Nobody Wins

Passage: Judges 9

Judges 9 is reflective of what will become an increasingly prominent feature of the book: apparently gratuitous violence. The conflict that unfolds in this chapter involves two equally unsympathetic parties. As the narrative progresses, we find ourselves trying to figure out who to root for. Initially it seems that Abimelech is the bad guy. After treacherously dispatching his seventy half-brothers, he pursues a national power grab that depends heavily on “shock-and-awe” guerilla tactics. We can’t wait for his surviving brother, Jotham’s, predictions to come true and for Abimelech to get what’s coming to him.

Then Gaal enters the scene. He’s a citizen of Shechem – a town that’s had more than enough of Abimelech’s rampages. He starts rallying the locals, and soon enough has the makings of an insurgency on his hands. Behind the scenes we’re told that God has prompted Abimelech to inflame the anger of the Shechemites in order to set in motion Abimelech’s ultimate undoing. Great, we think, Gaal and his army will take care of Abimelech. Not so. Violence erupts, and Abimelech routes Gaal’s forces. The men of Shechem are slaughtered and their town put to the sword.

What about Abimelech?

Abimelech meets his end not on the sword of a rival warrior, but in the desperate act of an unarmed housewife. As Abimelech and his men surround and prepare to burn a tower full of helpless civilians, one of them as a last resort throws a millstone out a window. Only the hand of God could be attributed to guiding the stone’s trajectory. It meets its mark, and Abimelech finally receives the just reward of his terrible act of treachery.

But why does God allow Abimelech to do such terrible things to Gaal and the citizens of Shechem? At the very end of the passage the author notes that they suffer simply what they deserve for their own wickedness. It turns out that in this story there aren’t good guys and bad guys. Those on both sides of the conflict have flagrantly disregarded God and his rules. Both parties suffer the unrestrained consequences of being given over to evil. The overarching theme of Judges is that bad things happen to God’s people when they reject God. As the book progresses we see more and more evidence that the Israelites have failed to live like God’s people and now suffer the consequences. The new twist in Judges 9 is that the enemies of the Israelites are no longer other nations, but fellow Israelites.