As retired public school teachers and former pastors; my husband and I encountered many types of families with many different philosophies of raising their children and living life.  We saw families who were split and broken apart by the sins of the fathers and the mothers which affected the belief systems, actions, and reactions of their children.  Children only know to do, how to feel, how to behave by what they see their parents do unless someone else enters their lives to show them other options. 

On day, one of my first graders came to me after a brief visit by my husband to our classroom.  I had introduced him as Mr. Callaway, of course.  She came to me puzzled and asked, “What was his name, again?”  I told her it was Mr. Callaway to which she replied, “Same last name? That aint right.”  In her world, that was uncommon.  Her mom in her twenties, had six kids. Each one had a different last name. Each child born to a different dad. So, it really blew her mind when I told her the names of our three children—all with the same last name!  Her little mind thought that over and I added, “this is the option for living we chose and we love it.”  One man marries one woman and they have children then we all have the same last name.  “Mm, okay.”  She accepted that and smiled.  I learned later that this little one lived in an apartment with not only her mom and siblings but with grandma and great grandma and other kids produced from that lifestyle.  Three generations in all. 

Gideon (Jerub-Baal) produced seventy sons with various wives, including one in particular from his female slave.  This son, Abimelek did not follow Gideon’s love and devoted service to God.  Abimelek was a conniving, devious, power seeker. Jotham, the youngest son of the clan, stood for what was right in the eyes of God—like his father.  Here is their story of how God intervenes when evil persists to destroy. 

We can be born into the same family but have very different views of who God is with how He works in our lives!

Judges 9

Abimelek

Abimelek son of Jerub-Baal went to his mother’s brothers in Shechem and said to them and to all his mother’s clan, ² “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.”

³ When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelek, for they said, “He is related to us.” ⁴ They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelek used it to hire reckless scoundrels, who became his followers. ⁵ 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. ⁶ Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Shechem to crown Abimelek king.

⁷ When Jotham was told about this, he climbed up on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you. ⁸One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king.’

⁹ “But the olive tree answered, ‘Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and humans are honored, to hold sway over the trees?’

¹⁰ “Next, the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and be our king.’

¹¹ “But the fig tree replied, ‘Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?’

¹² “Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come and be our king.’

¹³ “But the vine answered, ‘Should I give up my wine, which cheers both gods and humans, to hold sway over the trees?’

¹⁴ “Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and be our king.’

¹⁵ “The thornbush said to the trees, ‘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!’

¹⁶ “Have you acted honorably and in good faith by making Abimelek king? Have you been fair to Jerub-Baal and his family? Have you treated him as he deserves? ¹⁷ Remember that my father fought for you and risked his life to rescue you from the hand of Midian. ¹⁸ But today you have revolted against my father’s family. You have murdered his seventy sons on a single stone and have made Abimelek, the son of his female slave, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is related to you. ¹⁹ So have you acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub-Baal and his family today? If you have, may Abimelek be your joy, and may you be his, too! ²⁰ But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelek and consume you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelek!”

²¹ Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and he lived there because he was afraid of his brother Abimelek.

²² After Abimelek had governed Israel three years, ²³ God stirred up animosity between Abimelek and the citizens of Shechem so that they acted treacherously against Abimelek. ²⁴ 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 Abimelek and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers. ²⁵ In opposition to him these citizens of Shechem set men on the hilltops to ambush and rob everyone who passed by, and this was reported to Abimelek.

²⁶ Now Gaal son of Ebed moved with his clan into Shechem, and its citizens put their confidence in him. ²⁷ After they had gone out into the fields and gathered the grapes and trodden them, they held a festival in the temple of their god. While they were eating and drinking, they cursed Abimelek. ²⁸ Then Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelek, 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 Abimelek? ²⁹ If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Abimelek, ‘Call out your whole army!’”

³⁰ When Zebul the governor of the city heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry. ³¹ Under cover he sent messengers to Abimelek, saying, “Gaal son of Ebed and his clan have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you. ³² Now then, during the night you and your men should come and lie in wait in the fields. ³³ In the morning at sunrise, advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, seize the opportunity to attack them.”

³⁴ So Abimelek and all his troops set out by night and took up concealed positions near Shechem in four companies. ³⁵ Now Gaal son of Ebed had gone out and was standing at the entrance of the city gate just as Abimelek and his troops came out from their hiding place.

³⁶ When Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains!”

Zebul replied, “You mistake the shadows of the mountains for men.”

³⁷ But Gaal spoke up again: “Look, people are coming down from the central hill, and a company is coming from the direction of the diviners’ tree.”

³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your big talk now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelek that we should be subject to him?’ Aren’t these the men you ridiculed? Go out and fight them!”

³⁹ So Gaal led out the citizens of Shechem and fought Abimelek. ⁴⁰ Abimelek chased him all the way to the entrance of the gate, and many were killed as they fled. ⁴¹ Then Abimelek stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his clan out of Shechem.

⁴² The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields, and this was reported to Abimelek. ⁴³ So he took his men, divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose to attack them. ⁴⁴ Abimelek and the companies with him rushed forward to a position at the entrance of the city gate. Then two companies attacked those in the fields and struck them down. ⁴⁵ All that day Abimelek pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it.

⁴⁶ On hearing this, the citizens in the tower of Shechem went into the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith. ⁴⁷ When Abimelek heard that they had assembled there, ⁴⁸ he and all his men went up Mount Zalmon. He took an ax and cut off some branches, which he lifted to his shoulders. He ordered the men with him, “Quick! Do what you have seen me do!” ⁴⁹ So all the men cut branches and followed Abimelek. They piled them against the stronghold and set it on fire with the people still inside. So all the people in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women, also died.

⁵⁰ Next Abimelek went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it. ⁵¹ Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women—all the people of the city—had fled. They had locked themselves in and climbed up on the tower roof. ⁵² Abimelek went to the tower and attacked it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire, ⁵³ a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.

⁵⁴ Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, ‘A woman killed him.’” So his servant ran him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ When the Israelites saw that Abimelek was dead, they went home.

⁵⁶ Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ God also made the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Abimelek is the bad son who was “born to be wild”. His “thorny” life is filled with evil, displaying all the character traits of evil such as arrogance, greed, pride, envy, and hate.  Did all his sin traits begin with resentment and bitterness from his station in life as the son of his father’s slave girl?  We don’t know, but still no excuse, for his behaviors!

Jotham is the “good” son, raised by someone who knew God. Jotham knew enough to listen to God. God led Jotham to stand up to his brother, Abimelek with God’s words of prophecy expressed in a parable of righteousness. 

“Jotham tells the story. He is a son of Gideon and the sole survivor of a seventy-man massacre. Abimelek authorized the slaughter. He sought to kill any person who might keep him from the throne. Jotham comes out of hiding just long enough to address the citizens of Israel and tell them the story (see 9:7–15).

Via the parable, Jotham warns the Israelites against thorny Abimelek. Via the parable, God warns us against greed-driven promotions.

The trees entice the olive tree, fig tree, and grapevine with a throne-room invitation: “Reign over us!” One by one they refuse the offer. The olive tree wants to keep giving oil. The fig tree wants to keep giving figs, and the vine wants to keep bearing grapes. All refuse to pay the price of promotion.

These plants take pride in their posts. Why abandon fruitfulness? In the end, only the thorn bush takes the offer.

Be careful, the story instructs. In a desire to be great, one might cease being any good.

Not every teacher is equipped to be a principal. Not every carpenter has the skill to head a crew. Not every musician should conduct an orchestra. Promotions might promote a person right out of his or her sweet spot. For the love of more, we might lose our purpose.

Sin brings judgment. Turn away from the sin that you enjoy. Seek help to remove the sin that reoccurs in your life. Don’t let patterns of sinfulness destroy your life; repent and seek Christ’s help.”—Max Lucado, Encouraging Word Bible

“All are born into sin”, (even in the “best” of families in the eyes of the world.)  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23-24) This means no one on planet earth is “good”, no, not one!  Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

Jesus was sent by God to save the world from sin, including all that sin has done to affect and infect our lives. Jesus, who was without sin, took all sin and willingly allowed sin to be nailed securely sin to His cross.  Jesus obediently took all our shame of sin and humbled Himself in public view to die in our place of punishment.  Three days later, God resurrected Jesus to prove His power as the Victor over death.  Jesus is our hope of eternal life!  God proclaimed Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords! (Philippines 2)

In Jesus, we are offered a new life, set free from our repented sins.  It doesn’t matter what family we were born into or what lifestyle has been imposed upon us—we are redeemed!  We are born again as new creations who belong to a new family known as “children of God,” “joint heirs with Christ,” when we repent of our sins to Jesus!  Like Jotham, Jesus told parables so that we would know God and relate to Him as “Our Father in Heaven.” 

Jesus is our new life source that guides our new lifestyle!  Our yes to Jesus aligns us immediately with God’s Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a part of God who lives within us to guide us to all that is truth and light!  God’s Spirit has the same mighty resurrection power that can guide us from dead-end living to abundant, joyful, living—no matter what circumstances are going on around us!

Lord,

I believe. I choose You as my Life Source who gives life eternal!  I love you because you first loved me.  You lived to die for me.  I’m humbled by the depth of love you have for us!  I surrender. My life belongs to you.

In Jesus Name, Amen