Dating the narratives of the book of Judges is a very difficult thing to do.
Most scholars don't agree on exactly when all of these narratives fit together in a chronological arrangement.
And the author doesn't really clue us in much to that.
But it is safe to at least assume that nearly two centuries, if not more, have passed between the time that the settlement of the land of Canaan began after the Joshua generation to this time of Abimelech and Shechem and this whole scene in chapter 9.
And I want you to think about that for just a moment, how quickly things can change, let alone change over the course of 200 years.
Our old nation is nearly 250 years old, 250 years almost, at least since the Revolutionary War.
And we would say our nation today looks very different than it looked 250 years ago.
The culture is very different.
The way we think about God is very different.
The way we live, the amount of people is very different.
Now, put yourselves now in Israel's shoes.
It's been probably a couple of hundred years now since the very beginning.
A couple of hundred years of degrading as far as their spiritual lives are concerned.
And the condition of Israel couldn't be more different at this point in chapter 9.
It is a far cry away from where we began the book of Judges.
In the beginning, the nation is unified.
They're united together.
The people were concerned to seek the Lord's will and counsel in the way that they were going to go about actually settling the land.
Remember all the leaders in the very first verse of the book.
They've gathered together to pray, to seek the Lord's direction.
That's what's happening in the beginning.
They flourished under the leadership of Judah.
Judah, the ones that God seemed to have been using, even prophesying, would be leading the nation moving forward.
And they were committed to worshiping and serving the Lord their God.
But the Israel of chapter 9 doesn't resemble the Israel of chapter 1 at all.
They're not unified as God's people.
They're acting actually independently of one another.
All of these stories that we're reading, all of these narratives, it's using the term for Israel, but it's not really referring to the nation as a whole.
It's these little pockets of conflict.
These pockets where people are just not united as a nation anymore.
Everybody's doing their own thing now.
They're acting independently of one another.
There's no concern for God's plans among the people.
Not a single mention of going to the tabernacle in Shiloh to seek the Lord's direction on what they should be doing.
They're not concerned about that anymore.
They've completely turned away from Yahweh to serve the Baals instead.
And rather than following Judah's leadership as a united nation, regional groups, as we see in chapter 9,
are now anointing kings of their own.
They're mimicking the pagan tribal groups that are around them.
And then finally, there's no more talk of settling the land.
Have you picked up on that?
The further we get into this book, the more distant the whole concept of a land of promise becomes.
Nobody's talking about it.
Nobody seems concerned about it.
The thought of a promised land flowing with milk and honey seems to be a distant dream that no one really cares about or believes in anymore.
They've mingled with the people of the land.
And God's people have been thoroughly Canaanized.
And on the surface, this narrative that follows Abimelech, it fills out a place in the book.
At least at first.
There are hints of this cycle of apostasy that characterizes the book.
But the story is missing some key components of that.
We find that the people have turned away from God, as we typically see stated.
But there's no outside enemy oppressing them in this story.
The enemy actually comes from the inside, not the outside.
There's no cry for help to God regarding their condition.
There's no deliverer chosen by God to save the people.
There's no period of rest that follows.
The wheels have essentially fallen off of even the cycle where Israel's apostasy seems nearly complete.
So what exactly is this section here for?
What's it meant to teach us?
The chapter is about what happens when we live as if God isn't there and as if his instructions do not matter.
What does it look like when God's people actually abandon God?
What is the nature of their lives?
What characterizes what happens to them?
What is the outflow of that?
And what we find in Judges is that when the people were faithful to Yahweh, they flourished.
They enjoyed intimate fellowship with God through the means of worship that he had ordained.
They received the blessings from his hand.
But they became more attracted to the bells.
They became more attracted to the life that was lived by those who worshiped Baal rather than God.
They forsook the Lord.
And while they might have enjoyed a season of pleasure during that time,
as Hebrews 11 tells us, there is indeed pleasure and sin for a season.
We get to chapter 9 and they're discovering very quickly, at least the people around Shechem,
that life under Baal is not as great as they had imagined.
That's what this chapter is about.
Instead of a life of blessing, they're surrounded by death and destruction.
And this passage is a warning for all who are being drawn away from God to pursue a life without him.
And the lesson is that true flourishing derives from faithfulness to God,
while the ways of this world will only bring about death.
That's the big picture.
Now, the details of the narrative are tied together by three specific texts
that help us understand and apply the story as a whole.
So what I want to do is I want to start by just working through, really just quickly,
just working through the whole story all the way through the end of chapter 9, okay?
Kind of like what we do with the scripture readings.
In fact, you'll be pleased to know that I actually wrote no manuscript for this part of the sermon,
so we won't be here for three hours just on this one part.
But I do want you to at least see a sketch of the outline of this story.
We need to understand what's happening.
And then once we do that, we're going to come back,
and we're going to look at three key texts that kind of tie it all together
and give us the purpose of our study for the day, okay?
So let's look at this structure.
The first thing that we find is in verses 1 through 6,
we find Abimelech's conspiracy.
And these are in the screen.
If you'd like to keep a note of them, you can.
This is Abimelech's conspiracy.
Let's read it again.
Now Abimelech, the son of Jerobel, went to Shechem, to his mother's relatives,
and said to them and to the whole clan of his mother's family,
Say in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem,
which is better for you,
that all 70 of the sons of Jerobel rule over you?
Or that one rule over you?
Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.
I mean, it's pretty clear to see what he's saying here, right?
We are introduced to Abimelech earlier in chapter 8 in verse 30.
Now Gideon had 70 sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives,
and his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son,
and he called his name Abimelech, okay?
So we're introduced to Abimelech there.
We find out that his mother was a concubine of Gideon's,
that she belonged to the people of Shechem,
and now not wanting to share any possible power or rule with his 70 brothers,
he goes to his mother's relatives in Shechem,
and he says, listen, do you want all of these guys ruling over you,
or do you just want one king?
And by the way, if you think it's good to have one king,
wouldn't one of your own people make a great king?
I am yours.
What an honor it would be for you Shechemites
if somebody from Shechem was the king and was the ruler who was ruling over us,
and that sounded pretty attractive to them.
Look at verse 3.
His mother's relatives spoke all the words on his behalf
in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem,
and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech,
for they said, he is our brother.
Isn't that such a foolish way to choose a ruler?
There's no talk of qualification.
There's no talk of competency.
It's just, he's one of us.
Sure, he can be king.
And then they were complicit in what he had plans to do.
They gave him 70 pieces of silver out of the house of their false god, Belbereth,
with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows who followed him.
And he went to his father's house at Ophrah,
and he killed all of his brothers.
Now, there's irony in that, isn't there?
He goes to his supposed relatives in Shechem,
and he says, I'm your brother.
Let me be your king, and I'll deal with my other brothers by killing them.
Okay, there's a bit of foreshadowing here, right?
Right?
Like, surely, somebody in Shechem thought,
if he's willing to murder the other brothers,
at what point is he going to turn on us as his brothers as well?
But they're not thinking like that, are they?
They're thinking so carnally at this moment.
He kills all of his brothers,
but Jotham, the youngest, was left, and he hid himself.
And then the leaders made Abimelech their king.
So, Abimelech's conspiracy.
Here's the next part of the outline.
Jotham's curse.
In two parts to this, first we see the fable told.
Look at verse 7.
When it was told, Jotham,
he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim,
and he cried aloud and said to them,
Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem,
that God may listen to you.
And he tells this story.
The trees once went out to anoint a king over them,
and they said to the olive tree,
Reign over us.
But the olive tree said to them,
Shall I leave my abundance,
by which gods and men are honored,
and go hold sway over the trees?
So the tree said to the fig tree,
You come and reign over us.
But the fig tree said to them,
Shall I leave my sweetness,
and my good fruit,
and go hold sway over the trees?
So the tree said to the vine,
You come and reign over us.
But the vine said to them,
Shall I leave my wine,
that cheers God and men,
and go hold sway over the trees?
Then all the trees said to the bramble,
a bush,
You come and reign over us.
And the bramble said to the trees,
If in good faith you are anointing me king over you,
then come and take refuge in my shade.
An irony,
because a bramble has no shade.
But if not,
let fire come out from the bramble,
and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
So you can imagine,
Abimelech and the people of Shechem,
and of Beth Milo,
which is probably attached to Shechem in some way,
they're gathered over here at the Diviner's Oak,
and they are in the process of anointing Abimelech
as their king,
and then they hear this voice crying out
from a distance on Mount Gerizim,
and he tells this weird story about trees
that they're desperate to find the king,
and it becomes clear what this story is about.
The trees here are the people of Shechem.
They're trying to find a king,
and they're trying to find their king,
but none of the qualified people want to be their king.
And so what do they do?
They find the bramble.
The bramble represented by Abimelech.
Abimelech who has no shade.
A bramble who provides no fruit.
Thorns and thistles is what he is represented by here,
and that's who they make their king.
And he says,
if you do this in good faith,
great.
If you don't,
if you turn on me,
fire will come from the bramble,
and we'll destroy you.
This is an interesting story.
Now, we need to at least acknowledge
the problem here is not that they want a king.
That's actually a good thing.
It's actually a necessary thing in the themes of judges.
Dale Ralph Davis says,
the fable does not stress the worthlessness of kingship,
but the worthlessness of Abimelech.
The concern is not that the worthy candidates
depreciate the offer of kingship,
but that the bramble accepts it.
That's the emphasis here is on the bramble, right?
Okay, then we find the fable interpreted or explained.
Verse 16.
Jotham says,
Now, therefore,
if you acted in good faith and integrity
when you made Abimelech king,
and if you have dealt well with Jerobel and his house
and have done to him as his deeds deserved,
for my father fought for you and risked his life
and delivered you from the hand of Midian,
and you have risen up against my father's house this day
and have killed his son,
70 men on one stone,
and have made Abimelech the son of his female servant king
over the leaders of Shechem,
because he's your relative.
If you then have acted in good faith and integrity
with Jerobel and his house this day,
then rejoice in Abimelech and let him also rejoice in you.
But if not,
let fire come out from Abimelech
and devour the leaders of Shechem and Beth Milo,
and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem
and from Beth Milo to devour Abimelech.
And then Jotham does what any good preacher does.
He ran away and fled and went to Beer
and lived there because of Abimelech, his brother.
Jotham drops the bomb,
and he hightails it out of there
so that they couldn't get to him.
I heard somebody say,
I think it was on a Bible Talk podcast,
they said sometimes ministry is like being the pilot
of a Delta aircraft.
Everybody's happy to get on the plane
and they get where they need to go
and everything's good.
And when they get off,
they're clapping for the pilot.
Thank you so much for such a wonderful flight.
He said sometimes it's actually more like a B-52 bomber.
You fly in and you drop the bomb
and then you just try to get back to your wife and kids
as fast as you can safely, right?
We see a little bit of that with Jotham here.
He proclaims his warning,
he makes his prophecy,
and he hightails it out there so that he can live.
All right, that moves us to the next big section,
God's judgment.
So three primary sections.
We've got Abimelech's conspiracy,
Jotham's curse,
and then God's judgment.
And this is where we see fire
come from all the people involved.
First, there's fire from Shechem.
Verse 25,
the leaders of Shechem put men in ambush
against Abimelech on the mountaintops
and they robbed all who passed by them
along that way
and it was told to Abimelech.
Then we're introduced in verses 26 to 29,
this outsider named Gaal or Gal,
the son of Ebed,
he moves into Shechem with his relatives
and in a night of drunken, false worship,
he lifts up his voice against Abimelech.
He rallies the people of Shechem to his side.
Everybody now wants to mutiny
against Abimelech as their king,
but Abimelech has an insider who informs them
and that's what we're told about
in verses 25 to 29,
fire from Shechem.
Then we get to verses 30 to 49,
just a large section here.
We see fire from Abimelech,
fire from Abimelech.
First against Gaal or Gal.
Notice verse 30,
when Zebel, the ruler of the city,
heard the words of Gaal, the son of Ebed,
his anger was kindled
and he sent messengers to Abimelech secretly saying,
behold, Gaal, the son of Ebed
and his relatives have come to Shechem
and they are stirring up the city against you.
Now therefore go by night,
you and the people who are with you
and set an ambush in the field.
Jump to verse 34.
So Abimelech and all the men
who were with him rose up by night.
They set an ambush against Shechem
and four companies.
Gaal, the son of Ebed,
went out and stood in the entrance
of the gate of the city
and Abimelech,
the people who were with him,
rose from the ambush.
And when Gaal saw the people,
he said to Zebel,
look, people are coming down
from the mountains.
And Zebel says,
ah, it's just a shadow.
Don't worry about it.
37, Gaal spoke again and said,
look, people are coming down
from the center of the land
and one company is coming
from the direction of the diviner's oak.
And then Zebel speaks up,
where is your mouth now?
You who said,
who is Abimelech,
that we should serve him.
Skip down to verse 40.
And Abimelech chased him
and he fled before him
and many fell wounded
up to the entrance of the gate.
So first,
there's fire from Shechem,
then there's fire from Abimelech
and it begins with this,
this kind of external figure
that has come in
and has created this stir
amongst the city,
turning the people against Abimelech.
But then the fire moves on
from against Gaal
to against Shechem itself.
Verse 42,
on the following day,
the people went out into the field.
Abimelech was told
and he took his people
and divided them
into three companies
and he set an ambush in the field
and he looked
and saw the people
coming out of the city.
So he rose against them
and he killed them.
Now the picture is changing now.
First, it's against this guy
who essentially
has opened up his big mouth
in a drunken stupor
and has incited war
with Abimelech.
But now,
on the next day,
Abimelech sits outside the city.
He just waits for the citizens
to come out
and do their work in the field
and as soon as they come out
to go about their business,
he kills them all.
He just absolutely
lays waste to the people.
A few of them were told
escape to a tower
in verse 46.
All the leaders
of the tower of Shechem
heard of it.
They entered the stronghold
of the house of Bareth
and basically,
Abimelech and his men,
they get a bunch of trees,
they lay them up
against the stronghold
of the tower
and if you skip down
to verse 49,
we see,
so every one of the people
cut down his bundle
following Abimelech,
put it against the stronghold.
They set the stronghold on fire
so that all the people
of the tower of Shechem
also died,
about a thousand men and women.
Abimelech kills them all.
He raises the city,
sows it with salt.
It doesn't get rebuilt
for a long time
in the Old Testament narrative.
Shechem now
has faced the wrath
of their king, Abimelech.
But what's going to happen
to Abimelech?
Well, there's a final point.
We see fire from this place
called Thebes,
which isn't mentioned
up to this point in the text,
but it's concluding for us
what happens to Abimelech.
Verse 50,
Then Abimelech went to Thebes
and encamped against Thebes
and captured it.
But there was a strong tower
within the city
and all the men and women
and all the leaders
of the city fled to it
and shut themselves in
and they went up
to the roof of the tower.
Abimelech came to the tower
and fought against it
and drew near to the door
to the tower
to burn it with fire.
And a certain woman
threw an upper millstone
on Abimelech's head
and crushed his skull.
Then he called quickly
to the young man
his armor bearer
and he said to him,
Draw your sword
and kill me
lest they say of me
a woman killed me.
And this young man
thrust him through
and he died.
It is quite funny, isn't it?
It's actually a foreshadow
I think of Saul.
So much of this story
points us to what
Israel's going to do
as a whole
when they want Saul
as their king.
He's not God's man.
He's Israel's man.
And his life ends
much the same way.
It's not at the hands
of a woman
but he is about to die
but he can't handle
the dishonor of that
so he asks for his armor bearer
to take his life for him.
We see some foreshadowing
but then perhaps
the most humorous part
is verse 55
also tragic.
When the men of Israel
saw that Abimelech was dead
everyone departed
to his home.
This wasn't about God.
It wasn't about Israel.
This wasn't about
what was good for the people.
This was a wicked man
who should have never
been in leadership
but somebody put him there.
And everybody knows it
and they're going along with it
because they're afraid of him
and the second that they find
that he's dead
they just drop their weapons.
They say,
alright, we don't have to do this anymore
and they go home
and they live their lives.
Interesting, isn't it?
Alright, well that's the story, okay?
Let's look at three texts
that kind of tie all of this together
and help us understand
what this is really about, okay?
Number one,
God was forgotten.
Go back to chapter 8, would you?
And look with me at verses 33 to 35 again.
As soon as Gideon died,
the people of Israel turned again
and they whored after the Baals
and made Belbereth their God.
And the people of Israel
did not remember the Lord their God
who had delivered them
from the hand of all their enemies
on every side.
And they did not show steadfast love
to the family of Jerobel,
that is Gideon,
in return for all the good
that he had done to Israel.
This whole episode
with Abimelech and Shechem
originates here.
We're told that Israel
once again
did not remember
the Lord their God
or all the times
that he had saved them
from their enemies.
That doesn't mean
that they literally
forgot who Yahweh was
or had some sort of amnesia
about the ways
he had delivered them.
It means that as a people,
they willfully rejected him
despite all that he had done.
They forgot him.
They rejected him.
They denied him.
They attempted to live their life
without him.
Says Del Ralph Davis.
It means that
what they knew of Yahweh
exercised no control over them.
It held no grip
on their loyalties.
They could answer
the catechism questions
about God,
but that knowledge
did not determine
their commitment
or keep them
from adopting
Belbareth as their God.
The nature
of their forgetfulness
is defined first
in this text
by their pursuit
of the Baals,
adopting Belbareth
as their official,
formal deity.
In the language
that the author uses
need not be missed.
He writes that
they hoard
after the Baals,
spiritually prostituting
themselves
to a false deity
in hopes that they might
receive some fortune,
some good
from that God
in their dissatisfaction
with Yahweh.
The language,
it pictures God
as a loving husband
whose spouse
has not forgotten
who he is,
but has willingly
chosen to find
life
and love
and security
in another man.
And that man
isn't even capable
of providing those things,
but it doesn't stop
his spouse
from leaving him,
from forgetting him
to pursue
this other person
and pursue
this other individual.
In other words,
despite his steadfast
love toward them,
Israel was determined
to live a life
away from
Yahweh
and his love
and his law.
But the text
also defines
their forgetfulness
by a lack
of love
and loyalty
to the family
of God's servant,
Gideon.
Don't miss
the author's use
of the name
Jerobel here.
Look again
at verse 34
and they,
or verse 35,
and they did not
show steadfast love
to the family
of Jerobel.
Now remember,
that name,
it's supposed
to reflect Gideon
as God's agent
for fighting
against the worship
of Baal.
The oppression
from Midian
that we've been studying
for so many weeks now,
it was God's judgment
against Israel's idolatry
and Gideon
was used
to bring about
their salvation
and this name
was to remind them
of all that God
had done
in fighting
against Baal
and the Baal worship
to show his steadfast love
for his people.
So when we read
the term
Jerobel
as a proper name
for Gideon
in the book of Judges,
it's always there
for a very specific reason.
It's not there by chance.
It should bring
our thoughts
to the issue
of our worship.
Now the treatment
of Jerobel's family,
particularly
the 70 sons,
is the product
then
of forsaking
God.
It's the evidence
of it.
The root problem
is that they've forgotten
God.
The fruit
of that problem
is that they are
no longer showing
steadfast love
and loyalty
to God's servant
whom he used
to deliver them.
They've completely
forgotten God
and they couldn't
care less
about being loyal
and loving
toward Gideon
and his family.
Therefore,
when God
returns the evil
of Abimelech
and Shechem
against them,
it is ultimately
about them
not remembering
the Lord their God.
Now,
the bottom line here
is that Israel
did not want
to live
in worship
and obedience
to the Lord.
they wanted
Baal
and they wanted
Baalism
more.
And their
whoring after
the Baals
caused them
to deal
treacherously
with Gideon's
sons,
which led
to their
judgment
and death
rather than life.
God
So this story
simply displays
the consequences
of forgetting
God.
What does it
look like
when God's
people forget
him
and forsake
him
and determine
that they're
going to live
a life
apart from
him?
This is what
it looks like.
Number two,
God was in
control.
God was
forgotten.
God was
in control.
Flip to
chapter 9
and look
with me
at verses
23 and
24.
God sent
an evil
spirit
between
Abimelech
and the
leaders of
Shechem
and the
leaders of
Shechem
dealt
treacherously
with Abimelech
that the
violence done
to the
70 sons
of Jerobel
might come
and their
blood be
laid on
Abimelech
their brother
who killed
them
and on
the men
of Shechem
who strengthened
his hands
to kill
his brothers.
But look
again at
verse 23
at the
very beginning.
God
sent
an evil
spirit
between
Abimelech
and the
leaders.
Now aside
from the
opening statement
of Jotham's
curse,
God is not
mentioned at
all in this
narrative
until we
get here.
We find
he's forgotten
at the end
of chapter 8
but suddenly
comes back
to the surface
here.
And what is
it that it's
telling us?
Oh God
is still
there.
Oh God
is actually
in control
of this
whole thing.
He's still
acting.
He's still
seeing.
He's still
being God
here.
Forgetting
God
always
involves
self
deception.
Always.
We think
that if we
insist
God doesn't
exist
or choose
to adopt
a different
God as
our own
that we
can
effectively
remove
God's
power
and authority
in our
lives.
That's
self
deception.
We deceive
ourselves
into thinking
that God
needs our
permission
to judge
or to
act
but in
reality
God
is God
whether we
acknowledge
him
or not.
And Abimelech
and the leaders
of Shechem
they were
behaving
as if
Yahweh
and his
law
no longer
had any
authority
over them.
It's as if
the people
of Israel
were so
foolish
as to
say
you know
what
now
we're
going to
make
Belbereth
our
God
which means
that authority
over us
transfers
now from
Yahweh
to Belbereth
so Yahweh
can't touch
us anymore
it doesn't
matter what
he says
it doesn't
matter what
he thinks
we're serving
Belbereth
now
and so
they do
the things
that are
characterized
by false
worship
but just
because you
choose another
God
doesn't make
God
any less
God
he doesn't
need your
permission
to act
in your
life
he doesn't
need your
permission
to be an
authority
in your
life
or to
judge
your
life
and God
shows
in verse
23
that he
was sovereign
over the
events of
Abimelech
and Shechem's
lives
even though
they did
not
acknowledge
him
as their
God
and he
sovereignly
allowed
their sin
to devour
their alliance
as a form
of judgment
against them
and as a
form of
justice
for Gideon's
sons
God
turned their
wickedness
against them
and he
sent an
evil spirit
between them
and I think
there's echoes
of this
in Romans
chapter 1
where Paul
writes that
sometimes
God
gives us
over
to the
full
out
working
of sin
Romans
chapter 1
verse 24
therefore
Paul writes
God gave
them up
in the
lust of
their hearts
to impurity
verse 26
for this
reason
God gave
them up
to
dishonorable
passions
verse 28
since they
did not
see fit
to acknowledge
God
aka
since they
forgot
God
gave them
up
to a
debased
mind
to do
what ought
not to
be
done
when God
gives someone
up in their
sin
he removes
all divine
restraint
allowing a
person's sin
to run
its full
course
and in the
case of
Abimelech
and the leaders
of Shechem
God
sovereignly
gave them
over
to their
wickedness
so that
their sin
ran its
full course
resulting
in their
destruction
their
treachery
toward
Gideon's
sons
eventually
turned
them
against
one
another
and in
the end
they all
died
there is
no good
ending
to this
story
for Abimelech
or the people
in Shechem
there is
no happy
ending
here
it is
all
death
why
because
God
gave them
up
to their
sin
they
deceived
themselves
into thinking
that a
life apart
from God
would be
better
but they
ultimately
proved that
it's actually
far
worse
when it
comes to
living a
life that
forgets
God
the worst
thing
that can
happen
to us
is for
God to
give us
what we
want
the worst
thing
that can
happen to
you
if you
are being
drawn
to a life
of forgetting
God
and abandoning
God
and his law
and his will
the worst
thing for
you
is for
God
to say
okay
for him to
throw up his
hands so to
speak
and say
fine
if sin is
what you
want
sin is what
you can
have
and if you're
trying to live
a life apart
from God
and his
ways
you need
to understand
that there
may very
well come
a day
when he
lets you
when he
lets you
that sense
of conviction
the pleas
of the Holy
Spirit
that you
feel now
in your
life
that feeling
of guilt
and shame
for your
sin
that's gonna
go away
and all
that will
be left
is an
evil spirit
that runs
its course
and destroys
your life
God is
sovereign
whether you
believe he
is or not
and his
sovereignty
will eventually
be expressed
in judgment
if you
continue
to forget
him
so God's
forgotten
but then we
find God's
actually still
in control
but he's
in control
at least
at this
point
in judgment
number
three
God
was the
final
judge
God
was the
final
judge
verse
56
and 57
thus
God
returned
the evil
of Abimelech
which he
committed
against his
father
and killing
his 70
brothers
and God
also made
all the
evil of the
men of
Shechem
return on
their heads
and upon
them came
the curse
of Jotham
the son
of Jerob
Baal
so after
verse
23
God
isn't
mentioned
again
until the
story's
over
and then
we find
that
God
is given
the credit
by the
author
for everything
that happened
reminding us
that God
is the
final judge
here
now there's
not much
more to say
here than
what I've
already said
but we
should at least
acknowledge
how the
text
concludes
by emphasizing
God's
place
as the
final
judge
the
woman
in
Thebes
was an
instrument
of God's
judgment
but God
was the
judge
he was the
one working
and acting
and bringing
all of this
together
he is the
one that must
be credited
with Abimelech's
fall
which is a
working out
of holy
justice
for Gideon's
sons
it's also
a working out
of salvation
for those
like Jotham
and the
people of
Thebes
who were
subject to
the oppression
brought on
by wicked
rulers
like Abimelech
so we find
here what we
find so often
in the scriptures
that God
is glorified
in salvation
through judgment
he judges
Abimelech
and Shechem
for their
sins
and he does
so in order
to bring
salvation
to Jotham
and the people
of Thebes
and anyone
else who was
underneath his
oppressive rule
and he is
glorified in
both things
as the final
judge
God is
ultimately
glorified by
both salvation
and by
judgment
but could
this have
played out
differently
that's the
question
that I want
us to
conclude
with
could any
of this
been different
for Abimelech
and the
leaders of
Shechem
even better
for those
who are
here this
morning
that may
be currently
living apart
from God
is it
possible
for your
end
to be
different
from those
in the
text
well I
think we
have to go
to Jotham's
curse once
again to
find that
answer
look with
me at
verse 7
when it
was told
to Jotham
he went
and stood
on top
of Mount
Gerizim
and listened
to what
he cried
aloud
listen to
me you
leaders
of Shechem
why
that God
may listen
to you
now we
know how
the story
ends
we know
what God
was doing
we know
what the
judgment
ultimately
ends up
being
but at
this
point
as
Jotham
cries
this
out
the
door
of
repentance
is open
Jotham's
curse
was a
prophetic
warning
against
Abimelech
and Shechem
that God
fully fulfilled
but
we know
that Yahweh
is a God
who does
not delight
himself
in the death
of the
wicked
who delights
himself
rather
in giving
mercy
Ezekiel
chapter 33
and verse 11
God says
say this to them
as I live
declares the
Lord God
I have no
pleasure
in the death
of the wicked
but
that the
wicked
turn
from his
way
and live
turn back
this is the
plea of God
turn back
from your
evil ways
why will
you die
O house
of Israel
can you
imagine that
same verse
from Ezekiel
being proclaimed
to Abimelech
and to the
leaders of
Shechem
by Jotham
turn back
why would
you die
turn back
and then we
go to Micah
chapter 7
and verse 18
where Micah
says who is a
God like you
pardoning iniquity
and passing
over transgression
for the remnant
of his inheritance
he does not
retain his anger
forever
Micah says
because he
delights
in steadfast
love
he delights
in
mercy
if they
had only
turned
at the
warning
and repented
of their
sin
there's no
reason for us
to doubt
that God
would have been
merciful
because he
is a God
of mercy
and we
believe that
ultimately
because of
the work
of Christ
on the
cross
God
proves
his steadfast
love
toward us
in that
while we
were sinners
who were
trying to
forget him
who were
trying to
leave him
Christ
died
for us
that's
Romans 5
8
he took
the wrath
of God
in our
place
so that
we can
receive
forgiveness
for every
sin
and be
eternally
reconciled
to our
creator
against which
we have
sinned
and this
salvation
is not
something
that we
can earn
simply by
doing better
with our
lives
this could
not be
earned
by Abimelech
for him
just stopping
for a moment
just to say
you know
what
maybe I'll
go about
this a
different
way
it doesn't
work
no
it is
received
by faith
in who
Jesus
is
and what
Jesus
did
and what
Jesus
said
if Abimelech
and the
Shechemites
had turned
from their
sin back
to God
upon hearing
Jotham's
warning
their end
would not
have been
destruction
and we
too
can turn
from sin
back to
God
through
faith
in Jesus
Christ
and perhaps
this sermon
is your
version
of Jotham's
curse
it's a
prophetic
warning
for you
that the
doorway
for repentance
is still
open
but if you
continue
forgetting
God
your sin
will bring
your death
your eternal
death
but if you
will repent
and believe
as Jesus
said in
John 8
if you
will believe
and hear
his words
God
will give
you
eternal
life
eternal
life
we could
simplify this
whole section
by saying
there's two
ways to
live
you can
live for
God
and live
a life
that is
blessed
and flourishes
in eternity
or you
can live
for yourself
and you'll
die
you'll be
destroyed
and you'll
spend eternity
in hell
it really
is that
simple
like Israel
we often
think of
God's word
and God's
ways
as a
restriction
on our
freedoms
as a
burden
to who
we want
to be
and how
we want
to live
our lives
and
indwelling
sin
it magnifies
this
indwelling
sin
that's
in us
it magnifies
the attractiveness
of a life
apart from
God
it leads
us to
view the
Lord
as an
oppressor
someone
standing in
the way
of our
happiness
and true
fulfillment
we think
that a
life
outside
of God's
word
and will
will be
ultimately
freeing
that it
will allow
us to
be who
we truly
are
and I
don't mean
any of that
sarcastically
I mean
that as
that is
the reality
of how we
think as
people
that is
the mantra
of our
culture
at this
point
and it
probably
exists
in some
of us
that God
is a
problem
he's
an
oppressor
he's
an
egomaniac
that's
standing in
the way
of me
being who
I
really
am
the
problem
though
is that
who you
really
are
is a
sinner
whose
sin
is
eventually
going to
destroy
you
that's
offensive
to us
though
we don't
like to
think of
it that
way
we say
no
this is
happiness
this is
fulfillment
this is
true
life
this is
true
love
so on
and so
forth
as the
arguments
go
but the
reality
is
who
you
really
are
is a
sinner
and that
sin is
going to
destroy
you
Satan
deceives
us into
thinking
that a
life
apart
from
God
is
freedom
it's
actually
bondage
he
tells us
that it's
life
giving
but in
reality
it's
death
God's
commands
are not
for our
harm
they're
for our
good
like a
parent
who can
see
and
understand
what will
ultimately
harm
their
kids
God's
law
is a
rule
of
love
it's a
rule
of love
love
if you
watch
Bluey
there was
an episode
recently
where
Bluey
and
Bingo
they didn't
appreciate
that their
dad was
being so
bossy
in their
life
but by
the end
they realized
that wait
a minute
dad's
commands
are actually
for our
good
they're not
always easy
to hear
because a
lot of
times they
go against
what we
want to
do
but they're
actually
for our
good
right
like a
loving
parent
God
gives us
his law
for our
good
he knows
what will
harm us
he knows
that he
is what
is best
for us
and he
pursues
us
he pursues
us
out of
love
so that
in turning
to him
we will
know what
it truly
means
to live
and to
flourish
and I
think that's
the best
part of
it
I can
understand
that as
a father
that no
matter how
many times
my girls
push against
or as
they get
older
if they
run
I
understand
the desire
to pursue
them for
their good
is that not
how the
scripture
pictures
the Lord
in his
relationship
to us
we try
to forget
him
we try
to live
without
him
what
does
he
do
he
pursues
us
he
gives
us
his
word
he
convicts
us
with
his
spirit
he
gives
us
a
faithful
church
who
will
hold
us
accountable
he
pursues
!
us
out
of
his
love
for
us
!
true
life
doesn't
come
from
outside
of
his
will
it
comes
in
submission
to
his
will
a
lesson
that
Israel
just
couldn't
seem
to
learn
in
the
book
of
Judges
and
unless
we
have
eyes
to
see
and
ears
to
hear
the
word
of
truth
we
will
never
learn
it
either
a
life
and
worship
and
obedience
to
God
is
the
only
life
that's
worth
it
doesn't
mean
it's
easy
but
man
is
it
worth
it
and
if
you're
at
a
point
in
your
life
where
you
really
are
trying
to
fight
this
tendency
to
move
away
from
him
please
don't
please
don't
it
won't
work
out
the
way
you
think
it
will
work
out
it
won't
be
fulfilling
like
you
think
it
will
be
fulfilling
just
turn
and
trust
him
and
believe
him
and
you'll
find
that
his
way
is
the
best
way
and
it's
the
fruitful
way
it's
the
saving
way
and
!
and
go
to
!