JU9-7: How The Bramble Resembled The Most Ruthless Dictators In History

“My father fought on your behalf, risking his life, and rescued you from the power of Midyan; 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 9:17-18

We’re in the midst of examining the parable Yotam shouted from the mountaintop of Gerizim.

When we last left off the trees (representing the people of Shechem) had one by one offered the Olive Tree, the Fig Tree and the Grapevine the opportunity to be king over them but they each refused.

So in desperation the trees finally turned to the the Bramble. 

What’s the nature of a Bramble?

It’s really just a thorn bush, the lowest level of plant life.

It’s brittle and covered over with thorns and stickers.

And it doesn’t really grow upwards like any normal tree.

It just lies flat on the ground like an ugly rug.

On top of that, it doesn’t produce any fruit and was actually a nuisance to the farmers and the plants surrounding it.

Plus it could be especially dangerous during the hot summer months when it was unusually dry and hard.

If it ever caught fire during this season, the flames, spurred on by the hot winds, would spread like crazy destroying everything in its path.

So how did the Bramble respond to the request to become king?

Like a menacing mafia don, it tells the people…

“…sure I’ll be your king but there’s gonna be some CONDITIONS you folks are gonna have to meet”.

What were these “conditions” the Bramble laid down?

First, he tells the people they have to take shelter under his shade.

This was obviously a ridiculous and unreasonable request.

Because as I just explained, the Bramble essentially just lay flat on the ground like a carpet.

If that’s the case, then how in the heck would anyone be able to take shelter under its shade?

Pretty darn impossible isn’t it?

The only creatures who would even consider sheltering under the bramble would be the most un-kosher of animals such as reptiles, rodents and crawling insects.

The Bramble goes on to say if you will NOT take shelter under me then “let fire come out of the thorn bush and burn down the cedars of the L’vanon!”

What does this mean?

Well, the cedars of Lebanon were considered to be the strongest, sturdiest and tallest of all the trees in the Middle East.

So what the Bramble was essentially saying is…

“If you will not bend to my iron will, then my fury will rise up and destroy even the greatest of the trees in the region”.

I don’t know about you but I sure can see echoes of Kim Jong-un here…or any crazy dictator for that matter.

Onward.

Yotam then proceeds to transition to the “curse” portion of the parable he was sharing.

In what must have been a very mocking tone he tells the people…

“…if you are dealing honestly and righteously with Yeruba‘al and his household today, then may you enjoy Avimelekh and may he enjoy you”.

This makes sense because that’s exactly how things should be IF the people of Shechem (a combination of fallen Hebrews and Canaaanites) had indeed dealt with Yeruba’al in righteousness.

Because it was Yotam’s father Gideon, again otherwise known as the “Ba’al Fighter” (Yeruba’al) who had put his life in great danger and led an army of 300 men to rid the land of the marauding Midianites and Amalekites who plundered their harvests year after year.

Yotam continues to pour fuel onto the fire of his sarcasm and tells them if they have not dealt fairly with his father then…

“…let fire come out from Avimelekh and burn up the men of Sh’khem and Beit-Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Sh’khem and Beit-Millo and burn up Avimelekh!”

And keep in mind that right before this Yotam had called Avimelech’s Canaanite mother a “slave-girl”.

This was a racist insult of gargantuan proportions.

The truth is Avimelech’s mother was not a slave girl but by by referring to her as such Yotam was basically telling his audience that this blood relative who they had just crowned king was a bastard and that they were now responsible for his actions.

Well after this little speech of his Yotam knew his life was worth less than the spit on the bottom of his sandals (boy I’ve gotta admit this Yotam fellow has got some serious gonads).

So he immediately high tailed it out of there to a place of safety called Be’er (literally meaning “water well” in Hebrew).

Some folks say this place was the famous Beersheva but we can’t know that for sure.

There were actually a lot of places called Be’er strewn throughout the land of Canaan at the time.

Avimelech most likely escaped to an area in the south controlled by Judah.

We’ll continue on the next time we meet.