Book of Judges: Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay
God is Never Out of the Picture
SPEAKER: Paul Stolwyk
Introduction: Let’s turn together to Judges, chapter 9. There are six main characters in this passage:
1. Gideon: who is referred to not as Gideon but as Jerub-baal
2. Abimelech: the son of Jerub-baal (Gideon) by a slave girl
3. Jotham: the son of Gideon by one of his wives
4. Zebul: Abimelech’s righthand man after he sets himself up as king
5. Gaal: a rival leader who rises to compete for power
6. People of Shechem
The chapter has six main movements:
1. Abimelech will establish himself as king and kill his half-brothers. (1-6)
2. His half-brother Jotham will prophetically speak against the action. (7-21)
3. Previous supporters will turn against Abimelech. (22-41)
4. Abimelech will turn against his supporters. (42-49)
5. Abimelech will die. (50-54)
6. Then the narrator will offer a postscript. (56-57)
Though the chapter is quite long, I want to read it aloud:
Abimelek son of Jerub-Baal went to his mother’s brothers in Shechem and said to them and to all his mother’s clan,“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.”
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.”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.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. Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Shechem to crown Abimelek king.
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. One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king.’
“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?’
“Next, the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and be our king.’
“But the fig tree replied, ‘Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?’
“Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come and be our king.’
“But the vine answered, ‘Should I give up my wine, which cheers both gods and humans, to hold sway over the trees?’
“Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and be our king.’
“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!’
“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? Remember that my father fought for you and risked his life to rescue you from the hand of Midian.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. 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! 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!”
Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and he lived there because he was afraid of his brother Abimelek.
After Abimelek had governed Israel three years, God stirred up animosity between Abimelek and the citizens of Shechem so that they acted treacherously against Abimelek.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. 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.
Now Gaal son of Ebed moved with his clan into Shechem, and its citizens put their confidence in him. 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. 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?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!’”
When Zebul the governor of the city heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry. 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. Now then, during the night you and your men should come and lie in wait in the fields. In the morning at sunrise, advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, seize the opportunity to attack them.”
So Abimelek and all his troops set out by night and took up concealed positions near Shechem in four companies. 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.
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.”
But Gaal spoke up again: “Look, people are coming down from the central hill,[c] and a company is coming from the direction of the diviners’ tree.”
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!”
So Gaal led out[d] the citizens of Shechem and fought Abimelek. Abimelek chased him all the way to the entrance of the gate, and many were killed as they fled. Then Abimelek stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his clan out of Shechem.
The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields, and this was reported to Abimelek. 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. 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. 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.
On hearing this, the citizens in the tower of Shechem went into the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith. When Abimelek heard that they had assembled there, 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!” 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.
Next Abimelek went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it.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. Abimelek went to the tower and attacked it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire, a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.
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. When the Israelites saw that Abimelek was dead, they went home.
Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. God also made the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.
This is a pretty hopeless chapter, isn’t it? Political power plays, campaign fraud, sexism, hired hit men, treachery, deceit, war, and the slaughter of retreating people. All this and our senior pastor decides to go on his study month!
Though what is seen at the human level offers us little hope, we can still have hope because God is not out of the picture completely. No matter what we do to ignore or to leave God alone, God will not leave us alone. This passage is about God and how He deals with wickedness and evil. God’s word for us today is that when wickedness becomes more rampant, we are not to lose heart. The world is not out of control. Evil will not win. This chapter gives us four signs of hope that God is not out of the picture.
The first sign of hope is that …
God sees every act of human wickedness.
This chapter is completely different from what we have encountered in Judges up to this point. Unlike Othniel, Deborah, or Gideon, Abimelech’s life is not just a life of short-cuts and partial obedience but rather of uncontrolled evil. Rampant wickedness is very much alive and well in our world today. We see it in situations like genocide in Bosnia, slaughters in Rwanda, apartheid in South Africa, abortion in America, and the martyrdom of Christians in Sudan.
Wickedness is also evident in smaller, more individual cases like the Southside rapist, or in the physical, emotional or sexual abuse of children. Most of our news programs are about wickedness. It often causes skeptics to doubt whether God is at work in the world or not. Doesn’t He see what is going on? If He does, why doesn’t He do something to stop the evil and wickedness? He seems so silent about these issues.
But the key verses in this chapter are verses 56 and 57. They tell us how we are to look at this passage and what we should find as most important. Look there again. “Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. God also made the men of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub‑Baal came on them.”
The fact that God repays Abimelech and the people of Shechem for their wickedness shows that we should not equate God’s temporary silence with Him being inattentive to the existence of wickedness in the world. Silence does not mean blindness.
The second sign of hope is that …
God sees wickedness along the whole continuum.
Both the actions of Abimelech and the actions of the people of Shechem are described as wicked. Abimelech’s wickedness is easy to spot. It is one of those horrible expressions of evil. In verses 1-6, we saw how he took campaign funds to hire thugs, who slaughtered all but one of his 70 half-brothers.
Shechem’s wickedness is a little more difficult to discern. Verse 57 tells us that God saw that they did something wicked. What was it? They didn’t kill anyone. They seemed like just ordinary people. The key to understanding their wickedness is found in Jotham’s little riddle about the trees, a riddle that is about Abimelech but directed prophetically to the people of Shechem. Jotham, the one survivor of the slaughter, ends his riddle in verse 19,
“If then you have acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub‑Baal and his family today, may Abimelech be your joy, and may you be his, too! But if you have not (acted honorably and in good faith), let fire come out from Abimelech and consume you, citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelech!”
The phrase, “honorably and in good faith,” is translated more precisely in the New American Standard as “if you have acted in truth and integrity.” This phrase captures the essence of their evil. In their selection of Abimelech, they compromised their integrity and they did not act in truth. They were knowingly deceptive. God saw not only the great sins of Abimelech, but He also saw the lack of truth and integrity in the people of Shechem.
Though different in degree, both are on the continuum of evil, and God judges both equally. At one time Abimelech was where the people of Shechem were on the continuum. He got to where he was by taking incremental steps in the wrong direction on the continuum.
One of the questions in the public square these days is “Why should we care about the situation with Bill Clinton?” This is a good question. I think we should care because truth and integrity matter. Integrity means that your private and public worlds match up. Integrity means that there is no difference between what people see and what people do not get to see. Integrity means authenticity. Integrity means you are the same person in the pulpit, in the office, in your home, in your car, by yourself. Truth means that when asked about matters that do not seem to match up, you acknowledge what you know.
I care because all our actions, even the President’s, are on the continuum. God hasn’t changed his continuum. If the allegations against the President are true, he is headed in the wrong direction on the continuum. It is bad enough to have an affair with a peer, but it is a step in the wrong direction to be in the most powerful office in the world and have an affair with an employee young enough to be your daughter. It is another step in the wrong direction to lie about it privately to your wife and your daughter. It is another step in the wrong direction to lie about it in public. And still another step to have your wife publicly support you as you lie. It is another step in the wrong direction to lie under oath, even about your private matters.
It is wrong for everyone in a free society to lie under oath. This undermines a free society. It is another step in the wrong direction to let the public continue to pay millions of dollars so they can find out if this is true, especially if you know already that it is not true. Truth and integrity will always matter. We should care because if the allegations are true, he is heading in the wrong direction on the continuum. If he had spoken truthfully when asked the first time, he would have taken a step in the right direction.
Personally, I hope the allegations prove to be false. I wish the Church would spend as much time praying for President Clinton (as we are instructed to do) as we do throwing stones at him (which we are instructed not to do). My concern is not so much President Clinton as our own souls. While we examine the President, we can get the false notion that we do not need to examine ourselves.
C.S. Lewis makes a wonderful observation, “We imply, and often believe, that habitual vices are exceptional single acts, and make the opposite mistake about our virtues.”[i] We tend to look with less scrutiny at ourselves. We overlook not working a full eight hours, not buying the software we use, making exaggerated claims or other little lies, hedging our expense reports, cheating on an exam, or pushing the sexual boundaries in a dating relationship. But each is a sign of our own deep and imbedded wickedness. It is not to the degree of Bosnia, it is not abusing a child, it is not abusing authority, but these actions are on the continuum, too.
No matter where the evil is on the continuum, God sees it. He doesn’t begin where President Clinton thinks it starts. And He doesn’t begin where you and I think it begins. It begins where He says it begins: “Be holy for I am holy says the Lord.” (1 Peter 1:16)
There is a third sign of hope in chapter 9. All evil, all wickedness, no matter where it is on the continuum, has a shelf-life.
God sets a limit on the extent of human wickedness.
God only allows Abimelech’s self-appointed reign to go on for a limited time before He intervenes. God has Abimelech’s wickedness on a leash. He is sovereign over it. After three years, He intervenes to put an end to it. On the one hand this is comforting and hopeful. Can you imagine what could happen in this world if God did not have wickedness on a leash? The history of the world tells us that though Stalin, Hitler, and Milosevich may have their day, their days are always numbered. Evil may dominate for a while, but it will always run out of running room. If God did not intervene, then we would destroy ourselves. Much has been written about the influence of Pope John Paul, Ronald Reagan and others in the fall of communism. But little mention has been made about Who was holding the leash all along so that some crazy person didn’t get control of a button.
Though I find it hopeful to know that God has human evil on a leash, honestly, there is still a question that causes me to remain uncomfortable with God. Why doesn’t God just shorten the leash? I know the answer is found somewhere between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. Though this may be the right answer, it doesn’t satisfy my soul as I talk with my Bosnian neighbor or with my agnostic friend up the street.
My discomfort with this is made more comfortable when I look at Jesus. When I look at the cross, I realize that when God entered the world, He did not shorten the leash for His own sake. He didn’t change the rules for Himself. When the penalty of all the sin of all the people for all time came upon Jesus, once and for all, God didn’t shorten the leash, even for His Son. God didn’t make the suffering stop until all that needed to be accomplished was accomplished. And since He didn’t, it means there is grace and that I can confidently know that even my sins on the continuum can be forgiven.
One of the struggles of those with a sense of righteousness is that you want justice and righteousness now. I am sure that when Jotham stood and told his parable, he wanted justice right then. He wanted God to vindicate his brothers right then and there. But he had to wait. Though sometimes we want God to act sooner, when He does intervene …
God acts decisively to end the wickedness.
In His own sovereign mind, God decides that the time is right to begin pulling in the leash on Abimelech and putting an end to the direction of his wickedness. Look at verse 22:
“After Abimelech had governed Israel three years, God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem, who acted treacherously against Abimelech. 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 Abimelech and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.” (Judges 9:22‑24)
God sends the spirit that begins a course of events that ultimately leads to not only Abimelech’s demise but also Shechem’s. There comes a time when God says enough is enough.
When the time was fully ripe, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law that we might receive the full rights of sons and daughters. (Galatians 4:4-5) If you are in Christ, God is in the process of taking you back down the continuum. His Spirit is working toward this in your heart. He is disciplining us out of love to get us there. And as we sin, He will often act with great decisiveness to change us.
Conclusion: When I was a kid, I remember the story about a chicken named Chicken Little. Chicken Little ran around afraid that the sky was going to fall. A lot of believers are like Chicken Little, scurrying around thinking that God is out of the picture. They are worried about where America is going, where the world is going and what will happen to their children.
This passage shows that God is not out of the picture. We see also a call to be working our way down the continuum in the right direction. Let us be like Jotham, and with clever words let us speak the truth to a culture headed in the other direction. But as the world gets worse, and it will get worse, let us not forget that God is not out of the picture. There will come a day when the distinction between the righteous and the wicked will once again be seen. God will bring it about. (Malachi 3:18)
DATE: August 2, 1998
Tags:
Wickedness, extent of
Wickedness, limitations on
[i] C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 60.