Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

Gideon was a faithful man of God. He stuck to it. Forty years they had peace. You didn’t have peace if you didn’t follow God. Forty years. He did a lot of good for Israel (Judges 8:35). But his lifestyle wasn’t top of the pops. He had a LOT of wives. And at least one concubine. God might LET us do something harmful because we refuse to do it His way, but it doesn’t mean it is what we SHOULD do and it ALWAYS comes with pain – rebellion always does. From the beginning it was one man and one woman (Matthew 19:8) and ANY deviation from that brings pain. Only obedience brings painless blessing (Proverbs 10:22). Gideon died and had no distinct heir to the judgeship of Israel – not unusual, God chose the judges and not men.

That concubine had a son named Abimelek. They lived in Shechem. That was the town in the valley between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal – where the Law was placed on stones and the Israelites spoke out the blessing and curses that come along with it (Joshua 8:30-35). This is the town Abimelek lived in, was raised in, and operated from. This is a son who wanted to be a king. Perhaps he was there when they offered it to his father, Gideon (Judges 8:22-23). Whatever the case, he saw himself a ruler and went about making it happen.

The first thing he did was go to his brothers (all seventy of them) in Shechem and got them to talk him up before the elders. And they did. The elders liked it. They liked it a LOT. They paid that man seventy silver coins. From the temple of an idol. You see, after Gideon died Israel forgot God and what God had done for them. They went back to idol worship. They used the money given to one of those idols to pay Abimelek. He used that money to hire unprincipled and undisciplined men. And they went and killed all the sons. All his brothers – except one who escaped because he hid himself. All the elders of Shechem gathered together and the men made Abimelek king.

That escapee made an appearance. He escaped the house, ran out of town, climbed Mount Gerizim, and shouted to the gathering below. He charged them for their behaviour in how they picked Abimelek and how they approved of his murdering his half-brothers. He rebuked them for how poorly they had dealt with Gideon’s family – after his father Gideon had risked his life for them. He told a parable about fruit trees and a bramble. Everything that produced something refused to lower themselves to be king. But the bramble, good for nothing and part of the curse, that bramble agreed to be king. Then he prophesied. If they had acted in good faith, all would be well. If they had acted poorly, he said let fire come out from Abimelek and consume all the leaders of Shechem and the temple to the idol AND let fire come from the leaders and consume Abimelek. Then – wisely – he ran off, went to Beer, and lived there.

Abimelek ruled for three (3) years. There was a split between the leaders and Abimelek. They tried to ambush and kill him. He gathered his men and attacked them. It got messy. They would send bandits to rob the trade in his territory. Another guy came in and tried to challenge Abimelek. Abimelek went and took towns. It was messy. In the end, he got all the people of the Tower of Shechem in the fortified temple and he burned it up – killing a thousand men and woman. Then Abimelek went to Thebez and was bound to do the same thing to the tower there. They got the branches and went to set them alight, but a woman threw an upper millstone and it crushed his skull. He wasn’t QUITE dead and asked his armour bearer to kill him – and the young man did. Once it was known he was dead, everyone went home.

All that effort. All that blood, betrayal, and rebellion from God’s way. All of that, and Abimelech isn’t even accounted a judge of Israel. He ruled for three years, but he NEVER judged them. It is an epilogue of Gideon’s time of judging only. How sad. Unnecessary pain to the people. Because they refused to remember God and walk in His ways.

“So God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech committed against his father by killing his seventy brothers. And God also repaid all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads, and the curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal fell on them.” (Judges 9:56-57)

Next we have Tola. He lived in Shamir and judged Israel for twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried. That’s it, almost word for word.

Next we have Jair. He was a Gileadite and judged for twenty-two years. He had thirty sons who had thirty donkeys and lived in thirty cities. Donkeys were a mark of prosperity. It’s always mentioned to denote a person’s wealth. Kings rode upon them. Horses were animals for warfare and were imported into the country at that. But the donkey was a kingly symbol of peace and prosperity. Jesus rode on it because He was a king. Humble because He wasn’t showy and craving human accolades. He was simply stating the truth and pointing towards the Father who made it all happen. For anyone of ancient Israel, those ‘in the know’, Jesus was proclaiming Himself kingly.

This judge and these boys show three characteristics: prosperity without purpose, affluence without influence, and prestige without power. He was a VERY prestigious man. He was VERY wealthy. He DID judge and followed God. But did his wealth help him be a better judge? Did he use it to bring glory to God? Did he bless and improve the lives of the people? The Word is very silent on these points. He was living more like a king who ruled. I don’t think that speaks well of Jair, but I could be missing it. I’m open to correction. In any case, he died. Once again, the people did evil in the sight of God. They worshipped the gods of the Syria, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, AND the Philistines. It’s like they didn’t want to miss any.

They forsook God. They turned away from Him. They went and served other gods. They were happy to do it, until the consequences came knocking. When you REJECT God and walk away, you have LEFT the Blessing! Which puts you in a position where you are in danger. This isn’t being vulnerable. This is dancing naked in a field of glass spikes. From that year the Philistines and the people of Ammon harassed AND oppressed the Israelites for eighteen years. First to all the people who were in Gilead on the Amorite side of the Jordan. Then they crossed over into Judah too. Particularly against Benjamin and Ephraim.

After eighteen years, they had had enough. They cried out to God and said “We have sinned against you; we have abandoned our God and served the Baals” (Judges 10:10b). God said go whine to your gods. “And Yahweh said to the Israelites, “Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, from the Ammonites, and from the Philistines? And when the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites oppressed you, you cried out to me, and I delivered you from their hand. Yet you have abandoned me and served other gods. Therefore I will no longer deliver you. Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your trouble” (Judges 10:11-15). That’s pretty clear. God is reminding them that they did not remember Him. What He did. And what they did in response. It was a fair statement.

They listened to what He said. They put away the foreign gods. They went back to the Law and they served Him. And what did the Lord do? In spite of His righteous anger. In spite of the clear rebellion they had done. In spite of all of that, the MERCY and the LOVE that God’s character is made of could not endure the misery of the Israelites any longer.

The people of Ammon gathered and encamped at Gilead. The children of Israel gathered and encamped in Mizpah, about 25km away. The people were asking about who was going to deliver them. They were willing to let that person be head over them. They were not picky. They would take ANYONE. They would get Jephthah the Gileadite.

Summary

Key Players: God, Abimelek, Jotham, Tola, Jair, Jephthah

Key Themes: Self-Service, Betrayal, Remembrance, Idolatry, Mercy

Key Verse(s): Judges 9:1-6, 16-21, 49, 50-53, 56-57; 10:1-8, 15-16