The Politics of the Bramble King Text: Judges 9:1-6
Introduction: The King We Deserve
The book of Judges is a cyclical story of Israel's covenant unfaithfulness. The pattern is depressingly familiar: Israel sins, God sends an oppressor, the people cry out, God raises up a judge, the judge delivers them, and there is peace. And then, as soon as the judge dies, the people rush back to their idols faster than a dog to its vomit. We have just come to the end of Gideon's story. God used him mightily to deliver Israel from the Midianites, and in a moment of gratitude, the people offered him the one thing they were forbidden to want. They offered him a crown. They said, "Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also."
Gideon, to his credit, gave the right answer. He said, "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you." This was the correct theological response. But Gideon's life did not match his theology. He lived like a king, taking many wives, and he set up a golden ephod that became a snare to all Israel. He said the right words but sowed the seeds of monarchy and idolatry. And now, in chapter nine, we see the bloody harvest of those seeds. Gideon is dead, and the vacuum of leadership he left is about to be filled. This chapter is a stark and brutal lesson in political science. It teaches us that when a people reject God as their king, they do not get freedom. They do not get no king. They get the king they deserve. They get Abimelech.
This is not some dusty, irrelevant story. This is a political playbook that is followed with precision in the halls of power today. It is a case study in raw ambition, identity politics, the fusion of corrupt religion and dirty money, and the brutal logic of tyranny. What we are about to read is the anatomy of a coup, and it reveals the blackness of the human heart when it lusts for power apart from God.
The Text
And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s relatives and spoke to them and to the whole family of the household of his mother’s father, saying, "Speak, now, in the hearing of all the lords of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or that one man rule over you?’ Also, remember that I am your bone and your flesh." And his mother’s relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the hearing of all the lords of Shechem; and they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, "He is our relative." So they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, and they followed him. Then he came to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself. Then all the lords of Shechem and all Beth-millo assembled together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar which was in Shechem.
(Judges 9:1-6 LSB)
The Seditious Proposal (v. 1-2)
The story begins with a man on a mission. And his mission is pure, uncut ambition.
"And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s relatives and spoke to them and to the whole family of the household of his mother’s father, saying, 'Speak, now, in the hearing of all the lords of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or that one man rule over you?’ Also, remember that I am your bone and your flesh.'" (Judges 9:1-2)
Abimelech is the son of Gideon, but he is the son of Gideon's concubine from Shechem. He is a half-breed in the family, an outsider with a chip on his shoulder. He doesn't go to the elders of Israel. He doesn't make a case to the whole nation. He goes to his base. He goes to his mother's clan in the historically troublesome city of Shechem. This is the first rule of godless politics: bypass the covenant community and appeal to a specific tribe.
And look at his proposal. It is a masterpiece of manipulative rhetoric. He poses a question: "Which is better for you, seventy rulers or one ruler?" He frames Gideon's seventy sons as a chaotic, bickering committee, a hydra-headed monster. He offers the alternative of sleek, efficient, one-man rule. This is the eternal promise of the tyrant: "I alone can fix it." He presents a false choice. The real choice was not between seventy flawed men and one ambitious man. The real choice was between the rule of men and the rule of God, which Gideon himself had articulated.
Then comes the clincher, the emotional core of his argument: "Remember that I am your bone and your flesh." This is pure, unadulterated identity politics. He is not appealing to righteousness, wisdom, or justice. He is appealing to blood. He is saying, "Vote for me because I am one of you. My interests are your interests. I'm your hometown boy." He is asking them to choose tribal loyalty over covenant faithfulness. He is asking them to put blood before God, which is the very essence of paganism.
The Rotten Fruit of Tribalism (v. 3-4)
The appeal to raw tribalism works exactly as intended.
"And his mother’s relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the hearing of all the lords of Shechem; and they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, 'He is our relative.' So they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, and they followed him." (Judges 9:3-4 LSB)
The lords of Shechem are persuaded. And the reason given is not that Abimelech presented a sound argument or demonstrated godly character. The reason is simply, "He is our relative." Their political calculus was based entirely on nepotism. This reveals the spiritual bankruptcy of Shechem. They had forgotten that their true kinship, their true identity, was in the covenant of Yahweh which bound all twelve tribes together. They traded that glorious, transcendent identity for a cheap, localized, political one.
And where do they get the money to fund this coup? "Seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith." This is profoundly significant. Baal-berith means "Lord of the Covenant." It is a demonic parody of Yahweh, the true Lord of Israel's covenant. They are taking money consecrated to a false god to finance the murder of the sons of the man who tore down Baal's altar. This is apostasy funding treason. When you abandon true worship, your religion becomes nothing more than a bank for your political ambitions. Your god becomes a means to an end.
And what does Abimelech do with this blood money from the idol's temple? He hires "worthless and reckless fellows." The Hebrew describes empty, vain, arrogant men. Thugs. A tyrant cannot build his regime with men of character, because men of character will not follow a tyrant. He must find men whose loyalty can be bought, men with no principles, who are willing to do the dirty work. He gathers to himself a mob, a praetorian guard of scoundrels.
The Logic of Tyranny (v. 5)
With his tribal backing, his funding, and his gang of thugs, Abimelech moves to the final, necessary step of consolidating power.
"Then he came to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself." (Judges 9:5 LSB)
This is the brutal, unvarnished logic of power that has rejected God. Any potential rival must be liquidated. He returns to his own father's house, the home of the celebrated judge of Israel, and systematically slaughters his sixty-nine half-brothers. This is not just murder; it is a political purge of staggering cruelty.
The detail that they were killed "on one stone" is horrific. It suggests a public, ritualistic execution. It was a spectacle designed to terrorize any opposition and to demonstrate his absolute ruthlessness. It was a human sacrifice on the altar of his ambition. He is wiping out the entire line of Gideon to ensure there are no other claimants to the throne he is stealing.
But God is never without a witness. "But Jotham the youngest son... was left, for he hid himself." In the midst of this carnage, God preserves a remnant. One escapes. This is the grace of God in the midst of judgment. A voice is preserved who will speak truth to power and pronounce God's verdict on this whole bloody affair. The tyrant never gets the last word.
The Coronation of the Murderer (v. 6)
The coup is complete. The opposition is dead. Now it is time for the coronation.
"Then all the lords of Shechem and all Beth-millo assembled together, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar which was in Shechem." (Judges 9:6 LSB)
The men of Shechem, who funded the operation, now get what they paid for. They anoint their murderer-king. They are fully complicit. They wanted a king who was their "bone and flesh," and they got one. They have made a covenant with death, and they are celebrating it.
The location is again significant. "By the oak of the pillar which was in Shechem." This was likely a well-known cultic site, a place where oaths were sworn and covenants were made. Joshua had set up a great stone there under an oak as a witness to the covenant Israel made with Yahweh (Joshua 24:26). Now, at this very same spot, they are making a new covenant, a treasonous one, with a new king, a bloody one. They are formally repudiating their covenant with God and establishing a kingdom on a foundation of fratricide and idolatry.
Conclusion: Our True King
This chapter is a dark mirror. It shows us what politics looks like in a world that has rejected God. It is a world of tribalism, where "bone and flesh" matters more than righteousness. It is a world where religion is just a tool to fund political machines. It is a world where power is seized through violence and maintained through fear. Abimelech is the archetype of the godless ruler. He is the first anti-king of Israel.
And he is a perfect foil for the true King. Abimelech came to his brothers to kill them for his own glory. King Jesus came to His brothers to be killed for their glory. Abimelech shed the blood of his family to secure a corruptible crown. Jesus shed His own blood to make us members of His family and to give us an incorruptible one. Abimelech hired worthless men to follow him. Jesus calls worthless men, sinners and tax collectors, and transforms them into saints. Abimelech killed his brothers on a stone. Jesus, the cornerstone, was killed for His brothers on a cross, and in so doing, He defeated death itself.
The men of Shechem cried out, "He is our relative!" and crowned a tyrant. We look to the cross and cry out, "He is our relative!" For the eternal Son of God was not ashamed to call us brothers, taking on our bone and our flesh, so that He might redeem us. The choice before Israel then is the same choice before us now. Every nation, every person, must decide. Will you have the rule of God, or will you get the tyrants you deserve? Will you serve the Bramble King who consumes, or the True King who saves?