Commentary - Judges 9:42-49

Bird's-eye view

In this section of Judges, we are witnessing the terrible unravelling of a covenant made in bad faith. Abimelech, the son of Gideon by a concubine, had made himself king with the enthusiastic support of the men of Shechem. They sealed their bloody pact by murdering Gideon's seventy other sons. But as Jotham, the lone surviving son, had prophesied from Mount Gerizim, this bramble-king and his treacherous subjects were destined to devour one another with fire. What we see here is not random violence, but the meticulous execution of covenant curses. God is sovereignly administering the terms of the agreement they themselves made. This is a grim story, but it is a story that shows us that God is not mocked. What a man sows, that he will also reap. And what a nation covenants to do, that nation will have visited upon its own head.

The narrative unfolds with the cold logic of divine justice. The rebellion of Shechem, which had simmered and then broken out into the open, is now met with Abimelech's brutal and decisive response. He is a man of violence, and he repays their treachery with overwhelming force. The destruction is methodical and absolute, culminating in two striking pictures of total annihilation: the city sown with salt, and the tower of Shechem turned into a mass grave by fire. This is what happens when men reject the Lord as their king and grasp at power for themselves. The result is not freedom, but a spiral of butchery and self-destruction.

Outline

Context In Judges

The book of Judges describes a repeating cycle of sin, oppression, repentance, and deliverance. Israel would forget the Lord, fall into idolatry, and God would hand them over to their enemies. In their misery, they would cry out, and God, in His mercy, would raise up a judge to deliver them. But the story of Abimelech is a dark twist on this pattern. He is not a judge raised up by God; he is an anti-judge, a king the people chose for themselves in a direct rejection of God's rule. His reign is not a period of deliverance, but an object lesson in the fruit of rebellion. This chapter is the bloody centerpiece of that lesson, demonstrating the inevitable outcome when men, covenanted together in wickedness, turn on one another. Jotham's curse in verses 15 and 20 of this chapter is the key that unlocks the meaning of these events. The fire he prophesied is now consuming them all.

Verse by Verse Commentary

v. 42 Now it happened the next day, that the people went out to the field, and it was told to Abimelech.

The conflict is not over. After the initial skirmish where Zebul, Abimelech's officer, drove Gaal and his faction out of the city, the people of Shechem seem to believe it is business as usual. They go out to the field, presumably to tend their crops. This was either an act of foolish presumption, thinking Abimelech was satisfied, or a necessary risk to secure their livelihood. But in a world governed by covenant realities, you cannot simply go back to your gardening after breaking faith. Their sin had found them out, and Abimelech, who was an instrument of God's judgment even in his own wickedness, was not finished with them. Notice the passive voice: "it was told to Abimelech." God's providence is at work, ensuring that the necessary information gets to the man who will carry out the sentence.

v. 43 So he took his people and divided them into three companies and lay in wait in the field; then he looked, and behold, the people were coming out from the city. So he arose against them and struck them down.

Abimelech is a shrewd and ruthless military commander. He doesn't just march on the city; he sets a trap. This is the way of the wicked, deceit and ambush are their native tactics. He divides his forces to cover the field and cut off any retreat. The Shechemites, who had earlier set ambushes for Abimelech on the mountaintops (v. 25), are now caught in an ambush themselves. This is a classic example of God judging people with the same currency they use. The measure you use will be measured to you. They lived by the sword and by treachery, and now they are dying by the sword and by treachery. The trap is sprung, and the slaughter begins in the open field.

v. 44 Then Abimelech and the company who was with him rushed forward and stood in the entrance of the city gate; but the other two companies rushed upon all who were in the field and struck them down.

The military strategy is brutally effective. Abimelech himself leads the charge to the city gate, the single point of entry and escape. By seizing the gate, he accomplishes two things. First, he prevents anyone from the field from getting back to the safety of the city walls. Second, he prevents any reinforcements from coming out of the city to help those in the field. He has divided and conquered. While he holds the chokepoint, his other two companies have free rein to massacre the men of Shechem who are trapped outside. It is a total rout, a complete and merciless destruction of the city's fighting men and workers.

v. 45 So Abimelech fought against the city all that day, and he captured the city and killed the people who were in it; then he tore the city down and sowed it with salt.

The fight continues all day. Capturing a fortified city was no small task, but Abimelech's fury is relentless. He takes the city, and true to his character, he kills everyone inside. There is no mercy. But he doesn't stop there. He tears the city down, reducing it to rubble. And then he performs a symbolic act of utter desolation: he sowed it with salt. This is a powerful and significant gesture. Sowing a field with salt makes it permanently barren. It is a curse, a declaration that nothing will ever grow here again. This place is devoted to utter destruction. In the Old Testament, salt is connected to the covenant of God (Lev. 2:13). A "covenant of salt" was a permanent, enduring covenant. Here, Abimelech makes a covenant of permanent desolation. He is saying that this place, which broke its covenant with him, will now and forever be a wasteland. It is a bitter and ironic outworking of the "salt of the covenant." Their treachery has resulted in a curse of perpetual barrenness.

v. 46 Then all the lords of the tower of Shechem heard of it, and they entered the inner chamber of the temple of El-berith.

The destruction is not yet complete. There is a fortified tower, a citadel, within or near Shechem, and the leaders, the "lords," have taken refuge there. When they hear what Abimelech has done to the city, they retreat to what they believe is the most secure location possible: the inner chamber, the stronghold, of the temple of their god, El-berith. The name of their god is significant; it means "god of the covenant." This is the very temple where they had made their covenant with Abimelech and from which they took seventy shekels of silver to fund his murderous rise to power (v. 4). They are running for safety to the very source of their sin. They are trusting in their covenant-god to protect them from the consequences of their covenant-breaking. This is the essence of idolatry. Men trust in the works of their own hands, in the systems of rebellion they have created, to save them. But a false god is no refuge when the true God has pronounced judgment.

v. 47 And it was told to Abimelech that all the lords of the tower of Shechem were gathered together.

Once again, information finds its way to Abimelech. God is ensuring that no pocket of this rebellion will escape the decreed judgment. The leaders of Shechem have conveniently gathered themselves into one place, making the final act of destruction that much more efficient. They thought they were gathering for safety, but in reality, they were being gathered for slaughter. God often uses the panicked strategies of the wicked to hasten their own demise.

v. 48 So Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a branch from the trees and lifted it and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do likewise.”

Abimelech's next move is grimly creative. He goes to a nearby mountain, Mount Zalmon, which means "shady," indicating it was heavily wooded. He takes an axe, the tool of a destroyer, and cuts a large bough, shouldering it himself. He leads by example. He is not a king who sits on a throne and sends others to do the dirty work. He is a man of action, a man of violence, and he leads his men personally in this final, terrible task. His command is simple and urgent: "Do what I am doing, and do it quickly." There is an infernal energy here, a haste to complete the work of destruction.

v. 49 And all the people also cut down each one his branch and followed Abimelech and put them on the inner chamber and set the inner chamber on fire over those inside, so that all the men of the tower of Shechem also died, about one thousand men and women.

Here is the fulfillment of Jotham's curse. "Let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem" (v. 20). And so it does. Abimelech and his men pile the wood against the stronghold of the temple and set it ablaze. The place they ran to for sanctuary becomes their tomb, their funeral pyre. Their "god of the covenant" is utterly powerless to stop the flames. The fire that came from the bramble-king now devours them. The text notes the scale of the carnage: about a thousand men and women died. This was not a small remnant; it was a wholesale slaughter of the leadership and their families. Their rebellion against the house of Gideon, their covenant with a murderer, and their trust in a false god have all led them to this fiery end. It is a terrible picture, but a clear one. Sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. And covenants made in defiance of God will always end in fire.