{"id":27480,"date":"2023-08-11T22:00:21","date_gmt":"2023-08-12T05:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/judges-9_30-43-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-07-25T20:21:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T03:21:00","slug":"judges-9_44-57","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/judges-9_44-57\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tower We Hide In"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judges 9:44-57 \u00a0 <\/strong>Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Judges 9:44-57.\u00a0 For context, we\u2019ll begin at verse 42.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Judges 9:42-49 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n42\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields, and this was reported to Abimelech.
\n43\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So 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.
\n44\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Abimelech 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.
\n45\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0All 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.
\n46\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On hearing this, the citizens in the tower of Shechem went into the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith.
\n47\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Abimelech heard that they had assembled there,
\n48\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0he 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!”
\n49\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 42-49: What a solemn and dramatic way for the feud between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem to end.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 As verse 57 notes, it\u2019s also an uncanny fulfillment of the curse Jotham enunciated in Judges 9:20 (\u201clet 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!”)<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 The remaining citizens of Shechem hoped that hiding in the temple of El-Berith would keep them safe, but their hopes never materialized.\u00a0 Similarly,\u00a0we all put our hope in something or someone. The question is whether that hope will materialize or disappoint.<\/strong>\u00a0 Rather than putting your hope in anything or anyone else, which is bound to lead to disappointment, put your hope in the Lord.<\/p>\n

Judges 9:50-57 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n50\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Next Abimelech went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it.
\n51\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Inside 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.
\n52\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Abimelech went to the tower and stormed it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire,
\n53\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.
\n54\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Hurriedly 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.
\n55\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they went home.
\n56\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers.
\n57\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0God also made the men of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 50-57:\u00a0 After completely destroying the city of Shechem, Abimelech sets his sights on capturing another city, Thebez.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 But Abimelech would not be successful this time.\u00a0 Instead, an unidentified woman drops a large stone on Abimelech\u2019s head and wounds him fatally.\u00a0 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).<\/p>\n

The author of Judges sees this as God serving justice to Abimelech, repaying him for murdering his seventy brothers (v56).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0God is a just God who will make sure one day that every wrong is righted and that justice is served.<\/strong><\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0Overall verses 42 to 57 tell the tale of two towers.\u00a0 The citizens of Shechem hid in a tower\/stronghold in the temple of El-Berith and were destroyed.\u00a0 The citizens of Thebez hid in a tower\/stronghold and were kept safe.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise, you and I have a tower in which we can hide and be kept safe: it\u2019s the LORD Himself.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0As Proverbs 18:10 says,\u00a0\u201cThe name of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thank You Jesus that in You we have a hope that will not disappoint and a strong tower in which we are safe.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Judges 9:44-57.\u00a0 For context, we\u2019ll begin at verse 42.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Judges 9:42-49 (NIV)
\n42\u00a0\u00a0The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields, and this was reported to Abimelech.
\n43\u00a0\u00a0So 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.
\n44\u00a0\u00a0Abimelech 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.
\n45\u00a0\u00a0All 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.
\n46\u00a0\u00a0On hearing this, the citizens in the tower of Shechem went into the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith.
\n47\u00a0\u00a0When Abimelech heard that they had assembled there,<\/p>\n

On verses 42-49: What a solemn and dramatic way for the feud between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem to end.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 As verse 57 notes, it\u2019s also an uncanny fulfillment of the curse Jotham enunciated in Judges 9:20 (\u201clet 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!”)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27480"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27485,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27480\/revisions\/27485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}