Sunday Morning Service

Judges 9

Audio Access Available Above

“The End Of All Such Men” • 7.27.14 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro.

- Gideon's life ended having Fathered 70 sons from legitimate, multiple marriages and one son from a Shechemite concubine. Apart from his lack of self-control, his life meant stability in Israel.

- When he passed, the vacuum of perceived leadership brought out the worst in one man. Opportunity knocks for all, but for the wicked in heart, the knock barely hits the door!

- When wickedness is unleashed and the people of Israel are unresponsive, the silence of God is unnerving. Why does God allow such wickedness to occur? Why does He seem not to respond?

- What we see in this chapter is what will always happen when a person chooses wickedness! There are four parts to our chapter today, which look like this:

I. The Conspiracy (v.1-6)

II. The Complaint (v.7-21)

III. The Conflict (v.22-49)

IV. The Conclusion (v.50-57)

Text

I. The Conspiracy (v.1-6)

• Judges 9:1-6 : "Then Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, 'Please speak in the hearing of all the men of Shechem: ‘Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal reign over you, or that one reign over you?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and bone.'  And his mother’s brothers spoke all these words concerning him in the hearing of all the men of Shechem; and their heart was inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, 'He is our brother.' So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men; and they followed him. Then he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, because he hid himself. And all the men of Shechem gathered together, all of Beth Millo, and they went and made Abimelech king beside the terebinth tree at the pillar that was in Shechem." : - Abimelech opens his campaign on a fear that Gideon's sons will now reign over Israel, something that neither Gideon nor they had even hinted at. He plays on potential threat.

- In the end, 69 people are murdered in cold blood, the money being drawn from the funds at Baal-Berith's temple, the act performed by worthless and reckless men!

- Sadly, those type of men are always in large supply! They assasinated all save the yongest who had hidden himself away, on one stone. This was a profound injustice and wanton cruelty.

- The value of these 69 lives in this time was only about a shekel a person! In some parts of our world, people will kill for even less.

- It's not clear how many knew about this at the time that it occurred, but it did not escape God's attention and Jotham made sure that they knew that.

II. The Complaint (v.7-21)

• Judges 9:7-15 : "Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted his voice and cried out. And he said to them: 'Listen to me, you men of Shechem, that God may listen to you! 'The trees once went forth to anoint a king over them. And they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us!’ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I cease giving my oil, with which they honor God and men, and go to sway over trees?’ 'Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us!’ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I cease my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to sway over trees?’ 'Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us!’ But the vine said to them, ‘Should I cease my new wine, which cheers both God and men, and go to sway over trees?’ 'Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us!’ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me as king over you, then come and take shelter in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon!’" : Jotham went to the top of Mt. Gerizim, which stood across from Mt. Ebal. Mt. Gerizim is the mount of blessings.

- This was the perfect place to register his complaint, as this was where Israel agreed to abide by the covenant. They knew God's Word and Jotham's response is to hold them responsible to it.

- He wants them to listen and respond, in order that God would listen to them. He is calling them to repent of their deeds.

- God's law continues to function as a reminder of His standard of holiness.

- Jotham's parable is simple: The people, the trees, wanted someone to rule over them. Better people refused. Each of the other trees stayed where their fruit remained their focus.

- They kept looking and were so desperate, that when the lowly bramble, the thornbush, the tumbleweed, the son of a concubine, agreed to reign over them, they agreed!

- How can cedar trees receive shade from a thorn bush? The only thing a bramble was good for was to be used as kindling. Their relationship would end in mutual ruin.

• Judges 9:16-21 : "Now therefore, if you have acted in truth and sincerity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him as he deserves—for my father fought for you, risked his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian; but you have risen up against my father’s house this day, and killed his seventy sons on one stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother—if then you have acted in truth and sincerity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. 'But if not, let fire come from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and Beth Millo; and let fire come from the men of Shechem and from Beth Millo and devour Abimelech!' And Jotham ran away and fled; and he went to Beer and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother." : The Shechemites may have feigned honor for Gideon, but the truth of their action was that it connected them closely to the power supply.

- Jotham knew this but instead of gathering his own army, he stood in a place where God had justly allowed the people to agree to God's law. They were living under the shadow of God.

- Jotham has allowed his case to rest with the Lord. God would not allow this wickedness to procede. In such times, this is our best choice to make. God, you see that justice is done!

- God would make it clear, but in the moment, Jotham made a quick exit to wait out what would happen to them. Even though he's right, for a time, Jotham must live in a world that's wrong.

- In this world, standing up for what is right can often mean that you will dwell alone and have to face the fear of the moment. You will have to wait and watch, but God's silence is not inactivity!

III. The Conflict (v.22-49)

• Judges 9:22-25 : "After Abimelech had reigned over Israel three years, God sent a spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, that the crime done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be settled and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who aided him in the killing of his brothers. And the men of Shechem set men in ambush against him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who passed by them along that way; and it was told Abimelech." : This wicked guy has been in authority for three full years. You wonder how Jotham felt. "Lord will you ever do something about this injustice?"

- On the other side, Abimelech and those who supported him believed that they had gotten away with murder. But behold, God is not mocked!

- What they had sown they were now about to reap as God sent a spirit of ill will between them. This brings us to quite the quandary.

- Samuel, inspired by the Holy Spirit, attributes a seemingly ungodly action to the Father.

- Abimelech and the Shechemites chose a path of unrighteousness and outright wickedness. In the justice of God, they have had three years to repent and have not done so.

- In accordance with that justice, the Lord punitively acts in a way that will upset their wicked alliance by allowing their own wickedness to play to it's logical end.

- The same men who had been Abimelech's aid in wickedness were now using their wickedness to scheme against Abimelech, which is what happens when you court wicked people.

- God is beginning to settle the open account. It began in the mountains as the men of Shechem robbed their King of his tax dollars.

• Judges 9:26-33 : "Now Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers and went over to Shechem; and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him. So they went out into the fields, and gathered grapes from their vineyards and trod them, and made merry. And they went into the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech. Then Gaal the son of Ebed said, 'Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? If only this people were under my authority! Then I would remove Abimelech.' So he said to Abimelech, 'Increase your army and come out!' When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was aroused. And he sent messengers to Abimelech secretly, saying, 'Take note! Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem; and here they are, fortifying the city against you. Now therefore, get up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. And it shall be, as soon as the sun is up in the morning, that you shall rise early and rush upon the city; and when he and the people who are with him come out against you, you may then do to them as you find opportunity.'" : Gaal is the antagonist and Zebul is the loyalist. Gaal is a full blooded Canaanite, playing the race card.

- Abimelech was only "half Shechemite." That meant that he was part Jewish. Gaal's drunken rage against Abimelech gave Zebul the opportunity to squelch the inebriated enemy.

• Judges 9:34-41 : "So Abimelech and all the people who were with him rose by night, and lay in wait against Shechem in four companies. When Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance to the city gate, Abimelech and the people who were with him rose from lying in wait. And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, 'Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains!' But Zebul said to him, 'You see the shadows of the mountains as if they were men.' So Gaal spoke again and said, 'See, people are coming down from the center of the land, and another company is coming from the Diviners’ Terebinth Tree.' Then Zebul said to him, 'Where indeed is your mouth now, with which you said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the people whom you despised? Go out, if you will, and fight with them now.'  So Gaal went out, leading the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech. And Abimelech chased him, and he fled from him; and many fell wounded, to the very entrance of the gate. Then Abimelech dwelt at Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers, so that they would not dwell in Shechem." :

- Abimelech's tired, drunken eyes, in tandem with the early morning light confused the enemy and kept them from defending themselves. Many of the fighting men were now out of the picture.

- Gaal was driven out of Shechem but Abimelech didn't stop there. Look at verse 42.

• Judges 9:42-45 : "And it came about on the next day that the people went out into the field, and they told Abimelech. So he took his people, divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the field. And he looked, and there were the people, coming out of the city; and he rose against them and attacked them. Then Abimelech and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city; and the other two companies rushed upon all who were in the fields and killed them. So Abimelech fought against the city all that day; he took the city and killed the people who were in it; and he demolished the city and sowed it with salt." : Once again, Abimelech is victorious. Many of these Shechemites had been his supporters and now, he has turned and laid them and their city waste.

• Judges 9:46-49 : "Now when all the men of the tower of Shechem had heard that, they entered the stronghold of the temple of the god Berith. And it was told Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. Then Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. And Abimelech took an ax in his hand and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it and laid it on his shoulder; then he said to the people who were with him, 'What you have seen me do, make haste and do as I have done.' So each of the people likewise cut down his own bough and followed Abimelech, put them against the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire above them, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem died, about a thousand men and women." : Abimelech has most all of his enemies in one place, shut up inside of a false worship stronghold.

- He burns them out by cutting down the trees that surrounded the area. He killed a thousand more people this way. Remember, this is what a bramble King does. Shechem receives their just end.

IV. The Conclusion (v.50-57)

• Judges 9:50-55 : "Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and he encamped against Thebez and took it. But there was a strong tower in the city, and all the men and women—all the people of the city—fled there and shut themselves in; then they went up to the top of the tower. So Abimelech came as far as the tower and fought against it; and he drew near the door of the tower to burn it with fire. But a certain woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull. Then he called quickly to the young man, his armorbearer, and said to him, 'Draw your sword and kill me, lest men say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’ So his young man thrust him through, and he died. And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed, every man to his place." : Since the fire worked so well at Mount Ebal, he decides to employ the same action again.

- He went to the well one to many times, as a certain, unnamed woman pushed an upper millstone, a 7 to 10 pound stone used to grind wheat, out onto Abimelech's head.

- Coming down off the tower, that would have been a deadly drop and given a profound headache! Hoping to avoid humiliation, he asks one of his men to kill him and that man does.

• Judges 9:56,57 : "Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers. And all the evil of the men of Shechem God returned on their own heads, and on them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal." : Notice that all of this was God's doing. He sent a spirit of ill will and he repaid both the wickedness of Abimelech and his partners, the Shechemites.

- It took time, in this case three years. It was time enough to offer the grace to repent and time enough to reveal that grace had been refused.

- The wicked did not prosper and the righteous one did not go away without vindication. God sets things right. They had killed 70 men on one stone and with one stone, God ended it!

- This reminds us of two truths. If we are in sin now, remember that God's patience is a grace and a call to repentance. He is patient, but He is no fool!

- Second, for those who have been victimized and have a case that is pending: God remembers and the curse of Jotham stood. God vindicated His cause and remembered it justly.

- Finally, consider this theologically. In presenting the gospel for the first time, God declared to the serpent that the Seed of the woman would "crush" his head, though he would bruise His heel.

- On the cross, Jesus did exactly that. When you submit to Christ, Satan is dealt a crushing blow. Those who fall upon the Rock in humility, will be broken. God desires repentance.

- But for those who stubborn follow Satan, they too will be crushed by the righteous Rock which will inevitably fall on all who refuse His goodness and grace!

- The beauty of the gospel is that there is a standing invitation to turn from sin and to turn to the Lord Jesus, who will in no way, turn such a person away!