“…a woman dropped an upper millstone on Avimelekh’s head, cracking his skull. He quickly called out to the young man holding his armor, ‘Draw your sword, and finish me off, so that people won’t say a woman killed me.’ So his attendant ran him through, and he died. When the men of Israel saw that Avimelekh was dead, they all went back home.”-Judges 9:53-55
When we last left off, the evil Avimelech and his soldiers were in the process of taking vengeance on the people of Shechem who had attempted to overthrow Avimelech’s rulership through a group of bandits led by Ga’al.
Avimelech’s men had finished off all of the working class citizens who had been out farming the fields.
However, the remaining folks, mostly members of the aristocratic class, had escaped to a fortress temple called EL BRIT (meaning the “covenant with El”).
No doubt, these upper class citizens were counting on the protection of their pagan god to save them.
Unfortunately for them, their fate turned out to be just the same as it was for the farmers who got slaughtered out in the fields.
Avimelech took his men to a nearby fir tree forest, chopped off a bunch of branches and brought them to the tower where the remaining Shechemites had fled.
I’m sure you can guess what happened next.
Avimelech’s henchmen laid the branches against the walls of the temple and then set them ablaze.
I don’t know if you know anything about fir trees, but the stench from the concentrated greenness of their branches can be overwhelming.
Within a few minutes, the people now trapped inside the temple were undoubtably bent over choking as they struggled to breathe.
Most of them who stayed inside probably died more from suffocation than from the flames themselves.
And those who did run outside were cut down by the blades of Avimelech’s men.
That day Avimelech oversaw the slaughter of over 1000 men and women at the temple.
So much for the protective power of their el (god).
Next, Avimelech turned his attention toward the neighboring city of Tevetz located about 9 miles northeast from Shechem.
He knew this city had conspired with Shechem to try and overthrow him, so Avimelech planned to take revenge on them as well.
Not one to waste time, Avimelech quickly took over the central part of the town but as what happened in Shechem, the remaining folks fled to a tower for protection.
When Avimelech saw the people running for their lives to the tower, I imagine he said to himself “Well, I’ve seen this before”.
He then assumed what had worked in Shechem would work here as well.
So like clockwork, he and his men gathered up a bunch a branches and brought them to the temple.
Then just as before, he ordered the men to lay them against the walls of the fortress and set them on fire.
However, this time a different fate lay in store for the cold-blooded Avimelech.
As he approached the tower to personally set some of the branches on fire, a woman standing on the rooftop hurled an upper millstone over the edge.
That huge stone would have been about 14 inches wide and 4 inches thick.
And it struck Avimelech right in the head crushing a good portion of his skull in.
However, we know the millstone didn’t directly land on the center of Avimelech’s head…because if it had, he would have died instantly.
After the millstone battered his head in, we’re told he was still alive and conscious enough to know it was a woman who had did him in.
This kind of reminds me of Yael who killed Sisera by driving a thick tent nail through his head…although the circumstances were radically different.
Anyway, onwards.
So finally, not wanting to suffer the humiliation of being killed by a woman in battle, Avimelech ordered his armor bearer to finish him off.
The armor bearer did what he was told and that was the end of Avimelech.
The takeaway here is quite obvious and is quite elegantly expressed in the closing verses of Judges Chapter 9.
“This is how God paid back Avimelekh for the wrong he did to his father in murdering his seventy brothers. God also repaid the men of Sh’khem for all the wrong they had done; on them came the curse of Yotam the son of Yeruba‘al.”-Judges 9:56-57
I find it interesting how from an earthly perspective what seemed to be a statistically improbable and chance incident is clearly explained as being an action the Lord took to pay back a sinner for his sins.
Indeed, ye shall reap what you sow.
Rest assured, God will pay men back for the evil they commit in this life.
If they don’t face the Lord’s judgement during this lifetime, trust me, they’ll face it after their death.
And I would say the judgement after death is more terrifying than the judgement that takes place here.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body
but cannot kill the soul.
Rather, be afraid of the One who can
destroy both soul and body in hell.“
-Matthew 10:28
“Don’t delude yourselves:
no one makes a fool of God!
A person reaps what he sows.”
-Galatians 6:7
“Do not take revenge, my dear friends,
but leave room for God’s wrath,
for it is written:
‘It is mine to avenge;
I will repay,’ says the Lord.”
-Romans 12:19
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN JUDGES CHAPTER TEN
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