ABIMELECH MADE KING
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Judges 9:1. And Abimelech.] Some little time may have elapsed after Gideon’s death, so that the air was again filled with tendencies to idolatry. Before certain acts can be done, the times must be ripe for them. Abi signifies “my father,” Melech “a king.” The name was probably given by the mother, who was probably a woman of energetic or aspiring spirit, if it is her character that we see reflected in her eon. Probably, being an only son, she wished to make the most of the situation for him; and as her husband, though not de jure, was yet de facto king over the land, she determined to keep this fact as a mark before the eyes of her son day by day in his being always addressed by the words, “My father was a king.”
Son of Jerubbaal.] How strange! that the man who earned the proud title of being the destroyer of Baal, should have a son who promised to be the most zealous supporter of Baal’s interests in the land!
Went to Shechem.] A historical city, and one of the chief cities of Ephraim, from its central position and the many attractions of its situation. Here God first appeared to Abraham when he arrived in Canaan, and here Abraham first raised the altar (Genesis 12); near this both Abraham and Jacob lie buried; between the two hills on which the city was built all Israel were assembled to hear the law read, in its blessings and curses, when they first entered the land of promise; here Israel’s greatest captain most solemnly called on the people to stand firm by their covenant with Jehovah with his dying breath; and this was the place, and the well of Sychar the spot, where the Saviour’s ever memorable conversation with the woman of Samaria took place. It is one of the oldest towns of Palestine.
The house of his mother’s father.] Blood is thicker than water. Abimelech reckoned it better to have a surrounding of relatives than of general acquaintances.
Judges 9:2. Men of Shechem.] Not the inhabitants generally, but the leading men—בְַעַלֵי, the heads, those who had a standing in the town, either as regards property and therefore owners, or as regards guildry and so citizens—the guildry or burgesses. Hence we read elsewhere of “the men of Jericho,” “the men of Keilah,” etc. Or the reference may be to the Israelites, as opposed to the Canaanites.
Reign over you. He assumes that the people wished some one to be their king, and also that the thirst for rule was in the breasts of all Gideon’s sons as well as in his own.
I am your bone and your flesh.] This is a subtle argument; it implies two things—
(1) that he was of the same kindred with them (Genesis 29:14, 2 Samuel 6), but also
(2) “I have Ephraimite blood flowing in my veins, so that if you elect me to be king you will be giving Ephraim the sovereignty, and Manasseh shall no longer rule. Shechem will be the royal city, and Orphah will be eclipsed.”
Judges 9:3. For they said, “He is our brother.”] Abimelech had read well the dominating sentiment in the hearts of his people, for the bait at once took. They knew that the story about the brothers wishing to reign over them was false, but the pill was too temptingly gilded to be refused. They raised the shout at once for Abimelech.
Judges 9:4. 70 pieces of silver] or shekels—the shekel being two shillings of our money. This was all the price at which each head of Gideon’s sons was valued! The money was given by the worshippers of Baal-berith, and doubtless was given willingly, when it was hinted that the use to be made of it was to destroy utterly the house of him who had destroyed Baal. Temple treasures were indeed often applied to political purposes [Bertheau]. 1 Kings 15:18; 2 Kings 18:15-16. Small sum indeed, yet such soldiers might be got for trifling wages.
Vain and light persons] Vain means either those who were fond of dash and show, like Absalom’s fifty men, who ran before him (2 Samuel 16), men who would not bear the yoke of any steady employment in the occupations of life, or men of no worth of character, and kept lounging about ready for any dark or foul deed that might come in their way. Light persons of no principle or conscience, unscrupulous desperadoes. These are sometimes called “Men of Belial” (2 Samuel 20:1; 1 Kings 21:10).
5. Slew his brethren] in cold blood. They had committed no crime, but the usurper feared lest they should one day disturb him in his unlawful possession of the throne. Thus did Jehoram, the unworthy son of the good Jehosaphat (2 Chronicles 21:4). So did Jehu to the 70 sons of Ahab (2 Kings 10:7), Athaliah to the seed royal of Judah (2 Kings 11:1), Baasha to the house of Jeroboam (1 Kings 15:29), and Zimri to the house of Baasha (1 Kings 16:11-12). Timour, on his conquest of Persia, destroyed the whole male family of the king. At the conquest of Bagdad he is said to have made a pyramid of 90,000 human heads. Even in modern Persia, it is said, until quite of late, to have been the custom for the new king either to kill, or to put out the eyes of all his brothers and near male relatives. Abimelech did indeed live in a barbarous age, and a sterner code prevailed then than now, yet we dare not do less than brand his conduct on this occasion as the atrocious act of an inhuman monster. Dim as was the light which the Israelitish religion shed on the value of human life compared with that which we now enjoy, it was sufficient to teach its worshippers to ostracise such a man, and put him beyond the pale of human fellowship. This system of wholesale murder of the innocents is one of the natural results of polygamy, and the lust of power.
Judges 9:6. House of Millo] not family as some make it, but fortress. It was in fact a large rampart or castle. Its walls were filled in with stones and earth. We hear of something similar in 2 Samuel 5:9, also 1 Kings 9:15; 1 Kings 9:24; 2 Kings 12:20 (see also Judges 9:46). The house of Millo, means probably those who garrisoned the fortress.
Gathered together and made Abimelech king.] The ruling class in Shechem, or the citizens, and those who belonged to the fortress, assembled. We hear of no dissentients, though such a dark tragedy had just been perpetrated, but, on the contrary, this assembly are unanimous in electing the man whose hands were reeking with the blood of so many of his brethren to be their king, that is to occupy the most exalted post of honour they could give him. What a picture of the times in even God’s Israel! If anything could add to the frightful depravity of this whole transaction, it is to be told, that all this happened on, or around, the spot where stood the oak of the pillar (not “the plain of the pillar”) or monumental stone under the oak, which Joshua set up as a witness of the solemn covenant, which the people entered into to take Jehovah alone to be their God (Joshua 24:1; Joshua 24:26-27—comp. also Genesis 25:4). As to the custom of holding councils under wide-spreading oaks in olden times, see Pict. Bible in loco. That the men of Shechem aided Abimelech in this slaughter of Gideon’s family is manifest from Judges 9:24.
Judges 9:7. On the top of Mount Gerizim.] This hill stood on the south-west side of Shechem as a huge rock, about 800 feet above the valley below. The town, however, was not built at the bottom of the valley, but on one of the shoulders of the hill, and therefore not so far distant, but that a person speaking from the top of the rock might be heard by those in the town. The facilities for a person being heard, who might speak from the height to those below, were greatly increased by the fact, that there was another rock-hill immediately opposite, called Mount Ebal, which threw back the sound and sent it downwards (see Pict. Bible). (1 Samuel 26:13; 2 Samuel 2:25-26.)
Jotham was told all that had taken place. The cruel blow aimed at Gideon’s house called forth no protest. It was clear that Israel had fallen again into an idolatrous stupor. Every nerve of gratitude was deadened. Steps were taken to make the usurper king. He has only a few spirits left who are likeminded with himself, but the spirit of his father is still in him. The instinct of self-preservation is strong in him, but he will speak one firm and faithful word ere he disappear from view. He chooses his time and place—the rock Gerizim, and the coronation-day of Abimelech. There, as the impersonation of conscience, he suddenly appears to the masses below to warn them of the heavy retribution, which such high-handed sins must bring down on their heads at no distant day. The speaker appeared, probably, on some projecting crag, near enough to be heard, yet distant enough to be not easily caught. The fact that he was supposed to be killed, while now he appears suddenly with a message of vengeance on his lips, at the supreme moment of the coronation, must have staggered all but the conscience-hardened in that guilty multitude.
This address ought to be called a fable, not a parable, for that never transgresses the limits of actual occurrences. [Douglas.] It is the oldest of all known fables, and was spoken 700 years before the days of Æsop, the most ancient of heathen fabulists. A similar one, though more brief, occurs in 2 Kings 14:9. Compare also the Agrippan fable, in Livy, Book 2, chap. 30, as to the rebellion of the members of the body against the belly. Of parables there are examples in 1 Kings 20:39-40, and especially 2 Samuel 12:1-4; and 2 Samuel 14:5-11. This was the most ancient instruction of any, for oftentimes it was only in this veiled form that wholesome truths could be conveyed to the ears of men of power, or those of the unreasoning multitude. Evils were thus reproved, and the multitude was admonished.
In this fable two things are put in contrast, and thus a severe censure is passed on the conduct of both Abimelech and his friends. The high character of Gideon’s sons who had been slain, and the strong pretensions they might have put forward, while yet they stood quietly in the background, are contrasted with the rough character and worthless pretensions of the illegitimate son.
Jotham we believe spoke this message from God, so that we are to regard it as the fruit of Divine inspiration (see Adam Clarke at end of chap. 9; see also Dr. Cassel on chap. 9).
Judges 9:8. The trees went forth.] This states the matter in hand. The trees are supposed to want a king, and they go first to those that might respectably wear the dignity of the office. They begin with the olive, but the olive declines.
Judges 9:9. My fatness … they honour God and man.] It has excellent qualities, the one specially referred to here being its oil-producing power. This oil is used to consecrate both kings and priests; it also feeds the light that burns in the sanctuary of God. Thus it honours both God and man. Its leaf and branch are also signs of reconciliation and peace. Strong are the claims of the olive to reign, but it aspires not to that distinction. “Should I give up my vocation in bearing oil, that I might wave over the trees!”
Judges 9:11. Promoted over the trees.] The fig-tree is also invited and also declines. The word “promoted” means to shake, or be shaken. It seems to refer to the instability of royalty or worldly greatness, and the many cares and distractions that attend it.
Judges 9:13. That cheereth God and man.] This is hyperbolical language. The wine may be said to give delight to God, because He was always well pleased with the offerings of His people when they were presented in a right spirit, and in the appointed way. The hin of wine as a drink-offering came up with a sweet savour unto the Lord (Numbers 15:7; Numbers 15:10). The purport of these verses is, that should these trees—the olive, the fig, and the vine—comply with the request made, and occupy themselves with waving their branches over the other trees, it would take them away from the far more useful occupation of producing oil, and figs, and grapes.
Judges 9:14. The bramble.] The largest of thorns, with dreadful spikes like darts. It bears no fruit, has no leaves, and casts no shadow under which one might shelter himself from the burning heat of the sun. It is indeed not a tree, but a mere shrub, prickly, barren, base, and good for nothing, save to burn or kindle a fire. It is the symbol of a worthless man, who lives only to do harm. At the moment that Jotham was speaking, these trees filled the valley in profusion, and the brambles in large numbers were climbing up among the rocks.
Judges 9:15. The thornbush said to the trees, etc.] Thorns easily catch fire. If you do truly anoint me to be your king, then put your trust in my shadow. Spoken ironically, for shadow it has none. It refers to the hard character of Abimelech’s rule. It must be a real submission. If not, the alternative will be that the bramble shall set fire to the other trees, not even excepting the noblest of them all—the cedars of Lebanon. For the most worthless man can do much harm to the most distinguished. He will have no mercy on rebels.
Judges 9:16. If ye have done truly and sincerely, etc.] Acted honestly and fairly with Jerubbaal and his house, then take your fill of joy over your newly made king, though it is only a thornbush you have got. This is said with a caustic irony and also with a bitter personal grief.
Judges 9:20. But if not.] If you have not acted fairly and properly by that house, then, as a righteous consequence, let fire break out between you mutually, from Abimelech to devour the men of Shechem, and from these again to destroy Abimelech. There is a recompense which is meet for compacts which are entered into over falsehood, robbery, the shedding of innocent blood, and the exalting of false gods to the place of the true and only Jehovah.
Judges 9:21. Beer.] A place supposed to have been in the tribe of Benjamin. Jotham is not heard of more, but his words now spoken will not die till the end of time. It was something of the spirit of his father that spoke in him. How truly his words came to pass, the parties concerned on both sides knew to their dire experience, ere they were three years older. Abimelech began his reign, not on principles of truth and honour, justice and uprightness, but with open rebellion against Israel’s Divine King, with assassination of those he was bound most sacredly to love, and with the fixed resolution to gain his own aggrandisement at whatever cost or ruin to those around him. With such a beginning, the end must be truly disastrous; nor was it long delayed.
MAIN HOMILETICS.—Judges 9:1-21
THE ELECTION OF THE USURPER TO BE KING
I. Contrasts in the history of God’s own people.
This chapter, though a long one, contains a miserable history. Apart from names, it looks like the career of a roving bandit, who, setting the laws of God and man alike at defiance, could commit with cool barbarity the most unnatural crimes, to gratify an inordinate lust of power. Yet the first line reminds us that Abimelech, the actor in this tragedy, was the son of Jerubbaal. What a deplorable sequel to the glorious sun-setting recorded at the close of the previous chapter! The “gold has become dim indeed, and the most fine gold is changed.” As the gloomiest of nights sometimes follows the brightest of days, so does the short and reckless career of this unprincipled young man follow the long and honourable course of life of Israel’s greatest hero. In passing from the one chapter to the other, it seems as if we had dropped all at once, from the highest pinnacle of Solomon’s temple, which overlooked all the glories of that matchless building, and had fallen down among the dead bones, the disgusting offal, and many abominations of the valley of Hinnom, which required the constant action of fire to prevent the atmosphere from being poisoned.
Striking contrasts occur also at different intervals in the history of this people, both before and after this period. One occurs in comparing the generation that conquered Canaan under Joshua, in the exercise of a strong faith in their covenant God, with the degenerate generation of their descendants, who could not drive out the Canaanites, from the want of that faith, but permitted them to dwell among them, and, ere long, they intermarried with the idolaters, and became as they were. We have another case, in the few thousands who followed the guilty king of Israel, trembling through the land in the days of Saul, compared with the lion-like host that gathered around David shortly afterwards, and went on conquering and to conquer.
The contrast of such a history as that of Abimelech following that of so excellent a man as Gideon, teaches several lessons, such as—
(1.) It was a punishment on the people for their misimprovement of so just a rule as that of Gideon. To have had such a man bearing rule among them, and placed at the top of society for so long a time, was a great privilege conferred by the God of Providence on His chosen people. But they seem to have had no eye to see the Divine mercy extended to them. They did not realise that there was any favour being shown to them; when at last God withdrew His Gideon, and sent them an Abimelech. Between these the people soon found, to their bitter experience, there was the difference between an angel of light, and a demon of darkness.
(2.) The thoroughly corrupt state of the people of God apart from renewing grace. Israel was really no better in character before God than the members of any other nation. “By nature they, too, were children of wrath, even as others.” There was “in them the same evil heart of unbelief, departing from the living God.” The renewing grace of God alone made the difference. “What, then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise; for we have already proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.” (See also Ephesians 2:3.) It was but a few centuries before this when Job wrote these words, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” And Bildad responded, “How can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?” And it was but a few generations subsequent to this when David wrote thus, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalms 40:12; Ezekiel 36:26-27.)
These Israelites proved that when Gideon was no more, and the only remaining barrier removed out of the way, they could run on headlong in the old idolatrous course as before, keeping pace with any of the Canaanite nations themselves. As for Abimelech, we believe, were all the habitations of these native idolaters searched to find a character worse than his fellows, it would have been impossible to discover a monster in human form more detestable than we have in this son of Jerubbaal. And as for the people in general, we never read of any generation among them growing up in righteousness and the fear of God, as an essential part of their character, to whom, therefore, it was unnatural to be guilty of sin. There was no generation of Israel without their sins against the God of Israel. Had there been so, how meaningless to them would have been the elaborate ceremonial of their sanctuary service!
(3.) God’s mercy is not like man’s in the measure of its forbearance. Were but half the provocation which men are giving every day to God to be given to each other, they would instantly bring down on the heads of the transgressors the full vials of their wrath. Man’s patience is so soon exhausted; God’s patience is like Himself, inexhaustible (Malachi 3:6). That patience is not even exhausted when He leaves the sinner, or when He proceeds to inflict on him the sentence of doom. His course usually is, to wait long enough till mercy has had full display, and till it be shown that He is not willing that any should perish, but rather come to repentance, and live; but if that long and patient dealing is made in vain, a time must come, when reasons of righteousness and wisdom require that sin be dealt with as it deserves, and that justice be allowed to take its course. Yet patience is not properly exhausted.
(4.) The deep debt of gratitude every saved man owes to the grace of God. It was a wise habit of the good John Bradford to say, when he saw any very striking personification of human wickedness in the worst of men around him—“There goes John Bradford, but for the grace of God.” And well might any believer in the doctrine of renewing grace have said, when he saw this wicked young man going on in a career of unbridled sin—“There goes I, myself, but for the grace of God.” Meaning that he, too, has a wicked heart by nature, and that it requires to be made the subject of God’s renewing grace, ere it become fit for entering the holy world above. For we are to judge character, not by the measure of its present development, but by the direction it is taking. The development is now rapidly going on, and ere long it will reach a point or degree in wickedness, which at one time would have astonished the man himself, could he have foreseen it. Thus it was with Hazael, when the prophet foretold him of the atrocities, of which he would one day be guilty towards the people of God. “Is thy servant a dog,” he exclaimed, when the prophet held up to him the picture of his future deeds, “that he should do this thing?” He was at that time horrified at the thought of perpetrating such cruelties; yet, some years afterwards, as his wicked character became developed, he showed by the fact, that he could do all that the prophet predicted.
To every saved man who enters the world of perfect purity and bliss, it will be made clear, as with a thousand sunbeams, that it is not to any supposed goodness of his own, or to any worth in his own works, that he owes his admission to that bright home. All the outbreaks of depravity of which he has been conscious, from day to day during his whole life, and these occurring in the face of every possible restraint, will be as so many strong lights to flash on him the conviction, that it is by grace alone that he is saved—that salvation is not the thing which he deserves, but that which God is loving enough through Christ to give.
II. The best of fathers may have the worst of sons. This is another truth suggested by the paragraph (see pp. 95, 96).
(1.) No good father can impart his renewed nature to his son. What the father is by nature, he may, and does, more or less, convey to his son. The conditions of his body, its healthy or sickly state, whether it is strong or weak, its character in other respects, the father’s temperaments, his likeness, his natural dispositions and tendencies, his constitutional peculiarities, with other features, but above all his fallen spiritual condition, both in his depraved desires and affections, and in his liability to condemnation as a guilty being—these the parent confers more or less on the child. “Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image” (Genesis 5:3). It is not said “after God’s likeness and in His image,” as in the case of Adam himself (chap. 5). To grant the renewed nature is a thing in God’s special gift; and so we are expressly informed, that all who become “sons of God” are made so directly by God Himself. They are “born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). Not indeed without the use of means, for we are expressly told in the previous verse, that it is those who “receive Christ and believe in His name,” that are honoured with the privilege of being made sons of God (comp. also Galatians 4:4-6; John 3:5).
(2.) A good father may often neglect the training of his child. The child of a pious parent, though he derive no advantage directly in his natural birth, is yet open to many advantages otherwise—in respect of example, of superintendence and training, of prayers many and sincere, of special promises, and mixing with the fellowship of the righteous, to which might be added a fuller and more regular enjoyment of the means of grace. Thus a good man may have the formation of his son’s character in a great measure in his own hands; that is, so far as means are concerned.
Yet we often know that, as a matter of fact, a pious father sometimes neglects the proper upbringing of his son; as did Eli, when “his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not;” and as did David, when he “never said to Adonijah, what doest thou?” If the tree, when it is young, is permitted to grow up crooked and misshapen, it will remain crooked and misshapen during its whole existence. So is it with the child, “Trained up in the way that it should go, when it is of mature age, it will not depart from it.” But, if neglected as to training and the use of means, the result desired cannot be expected, even if many prayers from a godly father should be laid on the altar. Thus it was with Absalom, and thus it was with Abimelech.
3. A perverse son may receive a wicked training away from his pious father’s eye. Thus it was apparently with Abimelech. His mother seems to have had most to do with his training, and she was a Canaanite and idolater. He would naturally be kept separate from the other sons, who were all children of Israelitish mothers, and must have regarded Abimelech as a son of the bondwoman. Thus he was cradled in an idolatrous circle in reality, though this was concealed from the public eye by the fact that Gideon was his father, and that, during the season of his youth he lived in his father’s house. Naturally also, he would attract to himself idolatrous companions, of whom there were only too many everywhere, notwithstanding all that Gideon could do to reduce the number. These were the circumstances that determined the general aspect of his religious character. His natural force of action, selfwilledness, and towering ambition would do all the rest. Hence we have in him one of the worst characters in Scripture history. We do not find in the picture one single redeeming element, and there is scarcely a single element of wickedness awanting.
4. The course of Gideon’s son was one of unmitigated wickedness.
(1.) He begins with casting off all fear of God. “Conscience must be either satisfied or seared, if a man would act with thorough decision,” says a wise thinker. Abimelech chose the latter course; and, as the most effectual way to sear it, he would not recognise the existence of the true God at all.
(2.) He dares to usurp the sacred seat which was reserved for Jehovah alone, in being king over His chosen people. Had this been merely a vacant secular throne, like one of those on which any of the other kings of the earth sat, it had even then been an act of impertinent presumption, when there were 70 persons, of far more legitimate title than he possessed, ready to occupy it if necessary. But the act becomes one of daring irreverence, when, without warrant, and in the face of a direct prohibition from the jealous Jehovah, he thrusts himself into the holiest office on earth, except that of the High Priest alone, if indeed that is to be excepted.
(3.) Self-aggrandisement was his only object. He could not assign a single reason of right or of merit for what he had done. On the contrary, his character was so full of blemishes, that to exalt him to a throne was the last thought that would have occurred to other minds, had he not made the suggestion himself. Self-worship is the meanest of all kinds of idolatry, and for a man to push himself forward to occupy the first place, when he ought to take the last, only exposes his memory to infamy in the future. Yet with him every sacred interest was cast to the winds to gratify an inordinate ambition.
(4.) His first step to accomplish his purpose is falsehood. He insinuates that Gideon’s sons were, each and all, ambitious to become king in Israel, and that matters had gone so far that the men of Israel must make their choice—the fact being, that in no breast save his own was any such thought cherished.
(5.) His second step is to hire money from the headquarters of idolatry to serve his wicked purposes (Judges 9:4). “This was like going to the forge of Satan to find means to kill the servants of Jehovah” (Trapp).
(6.) His third step was to make bosom friends of the vilest of characters. If a man is to be judged by the company he keeps, what can we think of the son of the noblest man in Israel choosing for his associates the desperadoes of society! In place of saying, as a true son of Gideon ought to do, “Gather not my soul with sinners, &c.,” we see him looking about for characters vile enough to assist him in accomplishing his Satanic devices.
(7.) His fourth step, and the darkest of all, is to commit murder wholesale on the family of his father. As if it were a light thing to take the life of one brother, another, and another follow, until 70 lives are taken—all sons of his father, and every son he had—every one of them innocent, and an utter stranger to the thought of aspiring to the crown of Israel! How expensive is the work of sin! Blood must flow in streams, and the nearest relatives must be sacrificed, ere its ends can be attained!
(8.) Finally, he gets himself elected King by an apostate city, in the interests of idolatry. The Shechemites utter no protest against the hydra-headed crime, but rather strengthen the perpetrator’s hands for its commission, and even regard it as a recommendation for their suffrages, that he had destroyed the house of him who had destroyed Baal. Say not that a man’s religious belief has nothing to do with the colour of his conduct. Like king, like people!
Examples of more decidedly opposite characters are not to be found in the Book of God, than those of Gideon and his son Abimelech. They are wide as the poles asunder. We can hardly imagine how such a son could be reared under such a paternal roof. But it forms a palpable condemnation of Gideon’s sin, in having married a Canaanite.
III. Useful purposes are served in recording a wicked man’s life in the Book of God.
It might be said, such a record would only be a blur on the page. And it might farther be objected, that, as the name of the wicked is destined to rot, it seems inconsistent with this to inscribe it in the book of true immortality. But—
1. The record is given as a curse and not as a blessing. Gladly would the wicked man hail the announcement that his deeds were not to be recorded. It would be accepted by him as a valuable boon, that his name were allowed to lie in perpetual oblivion. But God puts a brand on it, and holds it up to the execration of all coming time. It was so with Cain, when a mark was set upon him; so with Ahaz, when the finger was pointed emphatically to his sin (2 Chronicles 28:22); so with Jezebel, Pharaoh, Judas, etc. Their names go down to posterity, with a character of infamy indelibly stamped on them. Thus they are made a mark for perpetual hissing to the whole world of men in after times. Gladly would the wicked dead continue to lie in their graves if they could, when the great voice is heard, “Let the earth and sea give up their dead.” For when they awake it will be “to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). How beautiful is the reverse experience of those who accept of the Saviour, and trust in His glorious redemption—“your sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” The man is blessed “whose sin is covered” (Psalms 32:1).
2. Such a record illustrates the truth of God’s testimony respecting human character. It is put down “that God may be justified when He speaks, and clear when He judges.” Has He said that “the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked;” in this dark history is the proof—has He said, “there is no fear of God before the wicked man’s eyes,” “his mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and fraud, etc.” (Psalms 10:7-11); in such a history as that here set down we see it all realised.
3. It shows by practical example the frightfully evil nature of sin when allowed to develop itself unchecked. It is a frightful thing for a creature to give up his Creator, as all sin implies. The consequences cannot fail to be of the most serious character. There must be a fearful perversion of his moral nature, in abandoning a fellowship so pure, in despising a friendship so essential to his happiness, in violating an authority so sacred, and in wantonly forsaking the infinitely Good One. The immediate effect must be to come under the Divine frown, and to lose the Divine image. According to the excellence of the object despised, so must be the deep-rootedness of the evil disposition in the heart that rejects it. And as the law of progress applies to character, the longer this disposition is cherished, or the more unreservedly it is brought into exercise, it must become more and more inveterate. “Sin becomes exceeding sinful,” and more and more sinful (Romans 7:13).
In Abimelech we see sin developing itself unchecked. He throws the reins on his lusts, especially his lust of power, and we see before us a monster rather than a man. For here there is everything to shock the moral sense. An exhibition is made of what sin naturally leads to, when allowed to operate without restraint. It turns man into an evil spirit, it makes a fearful wreck of our moral nature. This illustrates the greatness of the deliverance wrought by the Saviour, when “He gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
4. Wicked deeds recorded are beacons set up, to warn us off from the rocks and whirlpools of sin. They show that a course of sin is like sailing among sunk rocks, or falling under the destructive sweep of a vortex. The full malignity of sin is not to be told in words, but has to be seen in acts. It is a headlong rush, a maddening rage, “a possession of seven devils,” a bursting through all bounds, a rampant and reckless career of treading under foot the sacred commands of the Most High—as seen in the chapter of life here recorded. Abimelech is a finger post set up in God’s Providence, with the words inscribed, “Beware of the broad road that leadeth to destruction!” When allowed full scope, it becomes so virulent, that almost every word in the vocabulary which is expressive of an evil quality would be required to tell its many sides and degrees of evil. It is venomous and baneful, a desolating scourge, a withering blight. It is savage in its conceptions against the innocent, and merciless in carrying its designs into execution. It is a destructive force marring and crushing everything that comes in its way—corrupting, corroding and polluting whatever is most fertile and beautiful in God’s world.
All this exhibited in actual life is a most emphatic testimony, that “the end of these ways is death,” and carries in its bosom the warning, “Avoid the evil way, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.”
IV. God can bring accusers against the wicked when they fancy themselves most secure.
On the very coronation day, when this vile aspirant to the throne of Israel had just got the consummation of all his wishes gratified, and saw himself hailed by the thousands of one of the chief cities of the land as their king, suddenly a messenger from Jehovah appears on the scene with the language of solemn warning on his lips. It was as if the very rocks were made to cry out against such hideous wickedness. Had his heart been less hard, Abimelech could, like Herod after the murder of John (Mark 6:16), have exclaimed—“This is one of my brothers whom I have put to death.” Standing on an eminence among the rocks which overhung the valley, one of the seventy sons, all of whom were supposed to have been massacred, appears, as if risen from the dead, to act the part of an accusing conscience. The occasion was so strong, that the very Mount of Blessing (Gerizim, where Jotham stood) must for once thunder out a curse, against the perpetrators of the awful deeds, which had that day culminated in the unheard of act, of an impious mortal rushing forward to occupy the throne which, of all others, was reserved for the God of Israel alone!
Thus did God meet Adam, on the very day when he sinned, and hid himself among the trees of the garden. Thus suddenly was Haman caught in a snare by that very queen who had honoured him by inviting him to a special banquet, where none but the king, queen, and Haman were present. At the moment when his proud wishes were being gratified to the full, his fall came swiftly—in the twinkling of an eye, from a hand that he least of all expected. So did Ahab encounter Elijah, at the very moment he entered to take possession of that long-coveted vineyard of Naboth. At the moment, when the man, who tried to crush the Church of God in its infancy, was receiving honours from the people as a god, “the angel of the Lord smote him, and he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost” (Acts 12:21-23; Job 20:23; Habakkuk 2:11; 2 Kings 5:26; Joshua 7:18-21).
V. Silent nature is full of lessons of wisdom for irrational men. It needs only a Jotham to bring them out, and apply them. Long before our poet told us in words, there were—
“Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.”
“Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee—or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee,” etc. (Job 12:7-9). If the fable (which this paragraph is supposed to be) be the work of fancy, or a narrative woven by fancy from the elements of nature, in order to press home some important truth, it is not the less instructive; for nature is in all its aspects essentially a teacher. It not only contains illustrations of spiritual truth, happy but accidental likenesses of it, but its very framework is so constructed, as to furnish emblems to the eye of sense of the great spiritual meaning which lies in the background. The world of spirit which is unseen, and which existed before the material world, repeats itself in that world; so that, what we see in nature is the counterpart of what exists in the realm of spirits. It bears witness for that realm, and shadows it forth. Man’s body is so fashioned, as to shadow forth in its curves and features and noble upright form, especially too in its expression of the countenance, the higher qualities of his spirit. In some sense, “the things of earth are the copies of things in heaven.” The objects in the mart, by the wayside, or in the field, are instruments through which man is educated to know much more of God. “This entire visible world, with its kings and subjects, parents and children, sun and moon, sowing and harvest, light and darkness, life and death, is a mighty parable—a great teaching of supersensuous truth, a help at once to our faith, and our understanding.”
LESSONS TAUGHT US BY THE TREES
1. Humility. None of the really good trees aspire to have a distinction above the others. They are content to remain in the place where their Creator has put them. The lofty and umbrageous tree does not boast itself above those that are small and tender, but rather flings its arms around them to shelter them.
2. Sense of responsibility. Each tree feels it has an office to fulfil, which is specially given to it to do, and which it must not leave undone.
3. Obedience and submission. There is no rebellion among the trees, against the authority of Him who appointed them their places, and assigned them their duties. That which is scantily laden, or bears a more common sort of fruit, does not murmur because it is not covered with rich clusters; but each seems content to bear that which is expected of it. It is obedient and submissive.
4. Mutual good-will. No tree wishes to despoil another tree of its glory. There is no joining together of those that are less favoured, against those that are renowned for fertility and beauty. There is neither a strife for precedence, nor do the others show jealousy, if any one is likely to have the precedence. So ought it to be among men of all classes, but especially among those who form the Church of God. All should feel they have the same nature, are trees planted by the same hand, watered by the same clouds, and warmed by the same sun; and so, being united by many ties in common, should grow peaceably together as one vineyard of the Lord of Hosts.
5. Entire dependence of each on the provision God has made for it. It is but in a secondary manner, that any one tree derives benefit from another. One may to some extent protect another from the fury of the blast, or contribute to it somewhat of heat. But all the primary conditions of health and strength to any tree, belong to the soil in which it is placed, to the air around it, to the sun that shines upon it, and to the rain or dew that falls upon it. Its root must be fastened in the soil, and on that everything depends in the first instance. The soil must be sufficient and rich in order to a luxuriant growth. The rain and dew must fall copiously, and the sun must send forth heat. In the spiritual vineyard these conditions are essentially required. Fellow Christians may in many ways be helpful to each other, but each one is dependent, for all that is primary, on God alone. Each one is rooted by God’s own hand in Christ, and built up in him; it is from Him that the rain and due of spiritual influences come down; and it is he who causes the Sun of Righteousness to arise with warmth and healing in his beams (Galatians 1:15-16; Colossians 2:6-7; Hosea 14:5; Hosea 14:3-4; Malachi 4:2). The great practical lesson taught by the trees therefore is, that the Christian’s primary duty is to look after his relations to his God, and see that these are all right, for it is on that that all which is essential to his growth depends.
VI.—To be useful is better than to reign.
All the good trees gave it as a reason for their refusal to wave their tops over the other trees, that they had each a useful vocation to fulfil, and, that the fulfilment of that vocation was a far more important thing, than to reign over others. To reign, is to live for the glorification of one’s self; to be useful, is to be a fountain head from which blessings might flow out to others. All the objects of Nature seem to say, we exist not for ourselves, but for the benefit of others around us. The sun shines not for itself, but to enlighten and warm the planets that revolve around him. The clouds float in the firmament, not on their own account, but to distil their watery treasures on the thirsty ground. The birds sing among the branches, and fill the grove with melody, to give delight to many a listening ear. The flowers put forth their blossom, and convey a pleasing sense of view to the eye; while the trees and shrubs grow, and wave their branches in the breeze, not on their own account, but to glorify Him who created them, for the gracefulness of their form, the richness of their hues, the sweet fragrance they emit, or the excellent fruit they bear.
It is the law also for all true Christians—“None of us liveth to himself,” &c., “Ye are the salt of the earth,” “Ye are the light of the world.” And the rule they have to follow is, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Romans 14:7-8; Matthew 5:13-14; Acts 20:35) He who lives to do good to others around him, and especially to advance the cause of God on the earth, has the consciousness that he lives not in vain, that he is not a cypher but a valuable integer in society, that he is spending the talents given to him to a profitable account—with the two gaining other two—that he has thought more of God’s glory while passing through the world than of his own, and that his place will be missed when he is gone.