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Abimelech and JephthahJudges 9:1 – 12:15by Dellena LudwigOur memory verse for this lesson came from Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” From the time Israel settled into the Promised Land, this adage had been proven true. The people fell into that cycle of forgetting God, falling into sin, feeling the consequences, forsaking their sins, and fearing God; only to fall into sin again. Today's lesson is no different. But we will examine more closely how jealousy played a large role in Israel's sin cycle concerning the lives of the judges Abimelech and Jephthah.The beginning of Abimelech's story followed immediately after the end of Gideon's story. Judges 8:33 & 34 revealed, “No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.” [Judges 8:33, 34] Baal-Berith was an idol in Shechem whose name meant, “the god of the covenant”. However, the covenant referred to, was not Israel's Covenant with Jehovah, but rather it referred to a covenant by treaty between several Canaanite cities to worship this version of Baal. A temple was built on a raised hill outside of Shechem to which people from all around would come to worship their idol and hold their ceremonies in his honor. To put this situation into even deeper contrast, remember with me back to when Joshua had led the people to successfully destroy the fortified town of Ai. The next day he built an altar on Mount Ebal according to Moses' instructions, and offered burnt offerings to their Lord God upon it. Then, Joshua wrote a copy of God's Law on stones in Israel's presence. And with half of the people standing on Mt. Gerizim and half of them standing on Mt. Ebal, he reviewed the Law with all of the people. “Afterward Joshua read all the words of the law – the blessings and the curses – just as it is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.” [Joshua 8:34,35] Finally, in the last chapter of his book, Joshua renewed the Covenant again with all the people of Israel at the end of his life. There in Shechem, after Israel had taken the city, he reviewed all God had done in Israel's history, and set up a stone in Shechem to remind the people of their Covenant with God. In Joshua 24:25 it was recorded, “On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws.”Therefore, the history of the hills and city of Shechem, were of reconsecration to the Covenant of the Lord God. But by the end of Gideon's life, this same location was now dedicated to the people's covenant with Baal. They dove into a free-fall; into idolatry, and into the curses that God, as promised, would follow.We learned about Gideon's participation in this free-fall at the end of his life. He began a cult of worshiping the ephod he made out of the spoil from the Midianites, married multiple wives, who gave him 70 sons, and fathered a son by a concubine who lived in Shechem. This final son he named Abimelek whose name meant, “My (Divine) Father is King.” Gideon had been asked to be the king of Israel. In Judges 8:23, he answered them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” However, although Gideon refused this role, by giving his son that name, Abimelech took his name as his life mission. He, at the beginning of chapter 9 began to lobby for the position his earthly father had refused.Abimelech went to live among his mother's brothers in Shechem. There he started a political campaign: “Ask all the citizens of Shechem, 'Which is better for you: to have all seventy of Jerub-Baal's sons rule over you, or just one man? Remember, I am your flesh and blood!” [Judges 9:2]Now as political slogans go, this was a fairly radical one. First of all, He referred to his father Gideon by his acquired name, Jerub-Baal (meaning “let Baal contend with him” or “Baal contender” from Judges 6:32). He was pitting his father's destruction of Baal worship against the newly reestablished worship of Baal-Berith there in Shechem. Second, he falsely presumed that all of is half-brothers wanted to rule Israel as much as he did. Finally, Abimelech suggested that if he were king of Israel, then certainly his relatives there in Shechem would benefit. Now one might have seen through this bid for kingship as the deceptive, slanderous jealousy that it really was; however the people of Shechem decided that this really was a good idea. Perhaps because their hearts were hardened against God, they didn't inquire of Him but very quickly, agreed to name Abimelech their king.The people of Shechem even made a political contribution to Abimelech. Verse 4 reveals, “They gave him seventy shekels of sliver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelech used it to hire reckless scoundrels, who became his followers.” [Judges 9:4] The words used here translated “reckless scoundrels” suggests they were men who had no jobs; vagabonds, who led empty and immoral lives. These “reckless scoundrels” became his army, council members and finally ambassadors to help rule surrounding cities.The first item in Abimelech's campaign was to march his men to the home town of Gideon, to eliminate the competition. Verse 5 described the attack: “He went to his father's home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, escaped by hiding.” [Judges 9:5] So, by this act of a mass-murder, Abimelech accomplished his life goals: he wreaked vengeance over his brothers; he was anointed king back in Shechem; he became a judge over this section of Israel among the tribe of Manasseh.But during his coronation, Jotham, the one surviving brother, shouted a parable upon the reveling crowd, from atop Mount Gerizim. Remember, this was one of the mountains that faced each other, near Shechem, on which the tribes of Israel chanted out the blessings and curses of the Covenant with the Lord God. The acoustics were incredible and Jotham's voice could be heard by the crowd below as he told his story.He appealed to their knowledge of the fields and forests around them. In this parable, the trees were searching for another tree to be their king. They asked the olive tree, the fig tree and the grape vine in turn to become their ruler. However, each one declined this offer, because they each saw the importance of their purpose in life; to produce their fruit for the benefit of “gods” and man. But to be king meant that they must pull up their roots and wander among all the trees to govern them.But the thornbush saw kingship as a great idea! He was willing to pull up his roots and wander among all the trees and even made this promise, “If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!” [Judges 9:15]Jotham didn't leave the people of Shechem to figure out the meaning of his parable for themselves. He challenged them: “So have you acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub-Baal and his family today? If you have, may Abimelech be your joy, and may you be his, too! But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelech and consume you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth-Millo, and consume Abimelech!” [Judges 9:19, 20]The Pulpit Commentary summarizes these verses by saying, “In these and the following words, Jotham applies his parable to the Shechemites, and signifies, if they dealt sincerely, and done that which was right to the family of Gideon, in slaying all his legitimate sons, and making the son of his concubine their king, that then he wished they might be happy in Abimelech as their king; but if they had done that which was unjust and ungenerous (as they certainly had) he prays that mutual jealousies might break out between them, and that they might plague, injure, and destroy each other.”As the words of his parable echoed down from Mt. Gerizim, and reverberated in the hearts of the celebrating Shechemites, Jotham fled to a town named Beer. There were many towns of this name throughout Israel and the pages of Scripture do not identify this place with any further details. But by putting the mountain between himself and Abimelech, Jotham safely got away and was not heard from again.However, in just three short years, Jotham's words began to come true. Verse 23 stated, “God stirred up animosity between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem so that they acted treacherously against Abimelech.” [Judges 9:23] First, the Shechemites became dissatisfied with the natural commerce in Israel and began to raid and rob people as they came near, following the trade routes. Then, God used a man named Gaal to stir up the animosity, as he moved his family into Shechem. Gaal was the son of Ebed who was related to Hamor, the Hivite, whose family founded Shechem (Joshua 24:32) long before the Israelites conquered the city. By moving into Shechem, Gaal was seeking to regain his ancestral territory, as well as gradually persuade them that he was a viable leader. Using the grape harvest celebration to make his move. Gaal challenged, “Who is Abimelech, and why should we Shechemites be subject to him? Isn't he Jerub-Baal's son, and isn't Zebul his deputy? Serve the family of Hamor, Shechem's father! Why should we serve Abimelech? If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Abimelech, 'Call out your whole army!'” [Judges 9:28,29]Deputy/governor Zebul sent a message about Gaal's bragging to Abimelech, who in turn came to lie in wait outside the city the next night, as the Shechemites slept off their celebration from the feast. When the gates opened the next morning, Gaal was forced to put action to his big words and fight Abimelech's army. He was defeated and forced to leave Shechem.Now, the people thought they could just shrug off this little rebellion and return to life as usual. But when they tried to go out to their vineyards and finish their harvest, Abimelech again attacked them, preventing them from reentering the city. He captured Shechem and sowed salt in the city, to mark it as worthless in the future. Then he chased the rest of the rebel army into the tower that had been built for El-Berith, at the nearby Baal shrine, the same idol that had financed his first army.The people in Shechem weren't just Canaanites, people from the tribe of Manasseh lived there too. But they had become so immersed in the Canaanite lifestyle, that one could not tell the difference. They lived together, worked together, planted their vegetables and grapes together and together chose to stand behind worthless murders and raiders to be their leaders. So, now they would endure God's wrath together.This record was the exact fulfillment of our memory verse: “Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” [Galatians 6:7] The people of Shechem had chosen to reject God and worship the Baals. They had rejected the good character of Gideon, who said the Lord should be their King, and had chosen to follow the vein leadership of his concubine's son and made him their king. They rejected God's Covenant and chose to follow the leadership of Gaal and rebels.“God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal's seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.” [Judges 9:24] In their haste to avoid the consequences of their sins, the people of Shechem ran directly into God's punishment.Abimelech and his men gathered branches from the local forest, drug them up against the tower in the Baal shrine, and set them on fire, burning the people inside the tower to death. In fact, this worked so well, Abimelech decided to go to Thebez, another city in Shechem's confederacy, to try it again. The people of Thebez ran into a similar tower when Abimelech attacked their city. But as he was getting the branches ready to also set this tower on fire, a woman hit Abimelech with a millstone, thrown down from the roof.Now, Abimelech tried to hide the cause of his death, by asking his own armor-bearer to kill him with his own sword. But as long as God's Word exists, everyone would know that it was a woman who actually killed him. His jealousy to be more than a son of Gideon's concubine, led to his downfall by a millstone wielding woman! But although his legacy as a judge of Israel went to his head, God did use Abimelech to destroy the Canaanites in the towns of Shechem and Thebez.Perhaps this story also brings Abimelech's life as a self-centered judge, into sharp contrast with his half-brother Jotham as a prophet. Jotham was used by God to prophecy the destruction these people would 'reap' as a result of the sin they 'sowed'. Abimelec's own anger was used to bring the fulfillment of that prophecy onto the Shechemites and himself to remind the people of Israel that they must follow the Covenant of the One True God and Him alone.The next two judges served two different areas of Israel. Tola was from the tribe of Issachar and served as judge in the hill country of the tribe of Ephraim. Jair was born in the area of Gilead and served as judge in this area of the tribes of East Manasseh, Gad and perhaps Reuben, tribes east of the Jordan river. Together, Tola and Jair served as judges 45 years. But the same downward spin of Israel's cycle of faith followed their leadership.Judges 10:6 & 7 reported, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer served him, He became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites.” It took 18 years of these attacks, which centered mostly in Gilead and spilled over the Jordan River into Benjamin and Ephraim, before the people finally cried out to the Lord. But the Lord challenged them to ask the false idols they worshiped to help them, since they seemed to prefer them, even though it was Jehovah who had helped them win over so many nations before. “Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord. And he could bear Israel's misery no longer.” [Judges 10:16]Therefore, when the people of Gilead were faced by the army of the Ammonites, and they started looking among their people for a strong warrior to lead them into this battle, God showed them Jephthah. He had a beginning story very similar to that of Abimelech. He also was born into a prominent family, through a woman who was not the patriarch's wife; in this case, a prostitute. Abimelech seems to have left his father's household, to seek his fame and glory, voluntarily. But Jephthah had been forced to leave, after his father's death. His half-brothers' jealously didn't want to share the inherited land with him. Abimelech gathered his army around him by paying them to join. But Jephthah gathered his “gang of scoundrels” to himself in Tob, and rose as their leader as they worked together, where he gained the reputation as a 'mighty warrior.'Facing a war with the Ammonites, the elders of Gilead approached Jephthah asking him to be their leader and commander. Some of Jephthah's half-brothers must have been among the elders, because Jephthah responded to their request with skepticism. “Didn't you hate me and drive me from my father's house? Why do you come to me now when you're in trouble?...Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them to me – will I really be your head?” [Judges 11:7, 9]The elders realized that their need far outweighed their jealousy. So they vowed before the Lord to keep their word. They wanted Jephthah to be their commander now, in this battle, and their leader afterward. When he joined the rest of the army of Gilead at Mizpah, verse 11 stated that “...he repeated all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.” By this, Jephthah demonstrated that he valued the Lord as his God. But his first act as their commander was one of diplomacy rather than of war. Jephthah sent a letter asking why the king of the Ammonites was starting a war against Israel. The king's grievance was that Israel now occupied territory on the east of the Jordan that had belonged to Ammon. Jephthah's answer in verses 14 – 27 of chapter 11, revealed that he had a very good understanding of Israel's history. Jephthah recited how Israel had traveled through the wilderness and come to the land of Edom, Moab and Ammon. They asked permission to pass into those lands but were denied that permission. Rather than turn to battle, Israel skirted those lands until they came to the disputed territory, that was then occupied by Sihon, the Amorite. Israel also asked permission to pass through the Amorite lands, but were faced with their armies instead of permission. Israel won that battle and took only the land the Amorites held, not that of the Ammonites. God gave Israel the victory over their god that day. Through these facts, Jephthah verified Israel's claim on this disputed territory. It was in their possession for close to 300 years, not that of Ammon or Moab. Finally, Jephthah ended his letter with this statement. “I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the Lord, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.” [Judges 11:27] This battle was really Jehovah vs. Chemosh, the god of Ammon.Just as it had happened when Moses tried to reason with Sihon, the king of Ammon paid no attention to Jephthah's diplomatic letter. So as Ammon lined up his army to begin his attack, Jephthah traveled through Gilead and Manasseh gathering men to join against this assault. The Spirit of the Lord had come on Jephthah, and the men followed him through Mizpah to face the army of Ammon. I can only imagine the tension that was felt in the camps as the armies faced war in the next few days. It was at this time that we read of Jephthah's vow. He vowed to the Lord, “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord's and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” [Judges 11:30,31]There has been a great deal of speculation about Jephthah's intention in this vow among commentators. In the Pulpit Commentary, it is stated, “Obviously, in the greatness of his danger and the extreme hazard of his understanding [Judges 12:3], he thought to propitiate God's favor by a terrible and extraordinary vow. … It cannot surprise us that a man brought up as Jephthah was, and leading the life of a freebooter at the head of a band of Syrian outlaws, should have the common Syrian notion of the efficacy of human sacrifices in great emergencies.” Just as Jephthah's understanding of the Lord God was imperfect, and influenced by the idol worship he saw around him in Tob, so Christians today may have wrong influences we don't even recognize. Are we so immersed in the culture of compromise in which we live, that we don't even realize we have adopted the world's immoral practices? Romans 12:2 warns us, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is – his good pleasing and perfect will.” Our salvation renews our spirit, giving us for the first time a relationship with the Lord God. Studying His Word renews our mind, to teach and change us to be more like God's Son day by day. Only as we allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sins can we move out of compromise with the world, and into the bold new life where we can easily see God's will for us daily. This is a process. But as we live in the Spirit, we should see that progress in our lives.Jephthah was sincere in his vow to offer as a sacrifice “whatever” came out of the door to greet him. He sincerely desired to rely on the Lord God for victory. And God did give him a resounding victory. “He devastated 20 towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.” [Judges 11:33]And even though it broke his heart, Jephthah offered his only daughter as a sacrifice to fulfill his vow to the Lord.The Bible accurately records the lives of his judges, prophets and kings revealing both their good and bad decisions. There is no evidence in these Scriptures that God blessed Jephthah's fighting abilities any more thoroughly because of this vow and sacrifice. But Jephthah was God's judge for six years, and even during his mourning for his daughter, he faced another challenge to his leadership.Men in the tribe of Ephraim had heard of this war across the Jordan, when the word came that Jephthah was assembling an army in Mizpah. But they didn't come to the aid of their brothers until at least two months later! When they showed up before Jehpthah, they challenged him saying, “Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We're going to burn down your house over your head.” [Judges 12:1] Jephthah answered that he had called for their help, but did not hear back from them. The urgency of the battle necessitated that they could not wait for Ephraim to arrive. Surely these men had no reason to try to start a battle with Jephthah when they themselves were the ones who delayed! Summoning his army, Jephthah fought against these trouble makers. The Ephraimites also insulted the men of Gilead, calling them renegades because their tribes had chosen to live in the lands on the west of the Jordan rather than among those tribes on the east side. This was the same tribe who had argued with Joshua that their inheritance in the land wasn't big enough. Commentators attributed their haughty attitude to the blessing made in Egypt by their patriarch Jacob, who blessed Joseph's younger son Ephraim over the older one, Manasseh (Genesis 48:20). Perhaps an attitude of privilege had permeated this tribe so that they were on the look-out for perceived slights, and jealously fought against them whenever they found one.But they lost this battle against the Gileadites, and hurried to retreat back over the Jordan to return home. But Jephthah knew the terrain much better than they did. He stationed his men at the only forge across the Jordan, watching for the stragglers from Ephraim's army. Apparently it was known among the Israelites that the sons of Ephraim had a speech impediment. They were unable to pronounce the “th” sound in words. So a test was initiated at the crossing point. The word “Shibboleth” in Hebrew means “a stream,” so each person was required to ask, in Hebrew, permission to cross over the “stream.” But if the person tested used the word “Sibboleth” which meant “burden” because of their speech impediment, they were taken into custody and killed as a fugitive of the war. In this way Ephraim lost forty-two thousand men in the war and aftermath, at the fords of the Jordan River.God provided three additional judges after Jephthah. Ibzan served Israel for seven years. It is not known if he served the tribe of Judah or Zebulun because there were towns named Bethlehem in each. Next, Elon served as judge in Zebulun for ten years. And Abdon was judge in Ephraim for eight years. There was peace during the lives of these Judges for the most part, but we will see that the Philistines raided the land increasingly during this time, because Israel drifted away from the Lord, again.The lessons we learn from the lives of these judges touch our lives today, in our “modern world” too. We also drift away from our love of the Lord our God, far too easily. During times of relative peace, we easily rely on our own resources, and seldom think about how we have stopped seeking God. But then He allows us to fall into our own consequences, or face new attacks of danger in our lives; such as finances, illness, government restrictions, and lawlessness. In His lovingkindness, He chastises us to call us back to our desperate need of His presence. The book of Hebrews expands this concept, comparing God's discipline to be just like that of a good earthly father. In verses 10 and 11 of chapter 12 it is said, “They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” [Hebrews 12:10,11] So, just like the people of Israel, let us call on the lovingkindness of our Lord, during peaceful times and during painful times. Let us follow the Lord God as our King and Judge. We know that his chastisement is only for a little while. But His love is forever!Let's pray: “Dear heavenly Father, forgive us our sins. Please cleanse our hearts and clean out our sins of compromise to this world's patterns. Instead of being molded into the world's shape, please mold us into the likeness of your Son, Jesus Christ. We want to become more and more like Him, so that the world can see His reflection in our lives. Thank You that You never give up on us, but will polish Your image in our lives until you bring us home to live with you forever. In Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.” ................
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