JU9-10: Why God Will Hold You Responsible For The Actions Of The Leaders You Elect

At the beginning of our study of the Book of Judges, I stated this book’s main objective was to show Israel they had zero chance of surviving as a nation without a king to rule over them.

Up until now, this concept has been amply demonstrated.

How so?

Because we’ve seen over and over again what happened to Israel without Godly leaders to guide them.

They ended up being pulled away from the Lord and His commands.

And instead ended up embracing the pagan gods and sexual religious customs of their Canaanite neighbors.

God’s usual response was that He would send a gentile nation to oppress Israel until they cried out for help.

Then He would raise up a Judge to deliver His People from the very oppression He had caused.

Finally, after Israel’s deliverance, the Judge would rule over Israel…usually until the remainder of his or her life.

But when the Judge’s rulership ended, Israel would fall right back into idolatry.

And then the cycle would start up all over again.

There’s one important thing we shouldn’t overlook.

Under the leadership of the judges God chose, Israel was able to enjoy seasons of prosperity and peace.

I’m not saying the leadership of the judges was perfect.

Far from it actually.

I mean look at what happened with Gideon in his last days.

What I’m saying is that under the judges the Lord had chosen, Israel DID enjoy periods of relative stability.

However, in this sense, Judges Chapter 9 sticks out like a sore thumb.

In this chapter we find a small portion of Israel (the citizens of Shechem), being ruled by a leadership that had its origins in what could best be described as a satanically inspired leadership.

Unlike all of the other leaders in the book of Judges, Avimelech was NOT a judge and NOT God’s chosen leader for Israel.

We all know how he came to power through conniving and murder.

Now Avimelech’s story may not be pretty.

But there are some important takeaways it contains about leading a nation.

Let’s take a look at what some of these lessons might be.

First, Avimelech was not able to force the people to make him king.

He had to convince them.

This is important to take note of.  

Avimelech didn’t march into Shechem with an army and conquer the city.  

In fact, he never even threatened them with violence.  

Rather, through sweet words and flowery talk he convinced the people it would be to their great benefit to make him their king.  

Avimelech tickled their ears with tantalizing promises and the people fell for them hook, line and sinker.  

I find it utterly amazing the citizens of Shechem still wanted to make Avimelech king EVEN AFTER he had ruthlessly killed every one of his own brothers save for Yotam who was able to escape.

Of course, not every person living in Shechem agreed to have Avimelech as their king.

And not every person participated in the mass killings.

Heck, I betcha there were some folks who didn’t even want a king to rule over them.

Yet what occurred happened because that’s what the majority wanted.

That’s right.

In ancient Israel, way before the idea of democracy even existed, it was the majority who held the power and pressured the minority, those with dissenting beliefs, to go along with them.

During this pandemic (it’s now May 2022), I believe we’ve witnessed examples of what can happen when you try to go against the “official narrative”.

You can lose your job and in extreme cases even be separated from your family (yes, this did happen in some countries).

Well, it was the same in ancient tribal societies as well.

If you tried to fight against the majority, forget about just losing your job, you could lose your very life.

So what am I getting at here?

My point is even though there were probably many citizens of Shechem who didn’t choose Avimelech, nor wanted this evil man to be king over them, they did NOTHING and just went along with the crowd.

Just like there were probably many citizens in Nazi Germany who inwardly knew Hitler was an evil man and did not agree with his anti-Semitic policies, yet still did nothing anyway.

So what happened to those who INWARDLY didn’t want Avimelech to be their king but OUTWARDLY went along with the crowd because they didn’t want to ruffle any feathers?

The answer is they suffered side-by-side right along those who did wholeheartedly support Avimelech.

In other words, they’re inwardly not favoring Avimelech meant ABSOLUTELY NOTHING because they took zero action to express their disapproval.

They ALL shared in the fate of Shechem’s poor choice of leadership.

And again, notice I used the word “choice”.

This really is the big takeaway here folks.

Unless you’re from a nation like North Korea where you as a citizen have zero choice in deciding who will be your leader, you are responsible for choosing who will rule over you.

And because you have that freedom of choice, in a sense you are also responsible for the decisions and actions of the person you chose to become leader or president over you.

The United States of America is a perfect example.

In spite of all the criticism leveled at our government in recent years, there has NEVER in the history of mankind been a freer, more transparent election system than what we have in this country.

Now I know what some of you might be thinking.

You want to bring up the events behind why Trump was not successfully re-elected, right?

Well, zip it man.

I don’t wanna have a discussion about this here and I’m not willing to do so.

So don’t start.

That’s not the point of this article.

My point is that with the freedom to choose your leadership comes great responsibility.

The citizens of Shechem should have looked beyond Avimelech’s elegant rhetoric, his promises and “campaign slogans” to see what he was really all about.

And we need to do the same with the leaders we elect today.

Especially their position as it concerns Israel and their right to their God-given land.

Because Israel really is the fulcrum, the center of the whole world, if not the whole universe.

The city of Shechem ceased to exist as a national entity because the people unwisely chose an ungodly Avimelech who murdered 69 of his Hebrew brothers in order to come to power.

And I’m telling you the same fate will befall any nation that freely chooses an evil man to rule over them…ESPECIALLY IF that leader goes against Israel and the Jewish people.

As we’re going to soon see, Avimelech’s life ended in a tragic way.

And the same thing happened to that other leader named Adolf Hitler who ended up putting a bullet in his head on April 30, 1945 when he knew his “Nazi Kingdom” was finished.

This will be the fate of any leader who dares go against God’s Chosen People and the unbreakable moral laws the Lord has woven into the very fabric of this universe He has created.

So that’s my takeaway folks.

Choose your leaders wisely.

Because as we see with Avimelech, BOTH the majority who supported him and the minority who didn’t…they both ended up suffering greatly under his ungodly leadership.