Abimelech - everything a saviour is not

Okay, the repeated cycle, God sends a saviour.

We have a period of peace with God.

Then the people abandon God when that judge dies.

Then they're punished by God for their abandoning him.

And then they cry out to God for help.

This cycle reflects what judges is about

and it kind of forces us to ask the question,

well, who can save us?

It keeps going over and over again.

Who can save us?

But what actually drives that judges cycle?

What drives it?

Well, from God's perspective, the cycle is driven by God's mercy.

His willingness to save his people is what actually keeps it going

because the people are unfaithful over and over again.

So from God's perspective, it's God's willingness to provide that saviour.

But from a human perspective,

what drives the people of God to move on to the next stage?

From a human perspective, the judges cycle,

is driven by their punishment.

When Israel is punished, they start to look around for relief.

When they suffer loss, that's when they begin to experience regret.

It's when they lose the things that they really value

that they start looking to God for help.

Not straight away.

They try everything else first.

But God is so merciful that even though in a roundabout way they come back to him,

he still saves them.

The story of Abimelech is about the detail of this big picture of the judges cycle.

The detail.

It's what happens, we kind of zoom in now,

what happens when the judge dies.

It's the only example we have of this really,

of the judge dying and then things descending into chaos.

This is the only part of judges that actually gives us a glimpse

into the kinds of things that might have been happening all along,

but we see them in real detail here.

It zooms in on the detail of what happens

when Israel turns its back on God.

It's about that abandoned God face.

But it all starts with Abimelech and his father Gideon.

You see, Gideon was the last judge.

He left a legacy as a last judge as well.

He was offered and refused a dynastic kingship in chapter 8, verses 22 to 23.

They offer him the kingship and Gideon says to them,

I will not rule over you and my son will not rule over you.

The Lord will rule over you.

He declared that the Lord alone should rule Israel.

And yet, here's his legacy.

Gideon lived like a king.

He had many wives.

Many sons.

Seventy sons.

That wasn't one wife.

He had many wives.

You imagine how many wives that would have taken,

particularly with the kind of death rate amongst babies at that point in time.

Seventy sons.

Even a concubine.

Abimelech.

Abimelech.

And not only that, but Gideon called his son by that concubine Abimelech.

Or, what was the other pronunciation?

That's how I'm saying it.

So, who knows?

I'm not sure which one's right.

But he called that.

He called his son by his concubine Abimelech, which means literally,

my father is king.

I will not be king, says Abimelech.

And then calls his son, my father is king.

Gideon's legacy was that he ruled in everything but name.

And he wasn't even subtle about that.

So, we have on the one hand, Gideon's legacy.

On the other hand, we have Abimelech's inheritance.

Abimelech inherited this legacy.

He bore the name that told the story.

He was the son of Gideon's concubine.

A concubine was, at best, a second-class wife.

At worst, a woman kept for pleasure in those times.

So, he was kind of bottom of the heap.

Abimelech was last in the line to inherit,

just like his father had been, the least of his tribe.

Seventy sons all the way down the line, and then Abimelech.

And if things weren't bad enough for him at that point,

we read in verse 33 of chapter 8.

As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again

and whored after the Baals and made Baal-barit their god.

And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their god,

who would deliver them from the hand of all of their enemies

on every side.

And they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal,

that is Gideon, in return for all the good

that he had done to Israel.

When Gideon died, the people of Israel did exactly

what they'd always done.

They abandoned faithfulness to the Lord their god.

For Baal-barit, of all things.

Baal-barit actually means, literally,

Lord of the Covenant.

So they had a Lord, and they had a covenant with that Lord.

And they abandoned it for an idol.

Not only did they abandon faithfulness to the Lord their god,

but they abandoned faithfulness to Gideon and his family.

And Abimelech was the bottom of the pile of that family

that was abandoned.

That pile had come crashing down around his ears.

So what could he do?

Well, what the heart wants?

The heart wants.

Abimelech's world was falling apart around him.

He had a choice to make.

He had two choices, really.

He had the choice that every Israelite had.

The choice we all have.

He could choose to be faithful to the Lord,

regardless of what was going on around him.

Regardless of that.

He could choose to trust the Lord.

Trust the Lord to act.

Trust the Lord with his future.

But if he did, this future would be uncertain.

He wouldn't know how that would turn out.

It's certainly up to this point,

he was at the bottom of the pile.

What would happen next?

So he could choose to be faithful to the Lord

and trust him.

Or he could choose to take matters into his own hands.

He could act to shape his future.

He could act to provide the stability,

the security, the success that he wanted for himself.

And what the heart wants?

The heart wants.

Abimelech chose to take matters into his own hands.

And the story of Abimelech is the story of this struggle.

The struggle to choose between trusting a God

who has proven to be faithful,

to be good,

versus trusting ourselves with our future.

Taking matters into our own hands.

Seizing control of circumstances

to guarantee a favorable outcome for me.

To secure those things we really miss

when we suffer loss.

Notice in the cycle,

they abandoned God.

They didn't miss the peace they had with God.

They weren't struggling

until things that they did love were taken away.

Abimelech had two choices.

He made the bad choice.

And he was crafty in how he did it, wasn't he?

He appealed to everyone else's desire

to control outcomes.

To get what they want.

Genesis, he appeals to the Genesis.

And there's a lot of parallels

with the Genesis account as well of the fall.

The early chapters of Genesis in these verses.

You see, Abimelech went to his mother's home in Shechem

and he kindled their desire as well

for stability, security and success.

He said to his mother's family,

Say in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem,

Which is better for you?

That all 70 of the sons of Jerubal rule over you?

Or that one rule over you?

Remember that I am your bone

and your flesh.

Verse 2, chapter 9.

Abimelech appealed to his deep connection to them.

He was their flesh and blood.

Do you recognize these words,

these two words, bone and flesh,

where they first appear in the Bible?

Genesis, chapter 2, verse 23.

Genesis 2:23

These are the words that Adam used

to celebrate the bond he felt with Eve

when he first saw her.

This, at last,

is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh.

He was saying,

I'm not just your friend,

I'm your family,

your intimate family.

Surely, the people of Shechem are thinking,

a ruler from amongst us,

a ruler like this,

with this kind of connection,

surely he is going to favor us.

So they helped him to seize control

in a way that's reminiscent of Genesis 4.

In verse 4 of chapter 9,

we read this,

Genesis 4,

just as Cain killed Abel.

Abimelech sees his brothers in the way

of the thing that he wanted

and lines them up

and kills them.

He took money from the temple

to Baal.

He hired worthless men

and he killed his brothers

in a horrific way.

Must have just lined them up

and slaughtered them

one after the other.

All his brothers, that is,

except for Jotham,

who escaped by hiding.

Then in verse 6, we read,

once this was done,

all the leaders of Shechem

came together

and all Beth Milo

and they went

and made Abimelech king

by the oak

of the pillar at Shechem.

This, friends,

is what life looks like

without God.

It's a brutal scene.

What could possibly

move a person

to do that kind of thing?

Why would you want

someone like this

to be your king?

Well, Abimelech's story

spells out the answer for us.

You see, when we seize control

like this,

we replace God.

Something else,

becomes our first delight.

Paul described this

in Romans 1,

Romans 1:18

verses 18 and following,

and you can read that later

if you like.

But what he says

in those verses

is as we turn away

from our Creator,

our hearts turn

toward created things

and we pursue them.

And we pursue them

with increasing energy.

And as we do,

Paul describes,

we descend further

and further

into our ignorance

and depravity.

Without God,

whatever we desire most

becomes our God.

And we will do anything

to serve this God.

And we will sacrifice anything

to this God.

but we just don't see

what we're doing.

So God used Jotham

and Abimelech

to show his people

their own hearts.

Each man revealed hearts

in a different way.

Jotham,

well, he exposed hearts

with his speech.

Abimelech expressed his heart,

demonstrated what was

on his heart

with his actions.

So first Jotham,

the hearts exposed by Jotham

in verses 7 to 21.

When it was told Jotham

about the making

of Abimelech king,

he went and stood up

on top of Mount Gerizim

and cried aloud

and said to them,

listen to me,

you leaders of Shechem,

that God may listen to you.

Before Jotham even speaks though,

we have to look at Jotham's name.

You see,

before he even cries out

his message,

his name speaks volumes.

Jotham,

translated from Hebrew,

means Yahweh is perfect.

Even Jotham's name

was a signpost back to God.

Whatever they're choosing

to delight in,

whatever they are worshipping,

Jotham's name says

Yahweh is better.

He is perfect.

God alone is perfect.

So we have Jotham's name,

then we have Jotham's aim

in what he's doing.

Jotham actually had something

really important to say

and he goes on to tell a parable

about a bunch of trees

and I think that,

Matt,

you made really good sense of that.

That was really helpful.

An olive tree,

a fig tree,

a grapevine

and a bramble.

This parable takes aim

at the people

and Abimelech

as Jotham tells this.

You see,

the people have chosen

a bramble

to take shade under.

You guys have seen a bramble,

haven't you?

You know what a bramble's like.

It's a low-growing plant.

It's the most impractical choice

for shade you could possibly imagine.

It's got thorns all over it.

It doesn't even fruit.

Its only use

was for gathering up

and burning as kindling

and that's what they used it for

in those times.

Getting under a bramble

for shade

means abasing yourself.

It means getting onto your stomach

and crawling into its shade

through thorns.

It means taking refuge

in a fuel dump.

This is what the people chose

over Yahweh,

their perfect God.

And Abimelech,

it tells us about him too

because Abimelech

is that bramble.

He's the thorny bush

no one in their right mind

would seek to shade under.

He's the one incapable

of bearing fruit.

He's the fire starter.

He is the fuel dump

ready to go up in flames.

Jotham is saying,

why in the world

would you choose him

over God?

Why in the world

would you?

But we do,

don't we?

We do.

I was chatting with Matt

at the men's camp

this weekend

and he made this observation

about this period in history.

He's been reading Chronicles

and noticing just how

things just keep going

in cycles

even through the kings.

People turn away from God,

set up their idols

and then turn back to God.

They worshipped everything

other than God

then they return to God.

They build altars,

they tore them down again.

And Matt confessed to me,

I'm outing him here,

he said,

he felt like it was a daily pattern

in his life

that that's what it was like.

I agreed with him.

It is a daily pattern

like that in his life

and my life

and your life.

If we're honest,

it's true, isn't it?

Daily pattern for us

to actually continue

to treasure God

as that perfect saviour.

To treasure God

for who he is.

To recognise him

as the only perfect God.

We choose good things

over our perfect God

every day.

And what we're seeing here

is a call back

to choose God.

The final thing

to say about this,

what happens

with Jotham's speech

is this.

He says all of this

in a particularly

significant place.

When Jotham

has climbed up

onto Mount Gerizim,

it's not actually

the top of Mount Gerizim.

Apparently the mountain's

too big.

If he was at the top,

no one would see him

let alone hear him.

He was at a promontory

but it was a promontory

that was actually

used previously.

It was used

by Israel before.

You see,

in Deuteronomy 27,

Moses instructed

the people

when they went

to the promised lands

to gather at Shechem

and to basically

do this,

to have half the tribes

gather on Mount Gerizim

and half the tribes

gather on Mount Ebal.

two mountains

opposite each other.

And what they were

to do was

one group of tribes

on Mount Gerizim

were to read out

the blessings

that God longs

to just pour out

on his people,

Israel.

And the group

on Mount Ebal

were then to shout back

the curses

that would happen

if they abandoned God.

So they gathered

at this place

in the past

to read out

to each other

the blessings

and the curses,

to shout them

across this very valley.

all the good things

that God would

pour out on his people

if he kept their covenant

with him,

all the bad things

that would happen

if they didn't.

And Jotham says

these words

now in verse 16,

now therefore,

if you acted

in good faith

and integrity

when you made

Abimelech king

and if you have

dealt with Jerubal

and his house

and have done him

as his deeds deserved,

well,

there's a possibility

of blessing.

He's standing

on Gerizim,

the mountain

of blessing.

The only other place

that this phrase,

good faith

and integrity

appears in the whole Bible

is in Joshua 24.

This is the famous passage

where Joshua

nails his colors

to the mast

and says,

as for me,

choose this day

whom you will serve Israel,

but as for me

and my house,

we will serve the Lord.

So only the time

this verse is used,

this phrase is used,

and Joshua said

those words

at Shechem 2.

This place,

the geography

of this place

has so much history

for Israel,

so much history

that points them

towards choosing

a good and perfect God

over feeble substitutes.

Jotham is trying

to call the nation

of Israel

back from the brink.

He's trying to expose

the path

that they're treading

and he does that

quite graphically.

He said,

you've made Abimelech

a worthless man king.

You've risen up

against Gideon,

a faithful servant.

You've slaughtered

his 70 sons.

He exposes their path,

but he still lays out

a choice

in how he does it.

It's a choice

that calls the people

back to Yahweh,

their perfect God.

They ignore Jotham.

Next thing we read

in verse 22

is that Abimelech

ruled over Israel

for three years.

Abimelech ruled Israel.

Remember,

Gideon refused to rule

because they already

had a God.

Abimelech wasn't even

appointed by God.

He wasn't even a judge.

He was self-appointed.

He wasn't a saviour.

He was a bramble.

And he didn't have

the spirit of God.

Although God did send

a spirit.

God sent a spirit

which characterised

Abimelech's reign.

An evil spirit.

In verse 23,

we read this,

and God sent

an evil spirit

between Abimelech

and the leaders

of Shechem.

And the leaders

of Shechem

dealt treacherously

with Abimelech.

God sent an evil spirit

among them.

Note that God

didn't set them

on their path,

though.

What God does

is he gives them

over to this path.

They've already

chosen the path

of evil.

God says,

okay,

here you go.

On your way.

God punished them

by giving them

over toward their

inclination toward evil.

They had betrayed

Gideon's family.

Now they were going

to act treacherously

toward each other.

What we see in this

is that that treachery

stimulates

and motivates

Abimelech

to actually seek

revenge.

Gal conspired

with the leaders

of Shechem,

we read,

against Abimelech.

They got drunk

at a grape harvest,

apparently,

and started to slander

him and plot.

Zebel was there.

That's how you say

his name.

He conspired

with Abimelech.

He was a friend

of Abimelech.

He was there,

heard the plot,

conspired with Abimelech

against Gal.

They heard the plans.

They set a trap.

The short version

is everyone dies.

He was there

tragically,

tragically,

by fire,

as God's punishment

for sin.

Even Abimelech's revenge

serves God's justice.

And Abimelech's death,

still his death,

reflects God's mercy.

You see,

as much as we see

the hearts of the people

and perhaps even

a glimpse into our own hearts

through the choices

that were being made,

through the actions

that followed,

we also see

the heart of our God

on display here.

The heart of God

is revealed

in the events

of Abimelech's life.

God's heart

is to end suffering,

even as God's people

rebel against him,

even as God

hands out justice.

And we get a glimpse

of this in verses

50 to 55.

You see,

Abimelech is rampant

in his wrath.

He launches wave

after wave

of attacks.

He destroys

his enemies.

And he doesn't stop.

Shechem and Beth Milo

are destroyed.

They were complicit

in what went on.

But in verse 50

we read this.

Then Abimelech

went to Thebes

and encamped

against Thebes

and captured it.

Why did he do that?

There is no evidence

in this story

that Thebes

had anything to do

with the trouble

against Abimelech.

So it appears

that Abimelech

is burning

like brambles do.

Hot

and fast.

In his anger

Abimelech

was consuming

anything

in his path.

Until

a certain woman

who just happened

to be carrying

a millstone

at the top

of a castle

tossed it over

onto his head.

A random event?

Well the conclusion

of the right of the judges

is anything but

that it's random.

The conclusion

of the right of the judges

is that God

is in control.

God limited

Abimelech's rampage

to mete out

the justice

that God desired,

that God demanded.

But no more

than that.

God acted

surgically

to establish

justice

and to end

suffering.

suffering.

This is how we

see some of the

nature of God

in wanting

to end

suffering.

But beyond

that,

you see Abimelech's

reign began

with the desire

to control

the outcome

of his life.

to avoid

the suffering

in his life,

he rejected

God's rule

for his own.

Then ironically,

his reign

was characterized

by violence

and suffering

for everyone

around him.

He was the

king in name,

but he couldn't

lead his people

to the safety,

stability

and success

that he desired.

If anything,

the book of Judges

teaches us

that if our

blessing is left

to our choice,

then we are

sunk.

Time and time

again we see

those choices

fail and the

people of God

moving away

from God

himself.

This book

doesn't point

us to the

next big act

that we need

to do to

save ourselves.

It points

us to the

only Savior

who could

break the

judge's cycle.

Nothing

else

but a

Savior

from God

could do

that.

And that

Savior

didn't do

it by

seizing

control.

He did

it by

completely

submitting

to the

will

of Yahweh,

our

Heavenly

Father,

in a way

that we

couldn't.

Our Savior

didn't save

us from a

position of

power,

exerting

his influence

and authority

over the

things that

exist.

He saved

us by

emptying

himself

from absolute

power.

He had

the power.

He emptied

himself from it.

He gave

it up.

He embraced

our weakness.

Jesus' death

on the cross

satisfies God's

justice and

mercy.

Jesus is the

one that

judges points

to.

Where time

and time

again human

saviors

failed.

Jesus,

God the

Son,

took on the

role for us.

His death

on the

cross

satisfies

God's

justice

and

provides

God's

mercy.

And it

does it in

the opposite

way to the

one we

would choose.

Paul describes

the message of

the gospel as

foolishness rather

than wisdom,

weakness rather

than strength,

a display of

weakness rather

than strength,

a display of

submission rather

than exerting

influence or

authority over.

And it's a

wonderful message

for us too,

because that's

a message

that as we

experience

suffering,

we can know

that our

saviour has

entered into

suffering and

has conquered

it on our

behalf.

But to

finish up,

it's important

to actually

address how

this blessing

and curse

kind of play

out for us

now.

Because what

I want to

suggest to you

here is this,

that the

saviour who

suffered on

our behalf

calls us

to a path

of suffering.

For the

Israelites,

the suffering

followed

disobedience,

followed

abandoning

God,

finding other

things to

delight in

above God.

But it's

different,

it's very

different for

us.

Jesus,

the suffering

servant who

saved us,

entered into

suffering in

our behalf

and then

invited us to

follow him on

his path.

life.

In Matthew

16, he

says,

take up

your cross

and follow

me.

Later in

Matthew, he

showed us

exactly what

that looks

like.

Now, don't

get me wrong,

there's an

undeniable

goodness in

making the

good choice to

honour God

and to live

for him.

There's deep

intrinsic blessing

in obeying God's

commands and in

living his way.

His way is

fullness of

life.

But that

equation to

obey God,

to delight in

him, to

worship him

alone, and

then you'll be

blessed with

land, offspring,

blessing and

so on,

prosperity and

health, that's

not quite how

God calls us

to now.

He calls us

to pursue him

directly.

Our reward,

our delight,

our joy is

living in close

relationship with

our God.

our heavenly

Father, without

fear and

certain of his

fatherly affection

for us.

I can remember

a few years

ago, one of

our children

was going

to chapel at

their school,

and at chapel

at school, the

repeated message,

the repeated

refrain was,

you can do

anything if

you try.

In God's

strength, you

can do

anything, you

just have to

apply yourself,

you just have

to work hard

enough.

Now both of

my boys have

had chronic

fatigue syndrome

for several

years.

What kind

of thing

that does

to someone

who has

chronic

fatigue?

things like

that

thing?

It says,

you're the

failure.

That son

asked me,

can I stop

going to

chapel?

I said to

him, you

can go and

ask the

chaplain if

he can give

you a good

explanation for

why you're not

able to do

what he's asking

you to do,

and if he

can't, then

I'll write a

letter and

say you no

longer have

to go to

chapel.

He stopped

going to

chapel because

we don't have

an answer to

this issue.

Friends,

this is a hard

word, so if

you're not yet a

Christian and

you're thinking

about becoming

a Christian,

I want to

tell you this,

the path of

the Christian

life is a

difficult path.

Not always,

there's so much

joy that fills

our lives, but

there are

difficult choices

to make day

in and day

out, and we

don't always

succeed at that,

as the

conversation that

Matt and I

had related to

you.

We don't

always succeed

at that.

But in

Christ, we

have a God

who loves us

so much that

he's rescued us

from our

failed attempts.

He's rescued us

from our inability

to achieve what

he rightfully

deserves, and

he's granted it

to us as a

gift.

So yes,

the path of

suffering,

and yes,

the guarantee

of our good

God is that

one day he

will call us

home.

Let me pray.

Father God,

we look at this

story and we

can see so much

of ourselves in

so many ways.

perhaps we're

thinking in some

ways, well,

we haven't

succumbed to the

excesses of

Abimelech.

But Lord, we

know in our

hearts that we

don't treasure

you as we

should in

every aspect of

our lives.

We know that

there are aspects

of our lives that

we allow to get

bigger, more

important, more

valuable, more

precious to us

than you.

So Lord, we

thank you for

saving us even

from that,

even from our

willfulness, our

willingness to

turn away from

you.

Thank you for

bearing the

cost of our

rebellion so

that justice is

served and we

can just receive

your mercy,

your love,

uninhibitedly from

you.

We thank you,

Lord, and praise

you for that.

Amen.