JU9-9: How Yotam’s Words Resemble Yeshua’s Parable Of The Healthy Tree And The Bad Tree

In order to get our bearings here, today let’s do a quick review of where we’re at in the story of Avimelech and his treacherous rise to power.

Sometimes it’s good to step back and do a review like this lest we get caught up in the weedy details and lose sight of the big picture.

The story of how the evil Avimelech came to be can be summed up in 7 stages.

THE FIRST STAGE

After Gideon’s amazing victory over the Midianites and Amalekites, he settled down into a luxurious and lavish lifestyle of a king even though he denied the offer to become a king.

He became so rich in fact that he was able to support 70 sons from the many wives he had.

All of the mothers of his sons were legal Hebrew wives except one women who was a Canaanite concubine from the city of Shechem.

It was from this unholy union that a son named Avimelech was born.

As Avimelech grew older he became ruthlessly ambitious to the point where he decided he wanted his own kingdom.

So after a bit of strategizing, he decided the best place to start his kingdom would be the racially mixed city of Shechem which was his mother’s family’s hometown.

Again, if God’s commands had been properly carried out there should have never been a mixed city anywhere in the Promised Land in the first place.

THE SECOND STAGE

The city of Shechem had officially established Ba’al to be their god and had even built a temple to Ba’al that both the Hebrews and Canaanites who lived in Shechem bowed down to.

The scheming Avimelech convinced his Canaanite mother’s family to support him when he approached the people of Shechem with his proposition to be their king.

Again, Avimelech was strategically relying on his mixed background to be a strong factor of appeal in his proposition.

Since he was half Canaanite and Half Hebrew, he figured the people would see him as the perfect representative since he could appeal to both of the major ethnic groups living in Shechem.

And Avimelech figured correctly, because the people agreed to let him be king.

THE THIRD STAGE

Once he received the people of Shechem’s approval to rule over them, Avimelech turned Machiavellian real fast.

He hired some thugs to murder all 70 of his full-blooded Hebrew brothers who would have been his rivals had they stayed alive.

However, he only succeeded in killing 69 of his brothers because the youngest one named Yotam got away.

And when this Yotam found out that the people of Shechem had every intention of making Avimelech their king, he climbed up to the top of Mount Gerizim that overlooked the whole city and bellowed out a prophetic parable that was both a warning and an insult to the actions the people had took in making a cold-blooded murderer their king.

THE FOURTH STAGE

The 4th stage is the first part of the parable Yotam shouted out from the mountain.

The parable begins with a forest of trees who were looking for a king to rule over them.

The forest of trees was meant to represent the people of Shechem.

The trees brought their juicy offer of kingship one by one to an Olive Tree, a Fig Tree, and a Grapevine.

Yet all three refused what would have been an amazing honor and an instant rise in their status in society.

And what’s interesting is that the reason they gave for their refusal was essentially the same for all of them.

They said that God had created them for a special purpose and mission on this planet.

And that to abandon that mission or purpose to arrogantly rule over other trees would have been an insult to their Creator and an abuse of the gifts the Lord had bestowed upon them.

There’s a lesson here for all of us who seek after riches, power and authority than for no other reason than to fill some void in our heart driven by envy and the insecure desire to be seen as important by others.

THE FIFTH STAGE

In desperation the group of trees finally turns to a repulsive sticker-bush called the Bramble.

The nature of the Bramble is that it just lays on the ground like an ugly carpet that serves no useful purpose but to be a menace to all those around it.

The Bramble agrees to rule over the trees but tells them there’s a major caveat.

He tell them they will have to fully submit to his rule OR pay the price which will be their utter destruction.

THE SIXTH STAGE

Yotam ends his oracle with a curse.

He tells the people of Shechem that the final result of their decision to make a treacherous murderer a king will be both their destruction and Avimelech’s destruction.

Yotam then flees the scene because he knows his life is worth about as much as an unwanted cockroach found crawling along on some kitchen floor.

THE SEVENTH STAGE

True to Yotam’s words that he uttered from the top of Mount Gerizim, the selfish and oppressive nature of Avimelech’s rulership bears its evil fruit and after 3 years (the same timeline of the anti-Christ) the people of Shechem soon grow tired of having this evil man rule over them.

I’m reminded of Yeshua’s words when he said…

“Beware of the false prophets!
They come to you wearing sheep’s clothing,
but underneath they are hungry wolves!
You will recognize them by their fruit.
Can people pick grapes from thorn bushes,
or figs from thistles?
Likewise, every healthy tree produces good fruit,
but a poor tree produces bad fruit.
A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit,
or a poor tree good fruit.
Any tree that does not produce good fruit
is cut down and thrown in the fire!
So you will recognize them by their fruit.”
-Matthew 7:15-20

WOW!

I see so many parallels between the evil Avimelech and Yeshua’s words down to his healthy tree and bad tree metaphors.

Didn’t Avimelech approach the people of Shechem like a wolf wearing sheep’s clothing promising them a rulership they’d be happy with?

Yet because Avimelech ended up being just a thorny Bramble bush, he was never able to produce “grapes” or “figs” for the people to enjoy.

It is as Yeshua said…A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, or a poor tree good fruit.

And then what did Yeshua say would happen to those good-for-nothing rulers?

They would be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Now doesn’t this tie in perfectly with Yotam’s closing words when he said…

“If you are dealing honestly and righteously
with Yeruba‘al and his household today,
then may you enjoy Avimelekh
and may he enjoy you!
But if not, 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!”
-Judges 9:19-20

Well, the takeaway here is pretty clear.

Only evil can come from evil and only good can come from good.

So may we all be born again in the Spirit of the Lord that we may all be vessels who produce God-ordained good in this world.