THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD UPON THE SIN
OF ABIMELECH AND SHECHEM.
Judges 8: 33 – 9: 57
Sermon by:
Rev. E. Moerdyk
PUBLISHED BY
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
OF THE
FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.
(February 2005)
LITURGY:
Votum
Psalter 353
Law of God
Psalter 336 (for a P.M. service 260: 1, 2 4, 5)
Scripture Reading: Judges 8: 33 – 9: 57 (long but necessary)
Text: Judges 8: 33 – 9: 57.
Congregational Prayer
Offerings
Psalter 213: 1, 2, 3, 4, 13
Sermon
Psalter 123
Thanksgiving Prayer
Psalter 1
Doxology: Psalter 16: 5, 7, 8
Beloved congregation of the Lord, every once in a while when driving on the highway, you come
across a car that has burned out and sits at the side of the road, totally gutted by a fire. This
serves as a powerful reminder of an important principle. While driving, it is all too easy to think
only of defensive driving, and to assume that the danger is on the outside. But this is not always
the case. Think of the burned out car. It was destroyed because something was wrong on the
inside. We see the same thing happening in Israel in the chapter of our text. Unlike the last
time, when the Midianites laid waste to the land from the outside, this time an Israelite, and even
a son of Gideon, lays waste to the land from the inside.
But now there is something else here that quickly catches our attention. Did you notice that while we read 57 verses in chapter 9, God is only mentioned 3 times? We have this long rambling tale full of plots, counter plots, treachery, wickedness, and bloodshed, with men in the foreground the whole time. The burning question is, where is God in all this? A superficial skimming of the chapter might even seem to hint that He is not involved, and not paying attention.
The situation in Israel in Judges chapter 9 is similar to the situation in many parts of the world, where wickedness and treachery are rampant, and where the people of God are being devastated by persecution. Think of China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and dozens of other countries where there is brutal and violent response to the people of God. Or think of all the things that are going on in Canada. Where is the Holy God whose wrath burns against sin? Where is the smoke and thunder of biblical judgement?
Our text raises these kinds of questions. But it also answers them. It tells us that maybe we are looking at the wrong things. It tells us that he who has eyes to see can see the hand of God at work. There is a God of justice in the earth. His hand is not always stretched out in the thunder and lighting of a mount Sinai, or in the spectacular like at the Red Sea. But it is there nonetheless. We will listen to the instruction of our text under the following theme:
Theme: The judgement of God upon the sin of Abimelech and Shechem
I.It is provoked by the treachery of Abimelech and Shechem
- It is invoked by the curse of Jotham
- It is carried out by the invisible hand of God
Congregation, the text opens this morning with a series of shocking events, the kind of events that when you see them on the news, leave your mind spinning for a few days. How is it possible that this could happen? The scene opens with Abimelech, the son of Gideon, going to visit his mother’s family in Shechem. Remember now that the name Abimelech means my dad is king. Remember also that Abimelech is the son of Gideon’s concubine in Shechem. When the family gathers together to see the hometown boy, he has a carefully crafted message that he speaks in their ears. His message put into contemporary language sounds something like this: Now I don’t want to scare you, but you don’t want seventy men, all of the sons of Gideon, trying to rule over you, do you? How less chaotic if only one of his sons rules – me! By the way, I am related by blood to you men.
His family obligingly passes on the story, and the men of Shechem decide to follow Abimelech. To seal the bargain, they go into the temple of Baal, their confessed god, and give him 70 pieces of silver. Abimelech uses the money to hire a bunch of vain and light fellows, or more popularly, a bunch of empty headed but brutal thugs, who go to his hometown and butcher all 70 of his brothers on a single rock. Not the first or last time organized religion is used to finance revolt and terrorism. The 70 pieces of silver match the 70 brothers. Keep in mind now that a slave was often sold for about 20 pieces of silver – Abimelech values the lives of his own brothers at only 1/20 of the normal price of a slave. He is an ancient day Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden.
When Abimelech and his hired butchers come back to Shechem, the city decides to publicly crown him king. So they gather together to celebrate his coronation with all the pomp, ceremony, and circumstance that such an occasion requires. They pick their location carefully – just like seasoned politicians. There is a plain in the valley with a famous tree, and with a famous pillar. At the exact same place, at the end of his life, Joshua gathered together all Israel to renew covenant with the Lord. The pillar in the plain was erected by Joshua as a permanent spiritual memorial of what happened on that day. As for me and my house, we will worship the Lord Joshua had declared. The Lord is our God – Israel had promised. So at this famous place, Abimelech is crowned king. The bloodshed and treachery are not mentioned. The Holy Lord God with whom Israel had covenanted in this very place is not mentioned.
How could things come to this point in Israel, after the Lord had done so much for them only a few years ago, by the hand of Gideon? We saw the seeds of this last week, and now we see those seeds bearing fruit. We are told in 8:33 that as soon as Gideon is dead, Israel worships Baal. In these words we see the spiritual impact Gideon had. Remember what was said when Joshua died? As long as any leader in Israel was still alive who had known Joshua, Israel remained faithful to the Lord. That is the spiritual impact with which Joshua stamped Israel. But this is not the impact Gideon makes. As soon as he is dead, Israel is serving Baal. They even make a covenant with baal-berith. The word berith means covenant. So they make baal their covenant god.
Why did Gideon have no lasting spiritual impact? Because his kingly lifestyle was not consistent with his refusing to be king. This misleads Israel, for when Abimelech raises the question of who is to be king next, no one seems to mind. No one says – hey listen, your father said he did not want to be king, and he did not want any of his sons to be king either. Gideon’s lifestyle has erased the memory of his words. Actions speak louder than words, the old saying goes. Then Gideon’s unrestrained appetite for wives and children has left 70 sons – all it takes is one bad apple in the bunch, and you have disaster. Finally, Gideon’s ephod paved the way for Israel to go its own way religiously, instead of listening to God’s clear instructions in his law.
Congregation, sin always has consequences. You never sin cheaply. All the slaughter of these verses is the result of the sin of Gideon. What a comment on the destructive nature of sin! Gideon’s sins have impacted his family in a way that he could never have predicted, nor would Gideon have approved. But the sins of the fathers do have consequences in the lives of the children. It does not have to be this way automatically. But it is often the case that sons take the sins of their fathers to another level.
Fathers and mothers, here is clear and sobering instruction. What kind of example and legacy are you leaving behind to your children? You never sin cheaply. Your actions and practices are setting a spiritual trend that your family will usually follow. What trend are you setting? Are you falling into the trap of thinking a little sin and inconsistency is ok? Satan is a master trickster, a master angler. Just like a fisherman, he knows just what bait to throw in front of you, to make you think sin and its consequences are not so bad. But the bloody bodies of the 70 sons of Gideon, on one stone, lets us see the hook under the bait. Sin is never cheap. We will see this with increasingly clarity as the text continues.
There is a second piece of background information. We are told in chapter 8:34-35 that the children of Israel forgot the Lord and His wonderful deliverance. They also failed to show kindness to the house of Gideon, according to all the goodness he had shown to them. This does not mean they forgot the identity of the Lord, or that they forgot the long list of enemies from whom the Lord had delivered them. Rather, it means that what they knew of the Lord no longer exercised any hold on them, it had no grip on their loyalties. They could still answer catechism questions about the Lord, but this knowledge did not lead to their commitment to Him. Their factual knowledge of God did not keep them from making a covenant with Baal.
Again, here is a lesson for us – a lesson that has come to us already at the beginning of this series, and now comes to us again at the close, a lesson that the Lord drives home in this chapter. How important that our knowledge of God is not simply limited to facts that fill our heads, without changing our hearts.
There is one more important piece of the puzzle here. Remember, the first act of Gideon as judge was to break down the altar of Baal. At that time we saw that the baals of the OT represent the spiritual powers of Satan. It was a spiritual defeat for Satan. But here Satan strikes back. Now God is being forgotten in Israel, God is silent in these verses, and Baal seems to have made a comeback. We see baal’s comeback on the plain of Shechem, under the oak tree. The men of the town, and Abimelech their new king, think that they have resolved all the problems and found a solution. Shechem has a king to protect it from its enemies, and hopes for political stability and prosperity. Abimelech has satisfied his ambition to be king, and to no longer be the least among the sons of Gideon. There they are together carrying out a charade of pomp and ceremony. They think they have gotten away with it. Sin always seems to solve the matter at first – everyone can breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the moment. Or can they?
II.It is invoked by the curse of Jotham
We see that God is provoked by the treachery of Abimelech, because God sends a messenger. Suddenly the coronation ceremony of Abimelech is interrupted with a yell from the hillside – hey you, listen to me. All eyes turn to Mount Gerazim, where a young man is perched with his speech. Who is he? It is Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, who managed to escape the bloody purge of Abimelech. The name Jotham is very important here. It means Jehovah is blameless, or the integrity of Jehovah. What a name to give your son! The Lord would also like to speak a few words at the coronation ceremony of Abimelech. He sends Jotham to give God’s perspective on the events below.
Jotham does this by telling a fable, a made up story to drive home a lesson. Jotham’s fable gives us God’s perspective and God’s response. He says the trees of the forest decided to choose a king for themselves. Of course the trees represent Israel, in their request for a king. So they went to the fig tree, the olive tree, and the vine. These were the most fruitful and productive trees of the time. And, the picture of a tree offering shade was often used in that day to talk about the benefits of having a king. Even the children understand this. If you are playing in the yard, and it is a hot summer day, you want to play in the shade. So you find a big tree with lots of shade, so you can find shelter from the sun. A king also provides shelter and prosperity. So the trees go to these three fruit trees and say, Be our king. But these fruitful and good trees reply – no. These trees represent Gideon and all the good that he did for Israel. They also represent the fact that Gideon was not willing to be king – he said no.
So then in desperation the trees decide to find someone else to be king. They go to the bramble, or thorn bush, and say – you come and reign over us. Now you really have to be desperate to go to a thorn bush. Children, if you want some shade, you don’t look for it in the blackberry bushes. After all, you will get scratched with thorns, and a blackberry bush does not have enough shade to keep you cool anyway. But the worthless bramble in this story is willing to be king, on one condition. He says – then come put your trust in me, but if you don’t stay faithful, I will burn you with fire. This bramble is Abimelech.
Then Jotham makes the application – if you have done truly and sincerely in making Abimelech your king, and if you have dealt well with my father Jerubbaal, then fine. If you are remembering all the good my father did for you, and how he risked his life for you, and if you are right in repaying him by killing all his sons, fine. But if not, then let fire come from Abimelech and burn you, and let fire come from you and burn Abimelech.
Jotham’s point here is the foolishness and danger of accepting unqualified leaders. Brambles make good fuel for a fire, but poor kings. They burn better than they reign. Jotham also argues that Israel has abandoned truth and sincerity. This word is important, because the word translated sincerity is the same word as in the name of Jotham. The key issue here is that if Israel has been blameless, honest, and sincere in their actions, fine and well. Then they can expect blessings. But if not, and obviously they have not, then they can expect curses in the place of blessings.
This point is underlined for us all the more by the place where Jotham is standing. He is standing on Mount Gerizim. Remember what happened here? When the people of Israel entered the land of Canaan, they were instructed by the Lord to come to this very same valley. Half of the people were supposed to stand on Mount Gerizim, and half on mount Ebal, with the valley in between them. Joshua stood in the valley, and read the whole law of Moses. When he read all the blessings that the Lord promised to those who would obey his word and keep his covenant, then the people on Mount Gerizim would say amen to each blessing. When Joshua would read the curses threatened as punishment for disobedience, the people would respond to each curse by saying amen – let it be so, the Lord’s word will come true.
Not there stands Jotham on Mount Gerizim, the mountain that symbolizes the blessings of the Lord. The men in the valley below have a new king – and both people and king think they have found the way to blessing with their political schemes. But God thinks differently. Jotham, the name meaning Jehovah is blameless, stands on the mountain to say – the way to blessing is not in the way you have chosen, but in God’s way. You think you have solved your problems, but you have only made them worse. You have earned the curses of God. Hear the word of the Lord to His covenant people, also in His covenant curses!
Jotham is the instructor of the church in this fable. He has a great deal to say to us today about the dangers of bramble leadership. People have a strange tendency to accept bramble leadership. Think only of a Hitler, or some other such figure. But our concern this morning lies not with bramble leaders in general, but with bramble leaders within the people of God. What care we should take in selecting spiritual leaders. Think of some of the discussions sometimes in a consistory room when it is time to propose men as office bearers to the congregation. Or think of the discussion at home as you ponder who to vote for in the congregational meeting. Is the main question – is so and so willing to serve, or is your main question, is so and so qualified to serve according to the biblical qualifications for office? This may seem like a long way from Mount Gerizim in the text, but it is not too far from home. Church history is full of the sad proof of this.
There is another point of instruction for us in the words of Jotham. God is not indifferent when great evils take place. God is not ignoring the matter, or passing it over. He sees it, and He is offended by it. God in His blamelessness and integrity rises up against evil. Now this was not visible right away. When Jotham made his speech and ran for his life to escape from his brother, the ceremony down in the valley went on. They probably laughed and mocked the poor boy. They may quickly have forgotten Jotham. For several years, things go well in Shechem and for Abimelech on his new throne. But the curse of the Lord has been invoked, the curse of the Lord has been called down. That curse will do its work, silently, but surely. What a lesson for us as we think of the evil we see in the world, and also when we think of flirting with sin ourselves. God is provoked by sin, and God’s curse rests on sin. Slowly and surely the curse does its work.