GOD AVENGES WICKEDNESS

Proclamation

“Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren; And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads; And upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.”  Judges 9:56-57 (KJV)

Explanation

These are the words of God which were written by the prophet Samuel under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After the Israelites subdued the Midianites there was peace in the land for forty years. (Judges 8:28)  During his lifetime Gideon had many wives and seventy sons.  He also had a son by his concubine whom he named Abimelech.  Gideon lived to be “a good old age” and when he died the Israelites again did evil in the sight of The Lord. (Judges 8:30-34)  The Israelites did not show any respect for Abimelech or any of his brothers (Judges 8:35) so he went to his mother’s clan in Shechem and they supported him.  Then he returned to his home in Ophrah and murdered all seventy of his brothers except the youngest one Jotham who escaped by hiding.  When the people of Shechem learned what he had done they made him their king.  (Judges 9:1-6)  Jotham cursed the people of Shechem when he learned that they had made him king. (Judges 9:7-21)  As the only heir to the throne Abimelech accepted the seat that his father Gideon (called Jerubbaal) had refused and he ruled Israel for three years.  Soon the people of Shechem turned on him and Abimelech led the army of Israel against them and defeated them.  The citizens of Shechem went into a tower which Abimelech burned down with the people still inside. (Judges 9:22-49)  Then he went to the city of Thebez and captured it.  The people there fled into a tower and went up to the roof.  As Abimelech approached the tower to burn it down, a woman dropped a millstone on him which struck his head and cracked his skull.  He quickly asked his armor-bearer to slay him with his sword so it could not be said that a woman killed him. (Judges 9:50-54)  When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead they returned home. (Judges 9:55)  God repaid Abimelech for murdering his seventy brothers, and repaid the people of Shechem for all of their wickedness. (Judges 9:24 and 9:56-57)

Application

There is an old saying that “God don’t like ugly” referring to the evil in one’s heart and their behavior, not to their physical appearance.  The Lord God will deal with those who perpetrate evil upon others.  Wrongly spilled blood cries out to Him. (Genesis 4:8-10)  “Avenge not yourselves … For it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,’ saith The Lord.” (Romans 12:19)  Evildoers may appear to have gotten away with their evil deeds but The Lord will cut them off. (Psalm 37:1-2 and 7-10)  God will avenge all of the wickedness done to His people.