Homilist Judges 9:1-22 And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother's brothers, and communed with them… I. THAT THE PEOPLE HAVE A CONSCIOUS WANT OF LEADERS, AND THEY ARE NOT PARTICULAR IN THEIR CHOICE OF THEM. 1. The people in every age have needed leaders in every department of life — mercantile, artistic, political, and especially religious. The uncultured masses have ever been ignorant, credulous, servile. 2. And they are conscious of their want. This arises from — (1) An instinctive faith that there is somewhere an unpossessed good for them. (2) A consciousness that they are incapable of reaching it themselves. (3) A conviction that there are members of the race superior to themselves, 3. That the people are not particular in their choice of leaders. They do not generally follow the greatest men. Men of inferior capacity and uncultivated nature are scarcely qualified to appreciate the highest form of greatness. Great men to them are masters whom they martyr. II. THAT INFERIOR MEN ARE OFTEN MORE READY TO ASSUME THE RESPONSIBILITY OF LEADERSHIP THAN GREAT ONES. The greater a man is, the less taste he has for a conventional greatness, the greater resources he has in himself, and more disposed is he to work in the glorious realms of principles than amidst the din of social parties. Great men build their own thrones, and establish their own empires. III. THAT LEADERSHIP IN THE HANDS OF INFERIOR MEN IS EVER FRAUGHT WITH MISCHIEF. 1. Small men can do great mischief. 2. The higher the office they reach, the greater the mischief they can effect.Learn — 1. The sad condition of the world. 2. The transcendent worth of the gospel. Christ is just the Leader needed. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother's brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying, |
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