“Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.' And the vine said to them, ‘Should I leave my wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave to and fro over the trees?' ”
Wine was offered as a drink offering to Yahweh (Leviticus 23:13; Numbers 15:5-10) and gave men great joy and pleasure (see Psalms 104:15). Thus the vine also would not leave its useful function to futilely and uselessly lord it over the trees
So Jotham took three examples of trees which were fruitful, which comprised part of the blessings of the promised land (Deuteronomy 8:8), and stressing their usefulness both to God and man, compared them with the uselessness of kingship. They were self-giving and provided blessing, in contrast with kingship which was a useless exercise and self-grasping while making a great parade of itself. Thus they would not leave their useful function to become mere parasites.
While we must not overpress the points, for good management is not a useless exercise, his words clearly revealed a poor view of kingship. In his eyes kingship should be left to God and all men's efforts to be king were like branches waving to and fro, lording it over the trees, and accomplishing nothing. There is the hint here that, like their father before them, the sons of Gideon would not have ruled in a way that was autocratic, they would have followed the customs of their fathers, and have done so under the tribal covenant and in league with the tribal confederacy. It would be very different with Abimelech.