The Three Year Itch (Judges 9)
I am sure that nearly everyone has heard the story of Gideon, the reluctant judge in Israel who led his nation to victory against the Midianites. What may be less familiar to you is the rest of the story. Gideon had seventy sons by various wives and another son named Abimelech by a concubine. Abimelech approached the people of Shechem with a proposition. Why should they have seventy sons of Gideon rule over them when they could have one of their own? The Shechemites agreed and Abimelech slaughtered sixty-nine of his seventy half-brothers. Jotham, the only remaining brother, got away. From Mt. Gerizim, Jotham put a curse, so to speak, on Abimelech and the people of Shechem. He stated that if they did well with his father and his house, especially considering all that he had done for them in rescuing them from the Midianites, then may it go well with them. Yet if it weren’t deserved, may Abimelech and Shechem turn on each other. What struck me about this passage was the ve...