Judges 9:44-57 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Judges 9:44-57. For context, we’ll begin at verse 42. Let’s go!
Judges 9:42-49 (NIV)
42 The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields, and this was reported to Abimelech.
43 So he took his men, divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose to attack them.
44 Abimelech and the companies with him rushed forward to a position at the entrance to the city gate. Then two companies rushed upon those in the fields and struck them down.
45 All that day Abimelech pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it.
46 On hearing this, the citizens in the tower of Shechem went into the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith.
47 When Abimelech heard that they had assembled there,
48 he and all his men went up Mount Zalmon. He took an ax and cut off some branches, which he lifted to his shoulders. He ordered the men with him, “Quick! Do what you have seen me do!”
49 So all the men cut branches and followed Abimelech. They piled them against the stronghold and set it on fire over the people inside. So all the people in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women, also died.
On verses 42-49: What a solemn and dramatic way for the feud between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem to end. After destroying most of the city and the people of Shechem (v42-45), Abimelech burns the remaining 1,000 citizens of Shechem alive while they are hiding in the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith. Ironically, this is possibly the same temple where the citizens of Shechem first cursed Abimelech and started their revolt against him (see Judges 9:27). As verse 57 notes, it’s also an uncanny fulfillment of the curse Jotham enunciated in Judges 9:20 (“let fire come out from Abimelech and consume you, citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelech!”)
What can we learn from this? The remaining citizens of Shechem hoped that hiding in the temple of El-Berith would keep them safe, but their hopes never materialized. Similarly, we all put our hope in something or someone. The question is whether that hope will materialize or disappoint. Rather than putting your hope in anything or anyone else, which is bound to lead to disappointment, put your hope in the Lord.
Judges 9:50-57 (NIV)
50 Next Abimelech went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it.
51 Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women–all the people of the city–fled. They locked themselves in and climbed up on the tower roof.
52 Abimelech went to the tower and stormed it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire,
53 a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.
54 Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, ‘A woman killed him.'” So his servant ran him through, and he died.
55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they went home.
56 Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers.
57 God also made the men of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.
On verses 50-57: After completely destroying the city of Shechem, Abimelech sets his sights on capturing another city, Thebez. When the people of that city locked themselves in a tower, Abimelech planned to use the same approach that he used when he destroyed Shechem: burn down that tower in which they are hiding (v52). But Abimelech would not be successful this time. Instead, an unidentified woman drops a large stone on Abimelech’s head and wounds him fatally. This is the third time in the book of Judges that a courageous and resourceful woman plays a crucial role in defeating an enemy ruler (the others being Deborah and Jael in Judges 4).
The author of Judges sees this as God serving justice to Abimelech, repaying him for murdering his seventy brothers (v56).
What can we learn from this?
– God is a just God who will make sure one day that every wrong is righted and that justice is served.
– Overall verses 42 to 57 tell the tale of two towers. The citizens of Shechem hid in a tower/stronghold in the temple of El-Berith and were destroyed. The citizens of Thebez hid in a tower/stronghold and were kept safe. Likewise, you and I have a tower in which we can hide and be kept safe: it’s the LORD Himself. As Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”
Thank You Jesus that in You we have a hope that will not disappoint and a strong tower in which we are safe. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
