Judges 9:1-57

What a depressing story!  This is one that I don't remember having read before, though I've read through Judges more than once.  Apparently, Abimelech felt that his father had made a mistake when he told the Israelites not only would he not be king, but neither would his sons.  You see here, Abimelech takes matters into his own hands, convincing the people of Shechem to take him as their king.  There is more than one sin in his actions: first, the Lord God only was to be King over Israel, and Abimelech sought to usurp that role.  Secondly, he slew his brothers, seventy of them, on one stone; this means that he likely had them rounded up and executed, rather than taking them in battle.  Reading Be Available by Warren Wiersbe on this chapter, I see that Wiersbe points out that embedded in Abimelech's actions were other sins: ambition and greed, idolatry, dishonesty.  Clearly, his actions were abhorrent, and he certainly did not have the Shechemites best interests at heart, but his own. 

Many thoughts swirl in my head as I think about this passage, but mostly I think of Gideon's relationship with Abimelech.  Abimelech was the son of Gideon's slave woman.  Is it possible that he never really cared for or nurtured the young man?  Was Abimelech the product of Gideon's life after the snare of the ephod?  Did Gideon never teach his son(s) about the Lord, or about what it meant to follow the Lord?  Or did Abimelech simply rebel and refuse to submit to God?  It is clear from generation to generation in the Book of Judges that the previous generation, the parents and grandparents, failed to teach those in their care to love the Lord with all their heart, mind, and soul.  They had neglected the admonishments of Deuteronomy 6.  Was Gideon and Abimelech another example, one with tragic and dire results?

I look at my own daughter, and think of my son about to be born, and their futures and their relationships to the Lord weigh heavily on me.  What can I do to teach them not just Sunday School stories and knowledge but to love God, to cherish Him, to seek Him first above all things?  I feel the charge to make sure my children know Him and love Him and desire to follow Him.  I pray every day that He will call them to Him and that they will truly be His disciples.  It is stories like Abimelech's that give me a sense of urgency.  It is stories like these in Judges where you see the children forsaking the Lord that makes me cry out to Him that my children never will.  I want to know that they will be safe in His arms.  I want to know that I will see their beautiful faces in Heaven with my Savior.

Please, Lord, grant me, I pray, my children's salvation!  May they love You and honor You and cherish You above all things!  May they grow to be good disciples, better than their mother, and to be a testimony before others in their lives.  Take them by the hand and lead them into Your promised land.  Amen.

Tomorrow's Reading: Judges 10:1-11:40