Who was Abimelech in the Book of Judges?

Son of Gideon by a Shechemite concubine. He induced the men of Shechem to choose him as ruler and then slew 70 of his brethren. Jotham alone escaped, who pronounced a curse upon the murderers. This was fulfilled by many of the men of Shechem being killed, and Abimelech being mortally wounded by a piece of a millstone cast upon him by a woman at the attack upon Thebez. Judges 8:31; Judges 9; 2 Sam. 11:21.

The Lord Jesus tells us that the devil was a murderer from the beginning (Jn. 8:44). Abimelech, Gideon's son by a concubine at Shechem, came to power by persuading the men of his home town that it would be more to their advantage to have him rule over them than Gideon's other 70 sons, none of whom were seeking to rule. Having gained his countrymen by political persuasiveness, he hired thugs, killed his brothers, and was made king by the men of Shechem. Understandably, God's will was not sought in the matter at all. Jotham, Gideon's youngest son, alone escaped being killed. He proceeded to propound to the men of Shechem the allegory of the trees choosing a king, predicting the disaster and doom that would come to them and their wicked usurper king.

Abimelech's rule lasted only three years. It was truly a matter of man ruling man to his hurt. God could not bless a kingdom set up in such a way. Both Abimelech and the men of Shechem had left Him out of their calculations. Both came to a tragic end. Today men do likewise. They too will find that God will not be mocked.

The story of Abimelech is intensely interesting in its typical meaning. Abimelech was the offspring of an unlawful union: the son of Gideon and the concubine in Shechem. He was half Israelite and half Canaanite. Abimelech means "my father was king"; he claims therefore supremacy, lordship over the people Israel on the basis of succession. His father had refused that honor; the bastard offspring claims it. He gains his object by a conspiracy and by murdering the sons of his father, with the exception of Jotham, who hid himself And this domineerer over the people bears the name of the Philistine kings.

This chapter introduces us to such a sorrowful phase of declension, that, at first sight, it does not seem to contain a single refuge for faith. In Judges 8, we have seen the congregation of Israel wishing to confer authority on their leader; here, a wolf usurps the Shepherd's place, and seizes upon the flock in order to devour it. It is the arbitrary authority of the evil servant, who, in the absence of his lord, began to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken (Matt. 24:48-49). This briefly reminds us of the principle of clericalism in the house of God and its pernicious encroachments. The wretched Abimelech was not a judge; he sought a position still more exalted: he had himself proclaimed king (v. 6), and took, in the midst of the people, the title assumed by those who rule over the nations. In thus openly arrogating to himself this title (v. 2), he acted in the opposite way to a judge who had been raised up of God (cf. Judges 8:23). In order to usurp this place, he resorted to thoroughly human expedients. Through the brothers of his mother, the concubine of Gideon, he beguiled the men of Shechem under the guise of fraternity. They placed confidence in this traitor; their moral state was so low, that they even forgot the bond that united them to all Israel, and said of Abimelech: "He is our brother." Fraternity had lost, for them, its true meaning, and had come to be a name characterizing only a party.

This chapter introduces us to such a sorrowful phase of declension, that, at first sight, it does not seem to contain a single refuge for faith. In Judges 8, we have seen the congregation of Israel wishing to confer authority on their leader; here, a wolf usurps the Shepherd's place, and seizes upon the flock in order to devour it. It is the arbitrary authority of the evil servant, who, in the absence of his lord, began to smite his fellow‑servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken (Matt. 24: 48, 49). This briefly reminds us of the principle of clericalism in the house of God and its pernicious encroachments. The wretched Abimelech was not a judge; he sought a position still more exalted: he had himself proclaimed king (v. 6), and took, in the midst of the people, the title assumed by those who rule over the nations. In thus openly arrogating to himself this title (v. 2), he acted in the opposite way to a judge who had been raised up of God (c.f. Judges 8: 23). In order to usurp this place, he resorted to thoroughly human expedients. Through the brothers of his mother, the concubine of Gideon, he beguiled the men of Shechem under the guise of fraternity. They placed confidence in this traitor; their moral state was so low, that they even forgot the bond that united them to all Israel, and said of Abimelech: "He is our brother." Fraternity had lost, for them, its true meaning, and had come to be a name characterizing only a party.

But as Gideon grew older, his faith grew more dim, and I fear his pride increased; and when his concubine, the maid-servant, bare him a son, "he called" him, "Abimelech" (Judges 8:31). And what does 'Abimelech' mean? It means "My Father is King." The very place he had refused in his early days, now he seeks to seize, and his son's name betrays his sad fall. "My Father" (that is, Gideon) "is King": sad, sad departure from the noble faith he once had. Then he had said: "I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you." Now he seeks the place of king, and his maid-servant's son seizes this place, at the cost of all his brothers, except the youngest. Terrible result of their father's self-indulgence and pride: but "what a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

The priesthood has been developed, but not according to God's order; in fact, entirely outside of that order. Disobedience produces its fruit, and you find now Abimelech, son of Gideon, rising up to take the place of his father. It is not as priest, for the people have turned to Baal and there is no desire apparently for priesthood, so quickly do men depart from God. But he rises as king, and his very name, which was given to him by some one (perhaps by his mother to show his relation to the great man of Israel, and to cover the shame of his birth), shows, therefore, how the subtle spirit was at work whether it found expression or not, "My father was king." That is the very thing that his father was not. His father refused to be king, and said God alone should be their king. And yet here is the son of his father who declares that his father was king, and, furthermore, in the strongest way declares that his son also is going to be king.

He sets himself to exercise authority over the people of God, and in order to do so he builds his throne upon 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 slays all his brothers, all the many sons of Gideon, with a single exception. Having thus cut off all rivals, he goes to Shechem, the town of his mother, the town according to nature, which is significantly in that very tribe of Ephraim, which is always, as you know, reaching out for rule, and gets the men of Shechem to endorse and recognize him as king. Then it is that his brother Jotham, the one who had escaped, propounds his parable, which is most striking, and embodies the whole lesson of this chapter. This parable on rule and government explains all that occurred, and shows what human government always is in the house of God (Judges 9:7-21).

The priesthood has been developed, but not according to God's order; in fact, entirely outside of that order. Disobedience produces its fruit, and you find now Abimelech, son of Gideon, rising up to take the place of his father. It is not as priest, for the people have turned to Baal and there is no desire apparently for priesthood, so quickly do men depart from God. But he rises as king, and his very name, which was given to him by some one (perhaps by his mother to show his relation to the great man of Israel, and to cover the shame of his birth), shows, therefore, how the subtle spirit was at work whether it found expression or not, My father was king. That is the very thing that his father was not. His father refused to be king, and said God alone should be their king. And yet here is the son of his father who declares that his father was king, and, furthermore, in the strongest way declares that his son also is going to be king.

He sets himself to exercise authority over the people of God, and in order to do so he builds his throne upon 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 slays all his brothers, all the many sons of Gideon, with a single exception. Having thus cut off all rivals, he goes to Shechem, the town of his mother, the town according to nature, which is significantly in that very tribe of Ephraim, which is always, as you know, reaching out for rule, and gets the men of Shechem to endorse and recognize him as king. Then it is that his brother Jotham, the one who had escaped, propounds his parable, which is most striking, and embodies the whole lesson of this chapter. This parable on rule and government explains all that occurred, and shows what human government always is in the house of God (chap. 9:7-21).

The Spirit of God has drawn our attention in the O.T. Scriptures to several men who are undoubted foreshadows of the coming man of sin; among these Abimelech the son of Gideon occupies a solemn place. He was of a stamp very different from his father, for Gideon was a man of faith and holds an honourable place in God's list as given in Heb. 11. He had God's glory before him as his object; and loved the people of Jehovah, and groaned over their low estate. He was, therefore, a fitting instrument for God to use, and He used him mightily to the utter discomfiture of Midian, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon (Judges 8:28).

The son, alas! was moved by a different motive. No sooner was the judge, his father, dead, than he gathered together the family of his mother, and urged them to use their influence with the Shechemites on his behalf. The glory of Jehovah and the blessing of his people were not before him; he desired to exalt himself — he would be king. How painfully he reminds one of the personage in Dan. 11:36! The Spirit of God there, after speaking to Daniel of various leagues and conflicts between the kings of Syria and Egypt (which part of the prophecy has received fulfilment), abruptly introduces the awful king of the latter days. He passes over entirely the present period of time which is never the subject of O.T. prophecy, and fixes attention upon the time of the end.

The first mention of them fell from the lips of Jotham in the first parable recorded in the Scriptures, when be addressed the men of Shechem. Doubtless Jotham thought of the olive and fig tree and the vine simply as belonging to the world of nature. But in the light of the whole of Scripture, whilst he may have had no more than that in his mind, he used them in a way that speaks of God’s mind as to Israel. Indeed it sets forth in a striking way the unity of Scripture, that writers, separated by long centuries, and with no knowledge of each other’s contributions to the sacred canon, should each add a part, which fits in exactly with the whole, thus showing the hand of Divine inspiration behind it all.

Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal (Gideon) wished the men of Shechem to make him king. He received from them seventy pieces of silver with which he hired vain and light persons, and murdered his brethren, slaying threescore and ten, save Jotham, who escaped his hand.

Jotham hearing of his brother’s design to be King, stood on Mount Gerizirn, and uttered his parable. It was a very pithy parable with a very sarcastic note in it.