BS: Judges 9

Judges 9 - Abimelech

 
The key points we discussed from this:

• Abimelech was a pretty good leader. Good in a way that he was able to convince the city of Shechem to follow him, and that after he had the Israelites following him to destroy the city of Shechem. He was crafty, and could make people follow him. 

• Just as an observation, it is really human nature to be so flawed... as can be seen from Old Testament to New Testament

• He got money from the temple of Baal to help him with his agenda, and so in the first place, God was never considered in his plan to become the ruler of Israel. 

• He killed his family on his father's side... and later when the city of Shechem, which had helped crown him ruler, rebelled against him... he destroyed the whole city  even though he had familial ties with them. Talk about coldblooded, and ruthless, and power-hungry. He also scattered salt in Shechem to make the land barren, which showed that his plan was for the city to never be restored again.

• His half-brother Jotham's prophecy (and curse) came true... like the shrub that destroyed the trees who rebelled, so too did Abimelech destroy the ones who crowned him as king. Also in the end, both Shechem and Abimelech contributed to each other's destruction.

•  Most important of all, God was in control. Even though it didn't seem like it and Abimelech was having his way... God worked through it and His will prevailed. This chapter shows that man has free will, and he can use that to direct his own path and make choices that are not in line with God's. But just because man has free will, it does not take away from God's own purpose and plan. Even from the very beginning of Abimelech's reign, God had already used Jotham to prophecy the end of both Shechem and Abimelech for the deaths of Gideon's sons.

• God does punish the wicked, but his punishment does not follow our assumed time lines. It was three years before Abimelech got what was coming to him. Maybe for others, judgment does not come during their physical existence... but God is aware of the wicked things that happen in the world.

• God doesn't manipulate man or force man to do what he is not willing to. He allows use to do what we want to do, but even then He uses our actions for His own purposes. He uses not just the obedient, but also the disobedient.

Thoughts to ponder:

• We say that God is always in control, but how much do we really believe that? Can we still believe that when things get difficult in our lives, and we feel helpless? Or when it seems that God is silent? God was silent when all of Gideon's sons were murdered by their own half-brother... did that mean He was not in control?

• Trusting that God has a plan and that He will carry it out is sometimes hard to do. What can Judges 9 teach us regarding this?

-3/4/11