Judges 9:1 - 9:57

Outline :

Chapter 9 :
Abimelech (one of Gideon's sons) causes big trouble...

Chapter 9 :

9:1-6

Abimelech becomes king, kills brothers. Abilelech, the son of Gideon's concbine, makes a play for kingship in his mothers hometown of Shechem. They agree that having him be king sounds nice, and give him 70 pieces of silver (which he uses to hire a gang of thugs and brigands). He then heads off towards home to slaughter his brothers; he gets all but one, which isn't bad if you consider that there were 70 of them.

9:6-21

Little brother's big words (Jotham curses Shechem and Abimelech) The brother who escapes, Jotham (the youngest brother), interrupts the coronation party by yelling at them from a hill. Basically, he uses a parable to call them all dirt, and says that he hopes they all die in a fire.

9:22-25

The relationship sours; Shechem decides that they don't like Abimelech after all... Abimelech rules over "Israel" (though it seems as though they mean 'his corner of Israel') for three years. Shechem then decides that they don't particularly care for Abimelech after all however, and set some bad dudes up in the mountains to ambush him (and ambush/rob everyone else, for that matter).

9:23-49

Abimelech vs. Shechem Gaal, son of Ebed, rides into Shechem, saying to all that if he were the man in charge, he'd lick Abimelech good. The town likes this talk, but Zebul, the current ruler, obviously doesn't; Zebul sends a sneaky message to Abimelech about the situation...
Soon after, Abimelech has hidden his little army outside of Shechem to attack Gaal...basically, he wins.
A day after he defeats Gaal, he fights the rest of Shechem and wins again...those remaining hide in a big tower in the center of the city, but he just starts a big fire at the bottom and cooks them all.

9:50-57

Abimelech is killed by a woman After all this fighting, Abimelech attacks Thebez; again, he does well and captures the city. Again, they have a tower at the center of the city that the remaining townspeople hide in. Again, he tries to start a big fire to cook the tower, but this time a woman drops a millstone on his head.
Abimelech realizes he is going to die, so he has his armor bearer run him through (so that we can't snigger and say "A woman killed him").
v. 56,57 provide a denoumont of sorts; God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech and Shechem, fulfilling the curse of Jotham.

9:1-6
Abimelech becomes king, kills brothers.	Abilelech, the son of Gideon's concbine, makes a play for kingship in his mothers hometown of Shechem. They agree that having him be king sounds nice, and give him 70 pieces of silver (which he uses to hire a gang of thugs and brigands). He then heads off towards home to slaughter his brothers; he gets all but one, which isn't bad if you consider that there were 70 of them.
9:6-21
Little brother's big words (Jotham curses Shechem and Abimelech)	The brother who escapes, Jotham (the youngest brother), interrupts the coronation party by yelling at them from a hill. Basically, he uses a parable to call them all dirt, and says that he hopes they all die in a fire.
9:22-25
The relationship sours; Shechem decides that they don't like Abimelech after all...	Abimelech rules over "Israel" (though it seems as though they mean 'his corner of Israel') for three years. Shechem then decides that they don't particularly care for Abimelech after all however, and set some bad dudes up in the mountains to ambush him (and ambush/rob everyone else, for that matter).
9:23-49
Abimelech vs. Shechem	Gaal, son of Ebed, rides into Shechem, saying to all that if he were the man in charge, he'd lick Abimelech good. The town likes this talk, but Zebul, the current ruler, obviously doesn't; Zebul sends a sneaky message to Abimelech about the situation... Soon after, Abimelech has hidden his little army outside of Shechem to attack Gaal...basically, he wins. A day after he defeats Gaal, he fights the rest of Shechem and wins again...those remaining hide in a big tower in the center of the city, but he just starts a big fire at the bottom and cooks them all.
9:50-57
Abimelech is killed by a woman	After all this fighting, Abimelech attacks Thebez; again, he does well and captures the city. Again, they have a tower at the center of the city that the remaining townspeople hide in. Again, he tries to start a big fire to cook the tower, but this time a woman drops a millstone on his head. Abimelech realizes he is going to die, so he has his armor bearer run him through (so that we can't snigger and say "A woman killed him"). v. 56,57 provide a denoumont of sorts; God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech and Shechem, fulfilling the curse of Jotham.