At the end of Judges 8, we see our pattern of apostasy repeating again:

No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals.

They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.

They also failed to show kindness to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things he had done for them. (Judges 8:33-35)

Now, that was step one. Remember, throughout Judges we have this four step process:
1. The people sin and fall into idolatry
2. They are oppressed by their enemies
3. They call out to God in distress
4. He raises up a judge to deliver them from their enemies
Then the judge dies and they repeat step one – only worse than before.

Notice what happens here, though. We have an anomaly in the pattern – always something to notice!!

Abimelech 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.” (Judges 9:1-2)

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who said all 70 of the sons of Jerub-Baal (Remember, that was Gideon’s nickname – “He who fights against Baal”) were going to rule? Back in Judges 8:23, we looked at Gideon’s statement about rulership: But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.” The Lord is the King of Israel. When they are oppressed, HE has raised up deliverers for Israel. Notice that this time, Abimelech is appointing himself!

This story does not go well. Abimelech slaughters all of his brothers and sets himself up as a self-appointed ruler. God turns the city of Shechem (the ones who followed him to begin with) against him, and they begin to ambush and rob people who are passing through the hills near them in opposition to Abimelech. It ends up being a strange civil war; Abimelech wipes out the entire city of Shechem, besieges another city, and is mortally wounded when a woman drops a millstone on his head from the tower in the city. Abimelech doesn’t want to die at the hands of a woman, so he has his armor-bearer kill him with a sword.

Warm and cozy! Now, we’re going to go back to those questions we’re keeping in mind as we work through this book:

*What is the progress from one story to the next, or what changes take place?
What stands out to me here is that now we have an Israelite killing off his family and countrymen and appointing himself as the leader, rather than God raising up a leader to deliver his people from outside oppression.

*How does each story make you feel?
I definitely am marking “Abimelech” off the list of possible names for any future sons…

*How does the treatment of women and the roles they take in each story relate to the main theme?
Not a whole lot new, here – we pretty much covered it in “Women and their Deadly Nails.” We’ve got a woman hefting a millstone off the city tower, and a man so ashamed to be killed by her that he commits assisted suicide. Pretty pictures all around.

The most interesting thing to me about this account is that Abimelech is Gideon’s son. It’s intriguing how many times we see this pattern in Scripture where the son or grandchildren of a spiritual leader ends up to be completely set against God – I also discussed this topic in “Memory Loss.”  Parents, we must pass on the Truth.  Of all the things we train our children in, nothing can compare to the importance of introducing them to God’s Word, discipling them, teaching them to fear the Lord, training them to obey Him.

I was recently listening to a message from Alistair Begg on parenting, and he was talking about the hesitancy of people, even genuine believers, in our day to “indoctrinate” their children – in many cases we’ve bought this lie that we need to let them explore and discover “their own truth,” “decide for themselves what is best,” etc.

He pointed out that as parents, our main job is “indoctrination” – putting doctrine in. Teaching them, training them, imparting wisdom to them. In classic Alistair style he said, “what is this if it’s not indoctrination – this is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth…” If I would take it as my parental job to train my kids to properly brush their teeth, why would I not take it as my deep responsibility to train them how to properly understand God and His Truth? It is a high calling – may God strengthen us for the task.

How do you teach your kids Truth?  Head on over to the fan page and share your ideas in today’s discussion!

Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
One generation will commend your works to another;
they will tell of your mighty acts.
They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
Psalm 145:3-5

*Picture from http://www.biblepicturegallery.com