Abimelech and the Seventy Brothers
1 Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, 2 “Please speak in the ears of all the men of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are seventy persons, rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.” 3 His mother’s brothers spoke of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words. Their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, “He is our brother.” 4 They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal Berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and reckless fellows who followed him. 5 He went to his father’s house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone; but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself. 6 All the men of Shechem assembled themselves together with all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem. 7 When they told it to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and lifted up his voice, cried out, and said to them, “Listen to me, you men of Shechem, that God may listen to you. 8 The trees set out to anoint a king over themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ 9 “But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I stop producing my oil, with which they honor God and man by me, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?’ 10 “The trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and reign over us.’ 11 “But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?’ 12 “The trees said to the vine, ‘Come and reign over us.’ 13 “The vine said to them, ‘Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?’ 14 “Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘Come and reign over us.’ 15 “The bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’ 16 “Now therefore, if you have dealt truly and righteously, in that you have made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deserving of his hands 17 (for my father fought for you, risked his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian; 18 and you have risen up against my father’s house today and have slain his sons, seventy persons, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother); 19 if you then have dealt truly and righteously with Jerubbaal and with his house today, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you; 20 but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem and from the house of Millo and devour Abimelech.” 21 Jotham ran away and fled, and went to Beer and lived there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.
A son kills his seventy brothers to make himself king, and the one survivor answers with a fable about trees that wanted a ruler.
Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying,
The man in this chapter is never called a judge, and God never raises him up. He is the book's one usurper, and the cycle is absent — no evil noted, no oppressor, no cry, no deliverance. What the chapter shows instead is what Israel produces when it appoints its own ruler.
“Please speak in the ears of all the men of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are seventy persons, rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”
The pitch is a lie wrapped in a kinship appeal. Gideon's seventy sons were not ruling anybody — their father had refused the office for exactly this reason Judges 8:23 — so Abimelech invents a threat and offers himself as the remedy. And the argument that persuades Shechem is tribal: he is our brother Judges 9:3.
They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal Berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and reckless fellows who followed him.
The funding comes out of a temple treasury — the Baal his people had adopted as soon as Gideon died Judges 8:33 — and it buys a gang. Seventy pieces of silver, one for each brother.
He went to his father’s house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone; but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself.
A mass execution on one stone, which reads like a slaughtering block and turns the killing into something ritual. This is the first dynastic purge in Israel's story and it will not be the last 1 Kings 15:29 2 Kings 10:7. One escapes, and the survivor is the youngest.
The trees set out to anoint a king over themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’
Jotham stands on Gerizim above the city and tells the oldest fable in Scripture. Three useful trees are asked to reign and all three refuse, each with the same objection: the olive will not stop producing oil, the fig will not leave its sweetness, the vine will not give up its wine, in order to wave back and forth over the trees Judges 9:9 Judges 9:11 Judges 9:13. Rule is presented as motion without production — and the ones who decline are the ones with something to lose.
“Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘Come and reign over us.’
The bramble accepts, because a thornbush has no fruit to sacrifice. Its offer is grotesque — come and take refuge in my shade, from a plant that casts none — and its threat is immediate: if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon Judges 9:15. Dry scrub is what starts the fires that burn the great trees. The fable's judgment is that a people who want a king will get whoever is willing, and whoever is willing may be the one thing in the field that only burns.
17 (for my father fought for you, risked his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian; 18 and you have risen up against my father’s house today and have slain his sons, seventy persons, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother);
Jotham names the ingratitude the last chapter had already recorded Judges 8:35, and then leaves the outcome as a conditional curse: if they have acted rightly, let them rejoice together; if not, let fire come out of Abimelech and out of Shechem and devour each other Judges 9:19–20. Then he runs Judges 9:21. The rest of the chapter is that curse being fulfilled in both directions.
held with reason What this mark means