Family Feud
Judges 9:1-9, 14-15, 56-57
Conflict in a family often brings about broken relationships, greed, jealousy, selfishness, and other heartaches. Gideon, now called Jerubbaal, had a very large family. A conflict arose from the selfishness and greed of Abimelech, his son by a slave girl from Shechem.
Abimelech decided he wanted to be king. He went to his mother’s family in Shechem and asked them to appeal to the leaders of Shechem. He asked which the people would prefer: 70 men ruling over them, or just one person who was of their own flesh and blood. Of course, they wanted Abimelech as their king. They gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, which he used to hire worthless and reckless men to help him become king.
His first order of business was to destroy all of his rivals – his 70 brothers. They went to Gideon’s house and killed all of his brothers, except Jotham, who was able to escape. The leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo met together and anointed Abimelech as their king.
When Jotham heard what had taken place, he cried out to the leaders of Shechem. He told them the “parable of the trees.” The plants decided they wanted a king. They went to several trees and asked if they would be their king. All of the trees were busy producing their fruits. They felt their ministry was being fulfilled as they served God and man with their fruits. They had no desire to rule; they wanted to continue to serve. Finally, they asked the bramble, a worthless and destructive plant, to reign over them. The least likely candidate, the bramble, accepted.
Jotham was trying to get the people of Shechem to realize they had anointed the least worthy of Gideon’s sons as their king. Abimelech was selfish, greedy, and destructive, craving power for selfish reasons. We should not strive for leadership positions out of selfish motives. We should seek to be faithful servants of the Lord and mankind.
Jotham reminded the men of Shechem that his father had fought for them, even risking his life to deliver them from the cruel Midianites. In return, they had assisted in killing Gideon’s 70 sons and made Abimelech king because he was their brother. He told them if they had acted in truth and sincerity with Gideon’s family, then he wished them well. But if not, Abimelech and the men of Shechem would be destroyed.
Three years later, God intervened by sending a spirit of strife between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, and they destroyed each other. The curse of Jotham came true.
We need to seek God’s guidance every day in every phase of our lives so that we do not become selfish seekers of power and prestige. Pray that God will make us faithful and obedient servants.
Johnston– Lessons in the ETB series for the summer quarter are being written by Virginia Johnston, a member of First Baptist Church, North Charleston, where her husband Dan is pastor.,/i>