Today we begin Judges Chapter 9.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click HERE.
For the King James Version, click HERE.
“…and now you are rebelling against my father’s household. You’ve killed his seventy sons on a single stone and made Avimelekh, the son of his slave-girl, king over the men of Sh’khem, because he’s your brother.”-Judges 9:18
Let’s face it.
Judges Chapter 9 sticks out like a sore thumb.
The main character, Avimelech, was NOT a judge and his story stands out in stark contrast to his father Gideon.
Gideon was a common man born from a poor family, yet the Lord hand picked him to be a Judge who would deliver Israel from her oppressors.
On the other hand, Avimelech was born into wealth, he appointed himself leader over the people and rather than deliver the people from oppression, he oppressed them instead.
What made matters worse is that Avimelech was Gideon’s own son.
So in this case, the apple fell FAR from the tree.
Verse 18 makes it clear that Avimelech was born from a slave girl.
In other words, his mother was a concubine.
There’s a lot of confusion about what exactly a concubine was in the Biblical era.
Some argue they were simply slaves or served as personal prostitutes to their owner.
The truth is a concubine was neither.
Probably the best way to describe a concubine is to say she was a wife of lesser status.
From a Hebrew perspective, that meant she did NOT marry under the traditional cloth covering called a CHUPPAH in Hebrew.
Nor was she given an official marriage document called a KETHUBAH.
I guess another way to look at it might be to consider an American citizen born and raised in the United States versus a green card holder.
A native born US citizen can NEVER lose his status and even possesses the minimum credentials to become President some day.
On the other hand, a green card holder’s status is very conditional.
If he lives outside of the US for over a year, he will lose his right to live in the country, cannot vote and can never become president.
Honestly, that analogy isn’t exactly spot on but I think you get the point.
Bottomline, the status of a concubine was inferior to that of a full legal wife
And everyone knew it.
Now this brings us to an interesting question.
We’re told that Gideon had 70 sons from many wives.
So why did he have this one unnamed slave girl as a concubine?
The answer is quite simple actually but the untrained eye will miss it completely.
The legal wives were Israelite women but the slave girl, Avimelech’s mother was not.
She was a Canaanite.
Well, actually to be more accurate, she was a Hivite hailing from Shechem.
A Hebrew woman would have demanded a formal marriage and an official marriage certificate but a slave girl didn’t have access to such rights.
So Avimelech was part Hebrew and part Canaanite.
But here’s the thing.
In those days, being of mixed blood wasn’t all that unusual.
But in Avimelech’s case, his father just happened to be the supreme leader over all Israel who had also established himself as a quasi-High Priest.
So from the very outset, Avimelech was born into conflicting loyalties.
I mean take a look at the opening verses of this chapter.
“Avimelekh the son of Yeruba‘al went to Sh’khem, to his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them and with the whole clan of his maternal grandfather. He said, ‘Please ask all the men of Sh’khem, ‘Which is better for you — that all seventy sons of Yeruba‘al rule over you, or that one person rule over you? And remember that I am your blood relative.’”-Judges 8:1-2
Do you see how Avimelech is pitting himself against all 70 of his pure Hebrew-blooded brothers?
We also see that Avimelech decided to side with the Canaanite side of the family instead of his Hebrew side.
Big mistake I would say.
I can understand the conflict though.
Look at what happened when Abraham had Ishmael with his concubine Hagar.
That was the REAL beginning of the Middle East conflict we have today.
Or imagine the torment Moses had to go through growing up in Egypt as a Hebrew.
Imagine how he must have felt seeing his own flesh and blood brothers and sisters being used and abused by the Egyptians.
Things reached the boiling point when he saw an Egyptian guard harassing a Hebrew.
Something snapped in Moses’ brain and he went off and killed that Egyptian.
Anyways, back to Avimelech.
His ungodly ambitions were revealed when he traveled to the city of his slave mother’s origin Shechem to get support from her brothers and her father.
The proposition he presented to them was both bold and audacious:
‘Which is better for you — that all seventy sons of Yeruba‘al rule over you, or that one person rule over you? And remember that I am your blood relative.’
So the takeaway here is simple.
There is a serious danger present when a chosen member of God’s people joins with one who isn’t.
It ALWAYS seems to end in disaster.
That’s why God is so insistent and uncompromising that the believer MUST SEPARATE him or herself from the unbelievers…EVEN IF they be family.
This is a perfect example of why God wanted the Israelites to boot the Canaanites out of the land.
Let alone intermarry and having children with them.
If you don’t obey God in this area…ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO FAMILY MEMBERS…I can guarantee your loyalty will become divided and your faith seriously undermined.
You’ve been warned.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Do not be yoked together
with unbelievers.
For what do righteousness
and wickedness
have in common?
Or what fellowship can
light have with darkness?”
-2 Corinthians 6:14
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