Who was Abimelech in this passage and what had he done before?

Abimelech was a ruler who gained power in a violent way. Earlier, he killed nearly all of his seventy half-brothers, the sons of his father, so that no one would challenge him. Some people in Shechem supported him in this evil act and made him king. In this passage, he is continuing his harsh rule by attacking another town, Thebez, near Shechem. His story here comes at the end of his violent career, where the same kind of harm he did to others comes back on him, and his life ends in shame and judgment.

What happened at Thebez and why did the people flee into the tower?

Abimelech marched against Thebez, camped around it, and took the city. The people knew what he had done at Shechem, where he burned people inside a stronghold, so they were afraid. Inside Thebez there was a strong tower within the city. All the men and women, everyone who lived there, ran into that tower, shut the door, and went up to the top. They hoped the tower would protect them from Abimelech’s attack and give them a place to resist him as he tried to destroy them.

Why did a woman throw a millstone on Abimelech’s head?

When Abimelech came right up to the tower door and tried to burn it, he put himself very close to the wall. The people on top were watching him. A woman on the tower took a piece of an upper millstone, something heavy and solid used for grinding grain, and dropped it down on his head. It struck his skull and broke it. The passage shows this as a simple act in battle, but it also highlights how someone weak in the world’s eyes brought down a proud and violent man when he thought he was about to win again.

Why did Abimelech ask his armourbearer to kill him instead of the woman being credited?

After the stone broke his skull, Abimelech knew he was dying. He quickly called the young man who carried his armor and told him, “Draw your sword and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him.” He cared more about how his death would look than about his guilt before God. He did not pray or confess his sins. His pride made him fear the shame of being known as a man killed by a woman. Ironically, the very thing he tried to cover has been remembered, and both the woman’s blow and the servant’s sword are part of his story.

What does it mean that God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech and Shechem?

At the end of the passage, the writer explains what all this meant. God “rendered,” or paid back, the wickedness of Abimelech for killing his seventy brothers, and He also brought back on the men of Shechem the evil they had done in helping him and making him king. Their own violence turned on them. Abimelech destroyed Shechem, and then he himself died in shame at Thebez. This is described as the curse of Jotham coming on them, showing that God sees bloodshed and injustice and, in His time, brings just judgment on those who refuse to turn from evil.

What is the curse of Jotham mentioned at the end of this passage?

Jotham was the one brother who escaped when Abimelech killed the others. Earlier, he stood and spoke a curse or warning over Abimelech and the men of Shechem. He said that if they had done wrong, fire would come out from Abimelech to devour Shechem, and fire from Shechem to devour Abimelech. In this passage, that word comes true. Abimelech destroys Shechem, and later he is destroyed in battle at Thebez. When it says the curse of Jotham came on them, it means God made Jotham’s warning come to pass in real events.

What does this story show about pride and honor in Abimelech’s death?

Abimelech’s last moments show how deep his pride ran. Even with his skull broken and death close, he was not thinking about God, his soul, or the lives he had ruined. He was fixed on one thing: that people not say, “A woman slew him.” He tried to protect his reputation by asking his servant to kill him. But his plan did not hide his shame. People remembered both the woman’s stone and his desperate order. The story shows how empty pride is, and how caring more about honor than about right and wrong leads to a sad end.

How is God’s justice seen in the way Abimelech dies?

God’s justice shows up in several details. Abimelech had killed his brothers on one stone, and he himself is brought down by a stone. He had raised himself up as a king through bloodshed, and his own head, which had worn that stolen honor, is struck and broken. He thought he could treat another town as he pleased after Shechem, but at Thebez his own plans fail, and his army scatters. The passage points out that God was the one who repaid his wickedness and the evil of Shechem, so that everyone can see that violence and murder do not go unanswered forever.

What happened to the men of Israel after Abimelech’s death at Thebez?

When the men of Israel who were with Abimelech saw that he was dead, they went home. The text says they departed every man to his place. Without Abimelech’s leadership, the fighting ended. His death brought the civil conflict to a close. This sudden break in the battle shows how much their actions had depended on one proud and violent leader. Once he fell under judgment, the unrest he had stirred up faded, and the people left off from following him in his harsh and destructive ways.

Judg.9.50

Judges 9:50

KJV

¶ Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it.

Abimelech’s Punishment

¶ Then went Abimelech to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it.

But there was a strong tower within the city, and thither fled all the men and women, and all they of the city, and shut it to them, and gat them up to the top of the tower.

And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech’s head, and all to brake his skull.

Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.

And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man unto his place.

¶ Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren:

And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads: and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

Cross References

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