fire come from the men of Shechem and from Beth Millo and devour Abimelech!" (v. 20). This was a prophecy God had put into Jotham's mouth, and it was fulfilled only three years later.
- Hear — Jotham asks Shechem to listen to him so that God will listen to them. Everything that follows turns on their answer.
- Alone — one hidden survivor stands on the mountain of blessing. That is all the testimony God needs in a dark hour.
- Fruit — olive, fig and vine all refuse the crown. Bearing fruit where God placed them is better work than waving over others.
- Thorns — the only candidate with nothing to lose takes the throne. The bramble can rule because it has no fruit to give up.
- Fire — what Shechem refused to hear came back as judgment, just three years later.
The trees once went forth to anoint a king over them; and they said to the olive-tree, Reign over us.
Abimelech killed his brothers to make himself king, and only Jotham escaped to answer the men of Shechem with a story about trees looking for a king. It raises two questions: why did the trees want a ruler at all, and why did the best of them say no?
The parable is not decoration. It explains what happened, and it comes from the one brother Abimelech failed to kill.
He sets himself to exercise authority over the people of God, and to do it he builds his throne on violence. There must be violence if there is rule of that kind; if there is the rule of man, it must be by violence. So he kills all his brothers, all the many sons of Gideon, with a single exception. Having cut off all rivals, he goes to Shechem, his mother's town, the town of natural ties… There he gets the men of Shechem to endorse and recognise him as king. Then his brother Jotham, the one who had escaped, puts forward his parable. It is most striking, and it holds the whole lesson of this chapter.
The trees take the first step. Nobody asks them to find a ruler — the wish starts with them.
Man's heart tends to make another king than God, and to put leaders in His place. That destroys the use and blessing for which God gave the olive, the fig and the vine — His various gifts. But the worthiest are the very ones sure to refuse. They will not leave their places of happy service, their sweetness and their fruit, to go and "wave over" the trees — to do nothing but flutter in the wind above them.
The trees ask the olive first. Its oil pictures something God's Spirit works in His people.
The fatness of the olive tree is the oil pressed from its fruits.
The Spirit of God would produce, and work out in God's people in daily detail, a character in line with the promise and purpose of God at any given time… The fatness of it in man honours God and means power for worship towards God and for service towards men. Saints who grasp this highest of all privileges want no promotion. It is enough to be what God has made them.
W. H. Westcott · W. H. Westcott
The fruitful trees refuse the crown, but God's people still need leading. The answer runs opposite to Abimelech's way.
Who, then, is to rule over them? If those who bear fruit for God will not be rulers over His people, who is to be the ruler? The lesson of government, dear friends, is the lesson of service, and he rules best who serves best. In real, practical terms, the head of the people is the one at their feet serving them.
Three fruitful trees decline, and the search ends with the one candidate that has nothing to give up.
Each had its own place in the scheme of creation and had no wish to be other than it was. The bramble had neither beauty nor usefulness. It was known most of all for its thorns. Those thorns showed the curse resting on plant life as the fruit of man's sin, according to Genesis 3:18. It was quite willing to accept promotion and lord it over others.
Jotham aimed the story at Shechem. The same test lands on anyone who wants a place above God's people.
What a lesson about what rule is among the people of God! How it searches our hearts as we think of it! It makes us realise how easy it is to become mere brambles. How easy it is to seek a place over the heads of the saints instead of at their feet… Do you want believers to look up to you? Then you are a bramble, if you covet that. The people others look up to are those who do not take the place. They are seeking to bear precious fruit for God and for the blessing of the saints.
- The wish — The trees look for a king. That pictures the heart's tendency: to set up another king than God, and to put leaders in His place.
- The cost — Ruling has a price. The fruitful tree would have to leave the fatness, sweetness and wine God gave it, just to wave above the others.
- The contentment — Those who grasp this privilege want no promotion. It is enough to be what God has made them.
- The candidate — The bramble says yes, because it has nothing to give up. It has no beauty and no use — only thorns that carry the curse of Genesis 3:18.
- The correction — Among God's people, the lesson of government is the lesson of service. The real head is the one at their feet. Wanting others to look up to you makes you a bramble.
And the olive-tree said to them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to wave over the trees?
Jotham was the one son of Gideon who survived when his brother Abimelech killed the rest of their brothers. He stands on a mountain top and tells a parable: the trees go looking for a king. The trees ask the olive first, and it refuses. It will not trade what it produces for a crown. (The ESV says "my abundance" where older translations say "my fatness," and "gods and men" where they say "God and man." The writers quoted here use the older wording.)
The parable works by contrast: three fruitful trees turn the crown down, and a thorn-bush takes it.
The parable concerned four "trees": the olive, fig, vine and the bramble, or thorn-bush. The trees invited each one in turn to become king over them. The olive had its fatness, which brought honour to both God and man. Each had their own place in the scheme of creation and had no wish to be other than they were. The bramble had no beauty and no use. It was known mainly for its thorns. Those thorns showed the curse resting on plant life as the fruit of man's sin, according to Genesis 3:18. It was quite willing to accept promotion and lord it over others.
The word names something concrete: the tree's own product, and the place it already holds.
They ask the olive tree, but the olive tree is content with God's order. It represented Israel in its place of privilege. "Should I leave my fatness, by which, through me, they honour God and man." The fatness of the olive tree is the oil pressed from its fruits.
The oil itself stands for something greater. And the power it pictures comes with a condition.
Oil answers to the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit, which brings honour to God and men. The Israel of God can only know this power while it stays completely separate from the nations and their ways. The nations set up kings over themselves (1 Samuel 8:5), while Jehovah was the only ruler of His people as long as they stayed faithful.
"God and man" is not a single audience. The olive's oil reaches upward and outward at once.
That fatness in a person honours God. It means power for worship toward God and service toward people. Saints who grasp this highest of all privileges want no promotion. It is enough to be what God has made them.
Notice who is missing from the olive's answer: the olive itself.
This honour holds no temptation for the olive. It gives a beautiful reply: "Should I leave my fatness, by which, through me, they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?" There is no selfish thought here. It is enough that God and man are honoured, and the one who bears the fruit is content to be left unnoticed.
The man telling this parable had a claim to rule himself.
Jotham could have claimed the right to rule the people after his father's death just as fairly as Abimelech. But he had learned that staying humbly with God, in the place He has given, is far more blessed than reaching for a place of dignity in the eyes of men. God does give honour, but not to those who seek it.
All three trees use the same verb, and that is the hinge of the parable. Promotion is not an addition — it is an exchange.
Please note that in all three cases they knew the place — the honoured place — God had given them. In each case they ask, and well they might, "Should I LEAVE." Here comes in a very important principle, which the young Christian will do well to remember. If you step out of the place God has set you in, you leave your power for glorifying God and blessing man. You gain nothing but loss and sorrow.
One writer follows this fatness back to its root, and asks who shares it.
In the fullest sense the root is Christ Himself. The fatness, that is spiritual enrichment, did not come to a man because he was born a Jew, descended from Abraham. It came because he shared Abraham's faith, and shared in the blessing that Abraham enjoyed. And this is open to Gentiles as well.
And the fruitful trees point to one Person.
The Lord alone is our sufficiency. His love and grace and power can never fail. He is the true Vine, the Olive and the Fig Tree of which Jotham spoke, in contrast to the useless bramble.
- Fatness — the olive's "fatness" is the oil pressed from its fruit; it is what the tree already has and already gives.
- Source — that oil answers to the power of the Holy Spirit, and Israel could only know that power while it stayed separate from the nations.
- Reach — the fatness runs two ways: worship toward God, service toward people. Nothing in the olive's answer is about the olive.
- Cost — all three trees ask "Should I leave?" Leave the place God gave you and you lose your power to glorify God and bless man. You gain only loss.
- Root — the enrichment belongs to those who share Abraham's faith, Gentiles included. The root, and the true Olive, Fig and Vine, is Christ Himself.
And the trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou, reign over us.
In Jotham's story the trees are hunting for a king, and when the olive tree refuses they turn to the fig tree. The offer is flattering, but the parable turns on what it would cost a tree already doing the work God gave it.
The parable answers a man who murdered his way to power. One commentator reads the whole chapter through it:
He sets himself to exercise authority over the people of God, and to do it he builds his throne on violence. There must be violence if there is rule of that kind; if there is the rule of man, it must be by violence. So he kills all his brothers, all the many sons of Gideon, with a single exception. With all rivals gone, he goes to Shechem, his mother's town, and gets the men of Shechem to accept him as king. Then his brother Jotham, the one who had escaped, gives his parable. It is most striking, and it holds the whole lesson of this chapter.
The search for a king comes from a pull in every human heart. The same pull explains why the best candidates keep saying no:
The tendency of man's heart is to make some other king than God, and to put leaders in His place. This destroys the use and blessing for which God gives the olive, the fig and the vine — His various gifts. But the very ones who are truly worthiest will surely refuse. They will not leave their spheres of happy service, their sweetness, and their fruit, to go and "wave over" the trees — to flutter idly in the wind above them.
The fig tree is not a random choice. In Scripture it points to Israel:
Sweetness and good fruit are what marked the fig tree in Jotham's parable. Israel was chosen as a nation among the nations to bear fruit for God, as Luke 21:29 shows: "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees" — the fig tree is set apart from the rest.
Among God's people the fig's work is to feed and heal, not to rule:
The fig tree pictures above all the gracious nourishment and healing that comes through bearing fruit for God. The fig tree produces sweet, wholesome fruit, and it says: If I am to rule, I must stop being fruitful. I would far rather provide food for the people of God than govern them. So if the Spirit of God has enabled someone to bear fruit that nourishes, refreshes, heals and sustains God's people — the gift seen in a pastor and teacher — who would trade that place for rank over them as master or lord?
The fig tree's reply in the next verse measures the crown against what it already produces:
In Jotham's parable, after the olive tree was asked to reign and refused, the trees asked the fig tree to reign over them. But the fig tree answered much like the olive. It was already bearing good fruit: should it leave this in order merely to wave its branches above the trees?
Promotion looks like a step up. The parable counts it the other way:
Each one said, "Shall I leave?" To give up fruitfulness in order to take a brilliant position was not really addition, it was subtraction of a very serious kind — it was giving up their true purpose in life, the only reason for their existence.
To stay a fig tree is to accept that people remember the fruit and forget the tree:
The fig tree is tried next, with "You come and reign over us." It replies, "Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?" It is enough that its fruit has gladdened and strengthened others. The tree that bore it may be forgotten. Next the vine is approached… The bramble has nothing to leave, and honour tempts it at once. We know the sad end, the end that always follows, of such beginnings — both people and ruler destroy each other.
Many believers look for a strong leader to settle their troubles. This parable questions that hope:
It was a lump of figs that gave healing and recovery to King Hezekiah. Jotham's parable may well teach us that leadership is not necessarily the answer to the troubles among the saints. Past times have proved this. Goodness and sweetness are features that were seen in Christ. Perhaps unknown believers who live near the Lord and show these traits are better equipped to bring healing and recovery among the saints.
- Invitation. The trees ask the fig tree to reign. The olive has already refused the same offer, and the askers want a king instead of God.
- Cost. Saying yes means leaving sweetness and good fruit behind. That is not a step up but a subtraction from the tree's whole reason for existing.
- Sweetness. The fig gives nourishment and healing to God's people. Commentators link it with Israel, chosen to bear fruit, and with service that feeds instead of ruling.
- Obscurity. People enjoy the fruit and forget the tree. The worthiest are content with that, and it is why they refuse the crown.
- Bramble. The one with nothing to lose takes the throne, and ruler and people destroy each other. Leadership alone was never the cure for Shechem's troubles.
But the fig-tree said to them, Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees?
Gideon's son Jotham told this story when Abimelech seized power. In it the trees go looking for a king — and the fig tree, asked to rule, says no.
The fig tree's refusal is one answer out of four, and the last answer decides the story.
In the book of Judges we read an interesting story told by Jotham, Gideon's son. As far as I know it is the first "parable" in the Bible. He spoke of the trees choosing a king. In his story they asked four trees in turn to become king: the olive, fig tree, vine and bramble (Judges 9:8-15). It was the bramble who accepted the position, but on his terms. It was a picture of the wilful Abimelech, who seized the power and came to a bad end.
Each of the first three trees names something it already produces. The fourth names nothing, because it has nothing.
The olive had its richness, which honoured both God and man. The fig tree had its sweetness and good fruit. The vine had its wine which cheered God and man. Each had their own place in the scheme of creation and had no wish to be other than they were. The bramble had neither beauty nor usefulness. It was known mostly for its thorns. They displayed the curse resting on the plant creation as the fruit of man's sin, according to Genesis 3:18. It was quite willing to accept promotion and lord it over others.
Why would a tree with good fruit want a crown? Older translations word the offer as being "promoted over the trees."
God does give honour, but not to those who seek it... The trees try the fig tree next: "Come and reign over us." It replies, "Should I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?" Its fruit has gladdened and strengthened others. That is enough. The tree that bore it may be forgotten. The bramble has nothing to leave, and honour tempts it easily. We know the sad end, the unchanging end, of such beginnings: both people and ruler destroy each other.
Some commentators read the fruitful trees as pictures of Israel under God's blessing. The fig tree's fruit then stands for something Israel could only keep on one condition.
The fig tree said: "Should I leave my sweetness and my good fruit...?" (v. 11). Israel could only bear fruit when separated from the nations.
The same two words turn up again in the Gospels, on a tree with no fruit at all.
Sweetness and good fruit are what marked the fig tree in Jotham's parable. God chose Israel as a nation among the nations to bear fruit for Him. Luke 21:29 shows this: "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees." The fig tree stands apart from the rest. Our Lord cursing the barren fig tree shows how Israel failed to respond to all God's goodness.
Many assume a troubled group of believers mainly needs a strong leader. One writer draws a different lesson from the fig tree.
We have noted that it was a cake of figs that gave healing and recovery to Hezekiah. Jotham's parable may well teach us this: leadership is not necessarily the answer to the troubles among the saints... As we think of goodness and sweetness, these are features that were seen in Christ. Perhaps unnoticed believers are better equipped to bring healing and recovery among the saints. They live near the Lord and show these traits. We recall the words of the Lord: "whoever would be first among you must be slave of all" (Mark 10:44).
So where does such sweetness come from? One writer looks first at the life of Christ.
How precious was the fruit He bore when down here! Richness, sweetness, and cheer marked all His lovely ways. It gladdened the hearts of God and man. Our loving Father wants some of this divine beauty to reappear in the lives of His children. Let us also remember this: the very spot where God has placed us is where we are to show the fruit. Our sphere may be lowly and unnoticed. Even so, let us not think we could be more fruitful elsewhere.
- Place. Each fruitful tree had its own place in creation and no wish to be anything else. For the fig tree, that place was sweetness and good fruit.
- Fruit. The fig tree weighs fruit against promotion. Better to be forgotten, it decides, while others are fed.
- Separation. If the trees picture Israel, then Israel could bear fruit only while it stayed separate from the nations.
- Barrenness. The tree known for sweetness is the same tree later found bare. The Lord cursed that barren fig tree.
- Christ. Sweetness marked Him, and it shows again in believers right where God has placed them. Only the bramble wanted a higher post.
Then said the trees to the vine, Come thou, reign over us.
Jotham has escaped the killing of his brothers and is shouting a story down from Mount Gerizim at the men who have just crowned Abimelech king. In his story the trees pass a crown from tree to tree, and here it reaches the vine.
The parable opens with trees hunting for a ruler. Shechem had just done the same. One writer names the strange double instinct behind that search:
People feel their need of rule. Yet once rule is in place, nothing rebels against it like the human heart.
Jotham's stand on the mountain and the trees he names both look past his own day. These three trees are the images Scripture returns to again and again for Israel:
He was able to bear testimony: he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, the mountain of blessing, and solemnly set before Israel where they stood in relation to the man who had seized power. In his speech he brings forward, one after another, the three trees that Scripture constantly uses as emblems of the Jewish nation: the olive, the fig tree, and the vine. All three refused the rule they were offered. The bramble took it, in the person of Abimelech. So Jotham is a picture of those among the Jewish people who will be persecuted for their testimony, but who will be kept by a faithful God right through to the end.
Each tree in the parable carries its own idea, and the vine's is distinct from the other two. Its produce goes upward before it goes outward:
The great thought of the vine is that it supplies wine, which cheers the heart of God and man. The olive pictures something else: the blessing of God to man, seen in its rich root and fatness. The fig tree pictures something else again: Israel's special place among the nations, bearing fruit for God as a nation. The vine has its own thought attached to it: cheer for GOD, as well as for man. It is not so much the blessing of God to man as the response to GOD. Wherever there is response to God, man is blessed in making the response.
Of the three trees, the vine looks the least impressive. That makes its reply sharper, not weaker:
The vine was still more lowly and weak, but it was producing the grapes that made wine to cheer both God and man. Exchanging this just to flaunt its own pride over others had no appeal to the vine.
His parable carries one settled principle, and his own life backs it up:
Jotham, son of Jerubbaal, gives wise and timely counsel: fruitfulness is better than honour, and pleasing the Lord is better than a great name among men. Jotham could have claimed the rule after his father's death as fairly as Abimelech. But he had learned that to stay humbly with God, in the place He has given, is far more blessed than to reach for a path of dignity in the sight of men. God does give honour, but not to those who seek it.
This has a direct use for anyone who thinks their life would count for more somewhere else:
Fruit is Christ reproduced in our ways. It is not a matter of gift, by which one may preach or work; some have such gift and some do not, but all may bear fruit. Let us also remember that the very place where God has put us is the exact spot where the fruit should show. However lowly and unnoticed the place God calls us to move in, let us not think we could be more fruitful elsewhere.
Jotham's trees all decline, and Shechem ends up with a thorn bush for a king. Writers point beyond the parable to the One who answers to all three of the good trees at once:
The Lord alone is our sufficiency. His love and grace and power can never fail. He is the true Vine, the Olive and the Fig Tree that Jotham spoke of, in contrast to the useless bramble. Yes, all His people's need is found in Him.
- Demand. The trees go from tree to tree looking for a ruler. They picture a people who feel their need of rule, then rebel once they have it.
- Gift. The vine already holds what a crown cannot give: wine that cheers God and man. It pictures a response that goes up to God first.
- Refusal. The lowliest of the three trees answers most clearly. It will not trade real fruit for a place above the others.
- Principle. Fruitfulness beats honour. Pleasing the Lord beats a good name among men. God gives honour, but not to those who chase it.
- Place. Your fruit is meant to appear where God has already placed you. Christ, the true Vine, is where that fruit comes from.
And the vine said to them, Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave over the trees?
Jotham tells a story about trees looking for a king. The vine refuses the crown, and its answer raises the question of this verse: how can wine cheer God?
Four plants appear in the story. Each answer turns on what that plant already produces:
The parable concerned four "trees": the olive, fig, vine and the bramble, or thorn bush. The trees invited each one in turn to become king over them. The olive had its fatness, which honoured both God and man. The fig tree had its sweetness and good fruit. The vine had its wine which cheered God and man. Each had their own place in the scheme of creation and had no wish to be other than they were. The bramble had neither beauty nor usefulness. It was known mainly for its thorns. Those thorns showed the curse resting on plant life as the fruit of man's sin, according to Genesis 3:18. It was quite willing to accept promotion and lord it over others.
The claim that wine gladdens God puzzles readers. One commentator answers from the olive's earlier reply, where oil honours God and man:
The explanation is easy for anyone who will look at verse 9. Clearly it points to the use of oil and wine in the offerings to God. They had just as much place in the honour, service, and social life of man.
Others read the phrase as gladness shared between the two parties named:
New wine is the joy found in the shared communion of men with God. No enjoyment is higher. Israel lost it when they adopted the spirit and ways of the nations.
The offerings gave that gladness a fixed daily place:
From the day the Aaronic priesthood was fully established, not one day was to pass without a drink offering. It went with the morning and evening burnt offering. Every day the bronze altar held something offered in picture that could cheer the heart of anyone who understood it. And now we are taught what the drink offering was to consist of: strong wine, poured out to the Lord. For wine it is, as Jotham says in his parable, "which cheers God and man." And surely the altar held in picture what was well fitted to do this — the lamb of the burnt offering. It foreshadowed the perfect surrender of the Lord Jesus Christ to do His Father's will.
Israel itself is God's vine. What did He find when He came for its wine?
In the Scriptures, wine speaks of earthly joy, and God sought that joy from His earthly people, Israel. Isaiah 5 compares Israel to a vine. Verse 2 of that chapter tells all that God did so that it would bear fruit. He had done everything that could be done. Yet when He came to taste the fruit, there was no wine for Him. He could have no joy in His earthly people.
The vine will not trade what it yields for a place above the others. The same choice faces Christians:
What a lesson for us Christians! The world is to the church what the nations were to Israel. If we give in to its requests, we abandon our oil, our fruit, our new wine. That is, we give up our spiritual power, the works which God has prepared for us, and the joy of communion. Oh, can we answer every offer of the world like this? Should I leave what is my happiness and my strength? Should I trade it for fruitless turmoil, or to satisfy the desires and ambitions of men's hearts?
Jotham himself had a claim to his father's place and did not press it:
Jotham had as fair a claim as Abimelech to rule the people after his father's death. But he had learned something better. To stay humbly with God, in the place He may have given, is far more blessed than to aim at a path of dignity in the sight of men. God does give honour, but not to those who seek it.
The lowliness of the plant is itself part of the picture:
The vine is a lowly plant, dependent and clinging. It is content with God's order… It yields wine and has its place in giving gladness to God and man. Christ is the lowly man of God's pleasure, the true vine, yielding fruit for the Father, always doing the things that please Him. Saints too remain in Christ, live by His life, are fed by His love, and quietly express that life in fruit.
- Fruit first. The olive has fatness, the fig sweetness, the vine wine. The bramble has only thorns, and thorns show the curse.
- Joy shared. Wine here is gladness God and man share. Israel lost that joy when they took up the ways of the nations.
- Joy poured out. The daily drink offering set wine on the altar beside the lamb. It pictured Christ's perfect surrender to His Father's will.
- Joy withheld. God looked for wine from His own vine, Israel, and found none. He could take no joy in His earthly people.
- Joy kept. The vine refuses promotion; the trade would cost it its fruit. God gives honour, but not to those who look for it.
Then said all the trees to the thorn-bush, Come thou, reign over us.
Three trees have already refused the crown, and now the whole forest offers the throne to the bramble — a thorn-bush with no fruit at all. Jotham is showing the men of Shechem what they did when they made Abimelech king.
Why did the trees not simply stop asking? One writer traces it to something in the human heart:
The tendency of man's heart is to make another king than God, and to put leaders in His place. In doing so it destroys the use and blessing for which God gives the olive, the fig, the vine, and all His various gifts. But those who are truly worthiest will certainly refuse to leave their places of happy service, their sweetness, and their fruit. They will not go to "wave over" the trees — to flutter idly in the wind above them. So royalty comes naturally to the thorn-bush, which need give up nothing, but which has nothing in its gift but thorns.
The refusals did not change the trees' minds. They only changed their standards.
They ask the Bramble. They are stubborn in their wrongdoing, and these refusals do not stop them. Because they are determined to have a king, they find that God in anger may give them one, and take him away in His wrath. Their choice may turn out to be one of the basest of men. The trees could only accept the bramble's authority over them by putting themselves down.
The olive, fig and vine each had something to lose by taking the throne. The bramble did not, and that is exactly why it said yes.
The olive had its fatness by which both God and man were honoured. The fig tree had its sweetness and good fruit. The vine had its wine which cheered God and man. Each had their own place in the scheme of creation and had no wish to be other than they were. The bramble had neither beauty nor usefulness. It was known mainly for its thorns. Those thorns showed the curse resting on the plant creation as the fruit of man's sin, according to Genesis 3:18. It was quite willing to accept promotion and lord it over others.
Emptiness, not ability, is what leaves a man free to grab a position.
The three trees Jotham names carry a settled meaning in Scripture, and the bramble had a name and a face:
In his speech he brings forward in turn the three trees that Scripture uses again and again as emblems of the Jewish nation: the olive, the fig tree, and the vine. All of them turned down the rule they were offered. The bramble accepted it at last, in the person of Abimelech.
The same writer sees this pattern reaching far beyond Abimelech:
The devil himself will one day lift up a man — the political antichrist — as the puppet of his own ambition. He will give him his power, his throne, and great authority. Yet in God's picture of him (Revelation 13) he is only a beast. But with what result? Only the destruction of the puppet and of all who trust in him, and the final confusion and overthrow of Satan himself. The Shechemites of our chapter find out in the long run that their choice becomes their affliction and punishment.
The application is not only political. Where fruitfulness declines to lead, something fruitless will offer to.
If those who are bearing fruit for God will not be rulers over His people, who really is to be the ruler? The lesson of government is the lesson of service, and he rules best who serves best.
And the warning cuts inward before it cuts outward:
How this lesson searches our hearts, as we think of it! It makes us realise how easy it is to become mere brambles, and to seek a place over the heads of the saints instead of at their feet... The people who are looked up to are those who do not take the place, but who are seeking to bear precious fruit for God, and for the blessing of the saints.
Jotham's words were not merely clever. They came true.
Fire came out from Abimelech and devoured the men of Shechem. But when he meant to do the same to the men of Thebez, no fire came out from him. Instead, a piece of a broken millstone came down from a woman of Thebez and dealt him a death-blow. The last two verses of the chapter point out that God's hand in government was behind the whole thing... Jotham's parable not only contained a prophecy but a curse, which was fulfilled.
- Demand. The trees wanted a king so much that three refusals did not stop them. They lowered the standard instead of dropping the desire.
- Refusal. The fruitful trees would not trade real service for an empty place above others.
- Vacancy. The bramble had nothing to give up, and that is precisely why it accepted.
- Debasing. The trees could only crown the thorn-bush by putting themselves under it. Anything lifted up that way ends in ruin, for itself and for all who trust it.
- Fire. What they crowned burned them. Jotham's parable was both prophecy and curse, and God's government carried it out.
And the thorn-bush said to the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, come, put confidence in my shadow; but if not, fire shall come out of the thorn-bush and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
Jotham's parable has worked its way down the ranks of the trees: the olive, the fig and the vine all refuse the crown, and only the thornbush says yes. Its answer is the point of the whole story: an offer of shelter and a threat of fire, from the one plant with no shade to give.
The three trees that turned down the crown each had something to lose. The bramble, or thornbush, had nothing.
The olive had its richness, which honoured both God and man. The fig tree had its sweetness and good fruit. The vine had its wine which cheered God and man. Each had their own place in the scheme of creation and had no wish to be other than they were. The bramble had neither beauty nor usefulness. It was known mainly for its thorns. Those thorns showed the curse resting on the plant world as the fruit of man's sin, according to Genesis 3:18. It was quite willing to accept promotion and lord it over others.
Behind the refusals lies a warning about what the trees were doing in the first place.
Man's heart tends to make another king than God and to put leaders in His place. This destroys the purpose for which God gave the olive, the fig and the vine — His various gifts. But the worthiest are the very ones who will refuse. They will not leave their happy service, their sweetness and their fruit, to go and "wave over" the trees. So kingship comes easily to the thorn-bush. It has nothing to give up, and nothing to give except thorns.
The bramble is a thin, straggling weed. Its shadow is a joke, and so is its threat against the cedars.
There is utter sarcasm in the phrase "the shadow of the bramble". And fire coming out of the thin straggling weed called the bramble, to burn up the mighty cedars of Lebanon — that is irony at its best.
The bramble does not ask for loyalty. It demands submission, and it names the penalty for refusing.
The spirit of rule is the spirit of service. The moment it passes into rule merely, it passes away from service and fruit-bearing. Get away from fruit-bearing and you get emptiness. That is what you have here. The trees elect a bramble bush to rule them. The bramble's answer is very telling: "If I am to be ruler, then you have either got to bow to me, or fire will come out and burn up all the trees, from the cedar of Lebanon in its height down to the smallest of them." It is rule or ruin.
The bramble aims its threat upward, at trees far above it.
This is arrogant dictatorship, but Israel had allowed this very thing in the case of Abimelech. He served only his own pride. The cedars' dignity stood far above the bramble. Yet, contemptible as he was in his pride, he would threaten them with destruction from his own person!
Jotham aimed the parable at Abimelech. Writers aim it closer to home.
What a lesson about what rule is among the people of God! How it searches our hearts... It makes us realise how easy it is to become mere brambles. How easy to seek a place, not at the feet of God's people, but over their heads... Do you want believers to look up to you? Ah, you are a bramble, if you covet that. People look up to those who do not take the place, but who seek to bear precious fruit for God.
The threat was not empty talk. Jotham's words turned out to be a forecast.
In verse 15 we see Jotham as a master of sarcasm and a man of prophetic vision. An element of prophecy appears here. The men of Shechem and others began by putting their trust in the wicked upstart Abimelech. But very soon an evil spirit sprang up between the two parties. It ended in fire from Abimelech consuming the men of Shechem and their tower, and Abimelech himself was destroyed.
That fire had a source behind Abimelech.
But something worse than thorns would come — the fire of God's wrath, which from this side and from that would destroy both king and people.
The parable leaves the trees under a thornbush. Scripture does not leave the world there.
The reign of the thorn-bush has been all that man has yet seen. His choice of rulers will produce nothing else until the Abimelechs have received their judgment. Then the time of revival will come, with the presence of the Risen One. He was once crowned with the thorn, and now with glory forever.
- Fruit refuses. The olive, fig and vine would not leave real usefulness for an empty position above others.
- Thorn accepts. The one with nothing to give up is eager for the crown. Thorns mark the curse, not fitness to rule.
- Shadow threatens. A bramble offers shade it does not have, then demands submission on pain of fire — rule or ruin.
- Fire answers. The words came true. Abimelech and the men of Shechem destroyed each other, and God's wrath is the fire that destroys both king and people.
- Thorns crowned. Every human bramble-reign ends this way, until the One once crowned with thorns reigns in glory.
Now therefore, if ye have dealt truly and sincerely in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and if ye have done to him according to the deserving of his hands;
Jotham is Gideon's one surviving son; his brother Abimelech killed the rest. He has just told the men of Shechem a story about trees, and now he puts them to the test: did they act honestly in making Abimelech king?
Jotham does not accuse outright. He puts the matter as an "if," and lets the facts decide.
Jotham then applied this parable in a practical way. Suppose the Shechemites had acted in truth and sincerity in making Abimelech king. Suppose they had truly dealt well with Gideon and his house. Then they would have reason to rejoice in Abimelech. But Jotham reminds them what his father had done. He risked his life fighting for Israel and delivered them from the Midianites.
The answer is not in doubt. What they had done to Gideon's house settles it.
Of course it is plain that this was not truthful dealing, but deeply wicked. So Jotham adds, "if not, let fire come from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem, and let fire come from the men of Shechem and from Beth Millo and devour Abimelech!" God had put this prophecy into Jotham's mouth. It came true only three years later.
"Jerubbaal" is Gideon's other name. The verse asks whether Shechem dealt well with his house. Their new king had already answered that.
Abimelech soon developed a thirst for blood. He went to his father's house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. How quickly Israel forgot what they owed to Gideon! But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, was left alive, because he had hidden himself. He was able to bear witness. He went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim — the mount of blessing — and solemnly showed Israel where they stood with the man who had seized the throne.
Jotham's "if" rests on the story he has just told. In it the olive, the fig and the vine all turn down the crown. Why would the best refuse?
Man's heart tends to set up some king other than God and to put leaders in His place. This destroys the use and blessing God gave the olive, the fig and the vine — His various gifts. But the worthiest are the very ones who refuse. They will not leave their happy service, their sweetness and their fruit, to go and "wave over" the trees — to flutter in the wind above them.
The oil and the wine in the story stand for something Israel once had.
Oil answers to the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit. By it God and men are honoured. The Israel of God can only know this power while kept completely separate from the nations and their principles. New wine is the joy found in shared fellowship between men and God. It is the highest joy anyone could want, and Israel lost it when they took up the spirit and ways of the nations.
The trees turned away from the fruitful trees and took the thorn. It named its price at once.
The moment you get away from fruit bearing, you get emptiness, and that is what you have here. The trees elect a bramble bush to rule them. Its answer is very telling: if I am to be ruler, then you have either got to bow to me, or fire will come out and burn up all the trees, from the tall cedar of Lebanon down to the smallest of them. It is rule or ruin.
Abimelech got the crown he wanted. Shechem got the king they chose.
The ninth chapter of Judges records for us the bitter harvest of his pride and their folly. It teaches us to beware of trusting in man — the bramble of Jotham's parable — above all when it is a question of God's things.
If the fruit-bearers will not rule, the question stands: who should?
The lesson of government is the lesson of service, and he rules best who serves best. The real head of the people is the one at their feet serving them. Those who bring them the precious fruits of God's grace — the olive, the fig, the vine — are the ones, and the only ones, whose service rules and leads God's people.
- Fruit refuses. The olive, fig and vine would not give up what honours God and feeds people just to wave above the trees.
- The thorn grasps. Where fruit is refused, emptiness rules. The bramble took the throne and set its terms: "bow or burn" — rule or ruin.
- The question. Jotham's "if" makes Shechem weigh two things: how they treated Gideon's house, and how he risked his life to save them.
- The verdict. It was not honest dealing but deep wickedness. The fire Jotham named fell on both king and city within three years.
- The lesson. Beware of trusting in man, above all in the things of God. Those who really lead God's people are the ones at their feet, serving.
-- for my father fought for you, and endangered his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
but ye are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy men, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his handmaid, king over the citizens of Shechem, because he is your brother;
Jotham was the one son of Gideon who escaped the massacre. He stands on Mount Gerizim and puts the men of Shechem on trial. He lists what his father did for them, then what they did to his father's house. This verse is the charge itself: seventy sons killed on one stone, and a ruler chosen for one reason — he was one of their own.
Jotham sets two records side by side — what Gideon did for Shechem, and what Shechem did to his house:
Suppose the Shechemites had acted in truth and sincerity in making Abimelech king. Suppose they had really dealt well with Gideon and his house (v. 16). Then they would have reason to rejoice in Abimelech (v. 19). But in verses 17 and 18 Jotham reminds them that his father had risked his life fighting for Israel, and had delivered them from the Midianites (v. 17). He tells them they had risen against his father's house. They killed 70 of his sons (less one), and made Abimelech king — the son of Gideon's female servant (v. 18).
The man they installed was the opposite of the man they owed:
They are ungrateful to the house of Gideon. War breaks out among them through the leader they set up. Instead of fighting the enemies of God, he only seeks to rule over the people who are now at peace.
Jotham names the new king by his mother. One writer traces the whole disaster back into Gideon's household:
We can hardly pass by the tragic end of Gideon's sons — seventy persons, killed on one stone. It seems strange, when we remember the bright beginning to the story of Gideon. But was there not a cause? Sadly, once again we find there surely was a reason for this tragedy. It was Abimelech, "the son of his female servant" (Judges 9:18), who murdered his seventy brothers. We read in Judges 8:30 that Gideon "had many wives." This in itself was not of God. But it made it even less excusable that he should take his female servant as concubine. It was the gratification of this lust that caused the death of all these sons of Gideon.
Commentators differ on what that phrase signals. Another writer treats Abimelech's mixed birth as the source of his hold on Shechem:
The sources of his power are plainly that he is half Canaanite, half Israelite, son of Gideon on the one side, though son of the female servant on the other. He is, in this respect, another Ishmael.
That is the whole qualification Jotham can find for the new king. Family ties decided it. Writers warn that such ties have a real place, but a limited one:
Nature's ties are very strong. They are perfectly legitimate before God in their proper place. But when they interfere in the things of God, they become a hindrance and a source of trouble and sorrow. Scripture provides many examples of nature's claims opposing God's will. Abraham wanted Ishmael, the son of the slave woman, to live before Him. God refused his request (Genesis 17:18-19).
The seventy deaths bought the throne. Abimelech had to clear away every rival first:
He sets himself to exercise authority over the people of God, and to do that he builds his throne on violence. There must be violence if there is rule of that kind; if there is the rule of man, it must be by violence. Therefore he kills all his brothers, all the many sons of Gideon, with a single exception. Having cut off all rivals, he goes to Shechem, the town of his mother, the town according to nature.
Jotham lists these facts so that the curse he pronounces next will be just. God settled the account in full — and Jerubbaal, in the quote below, is Gideon's other name:
Righteous retribution follows in due course, since God considers it just "to repay with affliction those who afflict you" (2 Thessalonians 1:6). Fire came out from the men of Shechem to devour Abimelech, just as Jotham had said... God had decreed his destruction. While Abimelech was fighting against the tower of Thebez, with victory all but sure, a woman threw a piece of millstone down on his head and broke his skull... "Thus God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. 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" (Judges 9:56-57).
- Debt. Gideon risked his life to save them. Verse 18 weighs what Shechem did against that unpaid debt.
- Denial. They set up a leader who fought for power over God's people instead of fighting God's enemies.
- Blood. "Because he is your relative" was the only credential. Natural ties are right in their place, but ruinous when they decide the things of God.
- Violence. Rule of that kind has to build its throne on violence: seventy brothers removed, one stone, one survivor.
- Reckoning. God returned Abimelech's evil on his own head, and Shechem's evil on theirs. Jotham's curse landed where he aimed it.
-- if ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you;
Jotham has just told the men of Shechem a story about trees choosing a king. Now he turns it on them with one condition. If they really dealt well with Gideon's family, let them enjoy their new king. The rest of the chapter shows what that enjoyment cost them.
Verse 19 is a test, not a concession. Jotham allows their claim for a moment. Then he asks whether it fits what they did to Gideon's family. (Older translations read "in truth and sincerity.")
Suppose the Shechemites had acted in truth and sincerity in making Abimelech king. Suppose they had really dealt well with Gideon and his house (v. 16). Then they would have reason to rejoice in Abimelech (v. 19). But in verses 17 and 18 Jotham reminds them what really happened. His father had risked his life fighting for Israel and delivered them from the Midianites (v. 17). Then they turned on his father's house. They killed seventy of his sons, all but one, and made Abimelech king — and Abimelech was the son of Gideon's slave woman (v. 18).
Those facts answer Jotham's own question. The next verse passes sentence.
Clearly their dealing was not truthful. It was grossly wicked. So Jotham adds that if not, fire should come from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem, and fire from the men of Shechem and from Beth Millo should devour Abimelech (v. 20). God had put this prophecy into Jotham's mouth, and it came true only three years later.
What were they invited to rejoice in? In the parable, their new king offers them his shade.
In verse 15 we see Jotham as a master of sarcasm and a man of prophetic vision. The shadow of a bramble! In the heat of Palestine you could hardly imagine anything less protective. And the bramble invited them to trust in that shade — or else be devoured! The cedars of Lebanon were to fall before the bramble's fire!
The fruitful trees had refused the crown because they had something better to do. That is why the office fell to the one candidate with nothing to lose and nothing to give.
The human heart tends to set up some other king than God. It puts leaders in His place. So it destroys the use and blessing that God gave the olive, the fig, the vine and all His various gifts. But the worthiest are the very ones who refuse. They will not leave their happy service, their sweetness and their fruit just to "wave over" the other trees — to flutter in the wind above them. So kingship comes easily to the thorn-bush. It has to give up nothing, and it has nothing to give but thorns.
The joy Jotham offered both sides turned into ruin for both. Scripture names whose hand was behind it.
It was God who sent the evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. It was God who paid Abimelech back for his wickedness. It was God who brought all the evil of the men of Shechem down on their own heads. And we may ask in the words of Scripture, "Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath?" Indeed He is not: He is very righteous.
The parable is not only about ancient politics. It also asks who should lead among God's people. Wanting the place is what rules a person out.
What a lesson as to what rule is amongst the people of God! How it searches our hearts as we think of it! It shows us how easy it is to become mere brambles — to seek a place over the heads of God's people instead of at their feet. The one who rules is the one who does as Christ did and serves among them. Do you want God's people to look up to you? Ah, you are a bramble, if you covet that. The people others look up to are those who do not take the place. They are seeking to bear precious fruit for God, and for the blessing of His people.
Shechem's mistake was placing its confidence in a man. The trees Jotham named point elsewhere.
The Lord alone is our sufficiency. His love and grace and power can never fail. He is the true Vine, the Olive and the Fig Tree of which Jotham spoke in contrast to the useless bramble. Yes, all His people's need is found in Him.
- Condition — Jotham's "if" is a test the Shechemites cannot pass. Their joy in Abimelech only holds if they really dealt well with Gideon's house.
- Verdict — the murder of Gideon's sons answers the question, so the "if not" of verse 20 takes effect instead.
- Choice — they crowned the one tree with nothing to give up and nothing to give but thorns. They took shelter under a bush that gives no shade.
- Consequence — the joy Jotham offered both sides became fire for both sides. God Himself repaid them.
- Cure — real rule bears fruit and serves; it does not chase a place. Confidence belongs to the Lord, never to a bramble.
but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the citizens of Shechem and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the citizens of Shechem and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech.
Jotham has just told the Bible's first parable: trees looking for a king, who settle on a thornbush. Now he turns that story on both Abimelech and the men of Shechem. Everything hangs on the words that open the verse: "but if not."
Jotham does not start with doom. First he allows that the men of Shechem may have acted rightly. Then he tells them they did not.
If this was truthful and sincere dealing, then let them rejoice in Abimelech. And let him rejoice in the people of Shechem (v. 19). Of course it is evident this was not truthful dealing, but grossly wicked. […] This was a prophecy God had put into the mouth of Jotham and it came true only three years later.
The fire in Jotham's curse is the bramble's own weapon, taken straight from the parable. The choice of plant is the whole argument.
The parable concerned four "trees": the olive, fig, vine and the bramble, or thorn-bush. The trees invited each one in turn to be their king. The olive had its fatness whereby both God and man were honoured. The fig tree had its sweetness and good fruit. The vine had its wine which cheered God and man. Each had their own place in the scheme of creation and had no wish to be other than they were. The bramble had neither beauty nor usefulness. It was known mainly for its thorns. Those thorns displayed the curse resting on the plant creation as the fruit of man's sin, according to Genesis 3:18. It was quite willing to accept promotion and lord it over others.
The bramble's answer shows what rule becomes when it stops serving.
The spirit of rule is the spirit of service. The moment it passes into that of rule merely, it passes away from that of service and of fruit bearing. The moment you get away from fruit bearing, you get emptiness, and that is what you have here. The trees elect a bramble bush to rule them. Its answer is very significant. If I am to be ruler, you must either bow to me, or fire will come out and burn up all the trees — from the cedar of Lebanon in its height down to the smallest of them. It is rule or ruin.
Jotham asks for fire in two directions, and the chapter records both. The alliance that began in murder turned on itself.
Fire came out from the men of Shechem to devour Abimelech, just as Jotham prophesied. Gaal the son of Ebed won the confidence of the treacherous Shechemites. He made them curse Abimelech and rebel against him. So fire comes out from the false king to devour them and the house of Millo. At first he appeared to carry all before him. But God had decreed his destruction. While he was fighting against the tower of Thebez, with the final victory all but sure, "a certain woman cast a piece of millstone upon Abimelech's head" and crushed his skull. God is not restricted to means.
The wording of verse 20 is a request. The last verses of the chapter name who granted it — and commentators press the point that this is not an embarrassment to be explained away.
The men of Shechem had been wicked accomplices in the murder of Gideon's sons, and God used Abimelech to punish them as they deserved. […] God it was who sent the evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. God it was who paid back the wickedness of Abimelech. God, who brought down on the heads of the men of Shechem all their evil. And we may ask in the words of Scripture, "Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath?" Indeed He is not: He is very righteous. The modern teaching of these later days has produced a weak, watered-down religion. It flinches at the bare idea of God exercising His holy government in carrying out justice. He goes on carrying it out all the same.
Writers apply the bramble to anyone who wants a position over others instead of fruit for God.
What a lesson this is about rule among the people of God! How it searches our hearts. How it makes us realise how easy it is to become mere brambles, and to seek a place over God's people instead of at their feet. […] Do you want people to look up to you? Ah, you are a bramble, if you covet that. The people who are looked up to are those who do not take the place, but who are seeking to bear precious fruit for God.
The three trees that refused the crown point to someone better.
The Lord alone is our sufficiency. His love and grace and power can never fail. He is the true Vine, the Olive and the Fig Tree of which Jotham spoke, in contrast to the useless bramble. Yes, all His people's need is found in Him.
- Condition — "If not" is the hinge. The curse falls only because the dealing was wicked, not truthful.
- Character — The bramble has no fruit, no shade, no use; all it can offer a kingdom is fire.
- Choice — Fruitless authority can only say bow or burn. It is rule or ruin.
- Consequence — Fire ran both ways within three years, just as Jotham said. The partners in murder destroyed each other.
- Court — God's government stood behind the whole collapse and repaid both sides. The answer to the bramble is the Lord Himself, the true Vine, Olive and Fig Tree, who meets every need.
And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, because of Abimelech his brother.
Jotham has just called down his fable of the trees from Mount Gerizim on the men of Shechem below. Now Gideon's last surviving son runs. Two questions follow: was this a failure of nerve, and why does the writer name the small place he ran to?
The order matters. Jotham speaks first, and the words are not his own.
This was a prophecy God had put into the mouth of Jotham and it was fulfilled only three years later. But Jotham then ran away, going to Beer to live at a distance from his cruel brother (v. 21).
Abimelech had killed seventy of his brothers. Jotham is what remains, and his name carries his role.
Jotham ("Jehovah is perfect") bears in his name the character of a true witness.
His escape keeps a witness alive. One man survives a purge meant to leave nobody. The next writer calls Gideon by his other name, Jerubbaal.
Of course, Abimelech's way has to be cleared by wiping out Jerubbaal's true successors. Even so, a remnant escapes into hiding at Beer, the "well" — a good place for God's refugees. That remnant is Jotham, who is still able to make his testimony against the usurper heard.
The name of the town is the point. Jotham does not flee to nowhere. He settles by water while the people of God fight over who will rule.
Now look at the contrast with Jotham. He cannot join in all this conflict and strife, so he flees to Beer and lives there. Beer means "a well," and he lives by the well, while the people of God carry on their ugly quarrel over authority. He drinks from the fountain of the word of God. That is the only place nourishment and refreshment come from.
Ridout does not leave this in ancient history. He reads Jotham's move as the recurring instinct of believers whenever those in power start fighting each other over position.
For example, bishops have fought with bishops, and pope with pope, over whose claim to first place should be allowed. While they did, the saints of God have been glad to withdraw into the quiet of the word of God. There they drink from a stream of life and love infinitely better than all the Abimelechs in the world. Like fruitful branches growing by the well, they have had something even for those in need; the branches hang over the wall.
Another writer ties the name back to a stop on Israel's journey. There God promised water, and the people sang. On that reading, Jotham's refuge is a gathering point, not a hiding hole.
He went to Beer and lived there. That is "the well of which the LORD said to Moses, 'Gather the people together, so that I may give them water,'" the well Israel celebrated in a song (Num. 21:16-18). So it is with the faithful witnesses. The Christian world around them is already ripe for judgment, and they withdraw to Beer, the true gathering point. That is where the fountain of living water is (compare Jer. 2:13). It is the place of songs and praises too.
Commentators differ in emphasis. One reads Beer as only a safe distance from a murderous brother. Others find the meaning in the name itself.
Jotham disappears from the narrative, but his warning does not. Everything he called down came true without him lifting a hand.
Fire came out from the men of Shechem to devour Abimelech, just as Jotham had prophesied… But God had decreed his destruction. Abimelech was fighting against the tower of Thebez, and final victory looked all but sure. Then "a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull." God is not restricted to particular means… "Thus God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. 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" (Judges 9:56-57).
- Speak, then go. Jotham delivers God's message before he runs. The flight follows the testimony; it does not replace it.
- A remnant survives. Seventy brothers die, but the witness whose name means "Jehovah is perfect" lives on, and Beer makes a good place for God's refugees.
- The refuge is a well. He does not retreat into nothing — he drinks at the fountain of the word of God while others fight over who will rule.
- The well gathers. The same name marks the place where God said He would gather the people and give them water, and where Israel sang.
- The word does the work. Jotham never returns, yet fire falls just as he said, and his curse lands on Abimelech and Shechem alike.