Spiritually
speaking, the condition of the people of Israel had deteriorated very badly.
The God-granted rest that they periodically enjoyed seemed to be dissipating. In
our last reflection, we were introduced to Abimelech, the son of Gideon whom
his wife from Shechem had born for him. This son was like a festering sore that
would soon be inflicting pain on his people. The meaning of Abimelech is “my
father is king.” It was an indication of Gideon’s hypocrisy. While he declined
when the people wanted to make him their king, yet his secret desire was to live
like one. Hence when this son was born, he showed his true colour by giving him
a name that indicated the true desire of his heart. The closing words tainted
his otherwise illustrious resume.
The
wickedness of the people after Gideon’s death was rampant. They forgot their
covenant with Jehovah God and went venerating Baal, the Canaanite god. In verse
4 we are told that they even have a temple named “Baal-berith” meaning “covenant
with Baal.” This was probably named in honour of the covenant they made with
Baal. This signals to us the extent of the wickedness of the people. They had
become steeped in the worship of Baal. It’s unthinkable to imagine that the
people of God had sunk so low that they would even have a temple built to
honour the covenant that they had made with this cultic god. God’s
people were on a free-fall in social, moral and spiritual decline. The worship
of Baal had infiltrated so fully into the covenanted community of
God.
To
cleanse His people, God would soon allow them to turn against each other in
order to purge the nation of the wicked people. Apparently, Abimelech was used
for this purpose. He had a lowly birth but a grand and lofty ambition.
Abimelech openly desired the position of a king which Gideon only coveted
covertly. He was more aggressive than his father and became more an oppressor
rather than a deliverer. It would appear that God was using him to
discipline his people for their unfaithfulness.
Abimelech
must have surmised that with his father’s death, the leadership would have to be
shared between him and his seventy half-brothers. And being an ambitious man,
he was not ready to share the reign. He wanted the rule to himself. So, he
contacted all his relatives in his home town of Shechem and urged them to
coerce the leaders to recognize him as their ruler. He appealed to them based
on their kinship. The sneaky question he asked them was “‘Which is better for
you, that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or that
one-man rule over you?’ Also, remember that I am your bone and your
flesh.” There was no indication that any of the other seventy sons of
Gideon was interested in the leadership. Abimelech seemed to be the only one
that had this shady ambition. So, he schemed and grabbed the leadership by
appealing to them based on the fact they were closer to him in terms of their
blood relation. They conceded to him because to them they were closer in
relation because of his mother who hailed from Shechem.
The
men of Shechem then gave him seventy pieces of silver taken from the temple of
Baal-berith to assist him in his bid for the rulership. With that seventy
pieces of silver, he hired wicked men and had 69 of his half-brothers
slaughtered. Jotham, the youngest of Gideon’s seventy sons managed to escape
because he hid himself. With those brothers ruthlessly removed, Abimelech
returned to Shechem and was coronated as the king. To grab the leadership by ruthlessly destroying all seeming competitors
was unbecoming of Abimelech. It is perfectly alright to aspire to
leadership. First Timothy 3:1 says “…if
any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to
do.” But one must not grab a position
which one craves for by ruthlessly removing those who appeared as a threat.
Desire to be a person whom God can use for a noble purpose. Such ambition will
ensure the progress of God’s work. Be such a person for the glory of
God.
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