Judges 9:1-57
Gideon had 70 sons and when he died, Abimelech, the son of one of Gideon's servants, raises himself up to become king. Everything we see about Abimelech is bad. And the more I read, the more I found myself thinking how he was a total product of worldly thinking and living, and how we need to be careful because we can fall right into this same mindset and thinking. Abimelech was conniving, power hungry, all about himself, and although this passage doesn't specifically tell us, I'm guessing into having money and things as well since he was so determined to be king.
So what did this passage show you about the pull of the world? What else did you learn from the story of Abimelech today? Tami W.
This should serve as a cautionary tale to all of us, those who strive to be politicians, leaders, etc. in particular. The pursuit of power and wealth leads to bad ends. As the old addage goes "absolute power corrupts absolutely". And as seen, the Lord sent an evil spirit to divide the people and turn them against each other. The Lord knows what we need to get through life, and provides for us just what we need. If we get too greedy, bad things can result.
The world and all its allure can very easily distract us away from God. We have to constantly be on our guard, alert to everything that Satan throws at us. He's extremely subtle, coming like an angel of light and goodness, but that's just a veneer hiding his real motives. Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem succumbed to Satan's temptations and paid the price - God's judgment and lack of inheritance in God's kingdom.
What struck me about this passage was the swirling tide of events. Abimelech team up with that group, but eventually (and pretty quickly) they had turned against him. God allowed the natural consequences of Abimelech's choices to wash over him. And the resulting bloodbath was harsh, to say the least. Helps to remind us that the path of worldly power and such is not God's best and, more often than not, leads to destruction.
Abimilech persuaded his relatives that they should stand by him simply because they were related - and they gave him the money to hire some murdering thugs. We should be careful of simply standing by our family members or buddies because of "loyalty" in certain issues against "outsiders" and rather consider what God's view is on the matter first.
When you read the entire passage you can see Gods providence in all that happened. God was in control just as he is today in the affairs of men.
Abimelech was a bad dude from the start. He was the son of Gideon's concubine, an outsider, so this festered in his heart growing up. Look at Tamar, the slave girl of Sarah & Abraham, and what resulted from Sarah telling him to sleep with her. The anger of Abimelech was what propelled him to savage rage, but in the end, whatever you do good or bad, is what comes back to you.