Judges 9:42-57. \u00a0Two days ago we saw Abimelech take control of part of Israel. \u00a0He had made himself a king. \u00a0As was common in those days he killed all of his brothers so there would be no one to try and take the kingdom from him. \u00a0One half-brother escaped, however, and cursed him and his hometown, who had supported him. \u00a0After three years of rule his hometown rebelled against him. \u00a0They found a new king to rule them. \u00a0Abimelech came and fought this new leader. \u00a0Eventually the new leader was forced out.<\/p>\n
In the Old Testament it is very serious when a person is cursed by someone else. \u00a0Whether or not a person mentions God or a god a curse is a request for God or a god to cause some disaster in the other person or groups life. \u00a0Of course a persons words do not control God but He does listen and may act on them. \u00a0The \u00a0gods (little g), on the other hand, don’t have any power do do anything at all (Psalms 119:4-7; Isaiah 44:9-20). \u00a0Jotham, the surviving brother, didn’t specifically ask God yet God heard and, as we will see today, eventually answered.<\/p>\n
At the end of yeaterday it looked as though a rebellion was stopped and things might return to the way they had been. \u00a0Abimelech the king and Shechem his subjects. \u00a0But Abimelech wasn’t through. \u00a0Often in those time cities had walls around them and gate at the entrances. \u00a0The entrances also were ususlly through a corridor or sort of hallway, like the main entrance into Disneyland under the train bridge. \u00a0Those entrances would have little side area where soldiers could stand sort of protected if they needed to fight off an invasion. \u00a0At night the gates would be closed and guarded. \u00a0During the day people would come and go through the gate.<\/p>\n
The next day when the gates were opened Abimelech ambushed the people when they came out to go to their fields. \u00a0He also blocked the gate so the people could not run back in. \u00a0After he dealt with the people out side the city he turned toward the city and captured it. \u00a0He killed all the people that he captured.<\/p>\n
Most cities in those day would have places to honor their gods and if the city were large they might even have a temple to their gods. \u00a0We know from earlier in the story that this city had a temple. \u00a0Most cites in those days were built on a hill since that made it easier to defend. \u00a0If there was a hill in the town or near by that was also the place where the temple would be built. \u00a0It was a sign of honor or respect to put the god up high above everything else. \u00a0The temple in Shechem was fortified and had a strong tower attached to it. \u00a0When Abimelech started to win the battle the leading citizens ran into the fortified temple and tower. \u00a0Abimelech then brought wood from the surrounding area and burned the temple and tower down with the people in it.<\/p>\n
So the first part of Jotham’s curse was fulfilled, pretty literally (Judges 9:20). \u00a0But again the reader of the story is left in suspense. \u00a0Shechem is gone but what about Abimelech, won’t there be justice for his 70 brothers whom he killed? \u00a0 \u00a0Abimelech must have inherited more than the kingdom from his father it appears he got some of his bad temper too (Remember Succoth and Penuel? (Judges 8:13-17)). \u00a0For some reason Abimelech then takes his troops to a nearby town, Thebez (10-15 miles away. \u00a0We are not sure exactly where that town was) and attacks it. \u00a0Again the people run to the tower to hide. \u00a0Again Abimelech looks as though he is going to burn down the tower with people inside. \u00a0It looks as if this guy is just going to keep on winning. \u00a0But then the story takes an unexpected turn as he approaches the tower to put wood near it a woman drops a large stone on his head and crushed his skull. \u00a0He then has the servant who carries part of his armor (sot of a caddie for war) pull out a sword and kill him. \u00a0He does not want to be remembered as the king killed by a little old lady. \u00a0Upon his death everyone went home.<\/p>\n
A couple of things to see here. \u00a0First back to Abimelech’s anger or what ever you want to call it. \u00a0In verse 45 we are told he razed the city. \u00a0That means he pulled down the walls. \u00a0He didn’t just stop a rebellion he tore down all the building too. \u00a0And them he salted the fields. \u00a0Putting salt on a field makes the land unproductive. \u00a0Abimelech wanted to make sure this town was not rebuilt, it would be sort of a monument to his power, “Look what I destroyed. \u00a0Don’t cross me!” \u00a0Also I wonder where he got all that salt. \u00a0It would have taken a lot. \u00a0More that would have been in the town. \u00a0In those days salt would have been mined down by the Dead Sea in the south of Israel. \u00a0It looks to me like this destruction was planned. \u00a0Remember back in Judges 9:22-23 that the Shechemites were dishonoring Abimelech by robbing people as they passed by. \u00a0This would have made Abimelech look weak to people he was trying to rule. \u00a0Another thing to remember is that God is listening, regardless of who you are talking to. \u00a0Jotham wasn’t necessarily speaking to anyone, he may have just been “venting” his anger, but God sees and hears and can act. \u00a0Finally and most importantly, God does act. \u00a0But is according to His wisdom, His plan, in His time, to accomplish what He wants done. \u00a0Judges 9:23 says it was God who sent the evil spirit to stir things up between Abimelech and Shechem. \u00a0Judges 9:56-57 tell us that God heard Jotham’s curse and acted on it. \u00a0The reason was not to feed Jotham’s anger though. \u00a0We are told that God did it to “repay the wickedness” of Abimelech and the people of Shechem. \u00a0I think it’s kind of funny that it says, “God returned all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads.” \u00a0I wonder as they were in that tower attached to the temple if they were praying to Baal for protection. \u00a0Maybe they thought that they were protected in such a fine fort and that Baal was protecting them. \u00a0I wonder as the walls caved in on their heads and the fire burned them if they started to curse the very temple they had built for their weak useless god (Check out an interesting story about Baal not hearing 1 Kings 18:17-40).<\/p>\n
God is very serious about sin (not honoring Him in our lives) because it separates us from Him. \u00a0No matter how hard headed we are God can still deal with us and will. \u00a0Unfortunately if we continue not following Him it can lead to our own destruction (1 Corinthians 11:17-30 where sleep is used as a metaphor for death. Some were actually dying because they were being selfish toward other in their church). \u00a0 Lord help me be careful what I wish for, especially when I am mad about something. \u00a0Help me remember to treat others the way I want to be treated. \u00a0Help me remember that I too fall way short of being perfect. \u00a0Let my words and actions build up and not destroy. \u00a0Let me be serious about sin in my own life first and gracious and truthful when I see it in the life of others. \u00a0Lord you came to make peace between you and us help me be a peace maker too. \u00a0Let me leave vengeance in your hands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Judges 9:42-57. \u00a0Two days ago we saw Abimelech take control of part of Israel. \u00a0He had made himself a king. \u00a0As was common in those days he killed all of his brothers so there would be no one to try and take the kingdom from him. \u00a0One half-brother escaped, however, and cursed him and his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}