I. A NATURAL ELEMENT. The instruments of usurpation soon display their untrustworthy and turbulent character. Their help to Abimelech was chiefly in the interests of disorder. When the hard rule of the tyrant (force of word "reigned") was felt they became restive. The accession to their ranks of Gaal the marauding chieftain gives them the requisite stimulus toward open rebellion. So in time the drunken revels, the highway robberies of Shechem move irresistibly onward toward open revolt, and its consequence, overwhelming destruction. In this way the perpetrators of the coup d'etat are made the agents of the Divine vengeance upon each other. In punishing the rebels a seeming accident made Abimelech the victim of a woman's hand. Blood for blood. "Without shedding of blood there is no remission." The tragic element in human history. II. A DIVINE ORDERING OF EVENTS. So natural does the development of events appear, that there is danger of overlooking the overruling providence of God. What may be termed the "poetic justice" of the political movements of the time and their results renders it impossible to credit the sublimely neutral forces of nature with the working out of the issues. God wrought through the natural forces and the complications of the political sphere. His people have to be led onward in the pathway of national progress and religious illumination, therefore such obstacles must be swept out of the way. Yet all this is consistent with the moral freedom of those whose actions and end are so promotive of the Divine purpose. What was done in one development of events might equally have been secured by another. This principle that "maketh for righteousness" is evident to every careful and devout student of history. It may be detected in the individual private life, and in the history of a nation. How far the evolution of events which we esteem secular and blind is so informed by the Divine purpose we shall not discover in this life. But enough is laid bare to encourage the holy and righteous, and to awaken in the breast of the wicked "a fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." - M.
God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. It is not said that he was judge over Israel, for they were raised up by God, but he ruled and usurped, as tyrants use to do. And to begin first with his prosperity in that God gave him this short time to enjoy his desire, and to domineer as he did, it is to teach us that He doth for some little time give wicked men their longed-for desires; and yet not for that He applaudeth them therein, but that they may have time to repent, and to bethink themselves what they have done, and how they have gone to work, and how many ways they have provoked God. But to go forward: this evil spirit that was sent betwixt them, being the first occasion of their overthrow, was the devil, by whose malice and subtlety ill-will and hatred were kindled betwixt them, and this, with the breaking their promise, doth show us clearly that the league and friendship of the wicked is soon broken off. For why? It hath no good ground. The use whereof is that we make no such wicked and cursed leagues. Secondly, that we account no otherwise of them where they be made, but as of the spider's web, soon swept down; and thirdly, praise God highly when we see them broken. And in that it is said that the Lord sent an evil spirit betwixt them, we may note, that though God be not the author of evil, yet that sin which is in the wicked, hidden in their hearts, and never so secret, He bringeth forth at His pleasure, and lets it break out at His commandment, ruling and overruling the same. And they that nourish it in themselves, and do not give it a vent by repentance, may ever justly fear, and do sometime too truly find, that as water pent in breaks out violently in some place or other, even so the sin that is entertained in men's hearts shall one time or other break out to their shame in their lives. But as the stink of the dunghill riseth not from the sun, no more doth sin proceed from God. Also, by this division betwixt them we may note, that when God suffers division among the wicked, or an evil spirit any way to lead them, it is to punish their lewd fellowship, and to revenge the sin of both parts, and to make each the other's executioner. And yet, oh what a sweet liberty it is thought to be, to enjoy fellowship with such? And first, grudges secretly being conceived, they are nourished by jealousies and suspicions exasperated by daily injuries, till they break out into hatred, and end in extremity. These things are commonly seen, but who beholdeth God's justice therein? or is thereby prevented from having anything to do with such? or made wise to lay a better foundation of their amity and friendship. Furthermore, by this, that God would have the blood of the innocent sons of Gideon revenged upon Abimelech and the men of Shechem, He teacheth us that He will revenge the innocents' cause. The Lord will bless them that bless His, and curse them that curse His.(R. Rogers.) People Abimelech, Ebed, Gaal, Hamor, Jerubbaal, Jotham, Ophrah, Zalmon, ZebulPlaces Arumah, Beer, Beth-millo, Diviners' Oak, Lebanon, Midian, Mount Gerizim, Mount Zalmon, Ophrah, Shechem, Thebez, Tower of ShechemTopics Abimelech, Abim'elech, Ate, Crushed, Cursed, Cursing, Drank, Drink, Drinking, Eat, Eating, Feast, Festival, Field, Fields, Fruit, Gather, Gathered, Got, Grapes, Held, Holy, Merry, Praises, Revile, Reviled, Temple, Tread, Trod, Trodden, Trode, Vines, VineyardsOutline 1. Abimelech by conspiracy with the Shechemites, and murder of his brothers, is made king7. Jotham by a parable rebukes them, and foretells their ruin 22. Gaal conspires with the Shechemites against him 30. Zebul reveals it 34. Abimelech overcomes them, and sows the city with salt 46. He burns the hold of the god Berith 50. At Thebez he is slain by a piece of a millstone 56. Jotham's curse is fulfilled. Dictionary of Bible Themes Judges 9:27Library Here, by Way of Objection, Several Questions are Raised. ...Here, by way of objection, several questions are raised. Scripture relates that God sometimes complied with certain prayers which had been dictated by minds not duly calmed or regulated. It is true, that the cause for which Jotham imprecated on the inhabitants of Shechem the disaster which afterwards befell them was well founded; but still he was inflamed with anger and revenge (Judges 9:20); and hence God, by complying with the execration, seems to approve of passionate impulses. Similar fervour … John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith Trials of the Christian Hence is Also that which Thou Hast Mentioned that they Speak Of... The Hebrew Sages and their Proverbs Sovereignty of God in Administration Seasonable Counsel: Or, Advice to Sufferers. The Greater Prophets. An Exhortation to Love God Of Prayer --A Perpetual Exercise of Faith. The Daily Benefits Derived from It. 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