The Judges. Day 35, The Downfall Of Abimelek, Part Two

Abimilek's vain ambitions and violent personality led him to have all his half-brothers slaughtered (with the exception of Jotham who escaped) in a bid to promote himself as the successor to his late father Gideon. Abimelek thought of his father, a former judge of Israel, as a king and he thinks of himself as a king. After the men of his hometown of Shechem financed his hiring of mercenaries to kill his brothers, they declared him king. We don't know whether they pronounced him "king of Israel" at his coronation but at no time was he a legitimate king of all Israel. As far as we know, though his influence may have extended past the borders of lower West Manasseh in which Shechem was located, he never held authority over all Israel and was probably never considered a king by anyone outside of his local region.

As we learned yesterday, after reigning for three years in Shechem, Abimelek's own people are tired of recognizing him as king. We don't know what caused them to become disenchanted with him. Perhaps he has not attained the widespread power they'd hoped for. Perhaps his political policies are displeasing to them. Perhaps he has levied onerous taxes upon them. Perhaps after backing him and financing him, they expected to be able to control him but he is unwilling to be a puppet king. Whatever their reasons are for turning against him, they are looking for someone to take his place. A new guy in town offers himself as Abimelek's replacement.

"Now Gaal son of Ebed moved with his clan into Shechem, and its citizens put their confidence in him." (Judges 9:26) The men of Shechem are treacherous and fickle. They turn against Abimelek, who is their fellow townsman, and put their confidence behind this newcomer whom scholars believe was of a roving clan of Canaanite marauders. We've all heard the term "con man" and it's derived from "confidence man", who is a person who gains people's trust in order to get something he wants from them. In modern times what a con man wants is usually money, but a con man may also be interested in power or fame. I think this Gaal son of Ebed is looking primarily for political power. Wealth and fame will naturally come along with political power but I think Gaal pictures himself as becoming ruler of the region. He's been in town long enough to figure out that Abimelek has fallen out of favor with the people. He sees this as an opportunity for himself and he begins campaigning for Abimelek's spot.

Gaal's efforts begin bearing fruit around the same time the grape harvest comes in. At a feast held to celebrate this year's vintage and to thank their pagan god for the bountiful harvest, Gaal makes his ambitions known in no uncertain terms. "After they had gone out into the fields and gathered the grapes and trodden them, they held a festival in the temple of their god. While they were eating and drinking, they cursed Abimelek. Then Gaal son of Ebed said, 'Who is Abimelek, and why should we Shechemites be subject to him? Isn't he Jerub-Baal's son, and isn't Zebul his deputy? Serve the family of Hamor, Shechem's father! Why should we serve Abimelek? If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Abimelek, 'Call out your whole army!'" (Judges 9:27-29)

Though he is newly come to the city, Gaal says "we Shechemites" in order to identify himself with the natives of Shechem. This is a method many politicians use in order to gain people's confidence. In their speeches they will use the words "we" and "us" in an attempt to identify themselves with the working man. Average citizens don't typically feel like they have much in common with career politicians or with extremely wealthy men, so using words like "we" and "us" is a tactic for making the average voter say, "This guy isn't so different from me. He lives in my same country under my same laws. If the country goes down the tubes it will affect him too. It's just as he says: we're all in this together!" 

Gaal points out that although Abimelek is half-Shechemite, he is also half-Israelite. He is the son of a man nicknamed "Jerub-Baal" because Gideon tore down the altar of Baal. The Shechemites, by and large, still worship Baal and the temple at which they are currently celebrating the wine harvest is almost certainly a temple devoted to Baal. Gaal is saying, "Abimelek may be half-Shechemite but his father eschewed Baal in favor of the God of Israel. How can we be sure Abimelek won't do the same? How can we know how much influence his Baal-hating father had on him? If Abimelek offends Baal---the one who provided us with this bountiful harvest---what might Baal do to our city? Do we want to take that chance? Even if Abimelek does not forsake Baal as his father did, perhaps Baal is still angry with his family line. Perhaps that's why Abimelek's reign has not provided us with the prosperity we hoped for. If we dethrone him, this will please Baal and he will reward us with great success." 

We don't know what Gaal has against Zebul except that he is Abimelek's right hand man. Zebul is likely in agreement with everything Abimelek does, either because it's politically expedient for him or because he thinks exactly like him, and Gaal is telling the people that they can't trust Zebul anymore than they can trust Abimelek. I believe he makes this suggestion in order to remove any possibility of the people promoting Zebul to Abimelek's place after he has been dethroned.

Gaal promises to restore the town and its surrounding territories to the glory it had under Hamor, Shechem's founder. He promises to reinstate the political policies of Hamor. He's saying that the current conditions in the town and the current political policies are inferior to what they were under Hamor and that, if he is elected, he will usher in an era of prosperity not seen since that great leader (that "father") was in charge. 

Gaal is successful in gaining the confidence of the people of Shechem but he will not be successful in becoming their king, as we'll see in Saturday's study. Nevertheless, the Lord will use the way he's stirred up the people to bring about the downfall of Abimelek. In tomorrow's study Abimilek will manage to run this usurper out of town but, in the passage we'll look at on Sunday, will not be able to turn the tide that is against him.