Judges 9:7 - Meaning and Application

Here we have the only warning spoken against the wicked agreement between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. It was a sign that they had provoked God to leave them when no prophet was sent, and no striking judgment came to wake up this blind people and stop the spread of this danger. Only Jotham, Gideon’s youngest son, who escaped the destruction of his family by God’s special care (Judges 9:5), spoke plainly to the Shechemites. His speech, recorded here, shows him to have been a man of great ability and wisdom, a truly polished gentleman, so we can only mourn the more over the fall of Gideon’s sons.

Jotham did not try to gather an army from the other cities of Israel, where he likely could have won support because of his father’s name, to avenge his brothers’ death. He also did not try to put himself in rivalry with Abimelech, despite the false claim that Gideon’s sons had wanted to rule (Judges 9:2). Instead, he was content to give the Shechemites a faithful rebuke and fair warning about the deadly outcome ahead. He found a chance to speak to them from the top of Mount Gerizim, the mountain connected with blessings, where the Shechemites were probably gathered for some event. Josephus says they were celebrating a festival, and it seems they were willing to listen.

His opening words are very serious: “Listen to me, men of Shechem, so that God may listen to you” (Judges 9:7). In other words, if you hope to receive God’s favor and acceptance, then give me a patient and fair hearing. Those who expect God to hear their prayers must be ready to hear reason, to accept a faithful rebuke, and to hear the cries of wronged innocence. If we refuse to hear God’s law, then our prayers will be disgusting to him (Proverbs 28:9).

His parable is very skillful. He tells of trees looking for a king. They first offered rule to the useful trees, the olive, the fig, and the vine, but each refused, choosing to serve rather than rule, and to do good rather than seek power. Then the same offer was made to the bramble, and it accepted with proud joy. This way of teaching by parables is ancient and very useful, especially for giving a rebuke.

By this parable he praises the humble nobility of Gideon and the judges before him, and perhaps also Gideon’s sons, who had refused the honor and power of kingship when they could have had it. He also shows that wise and good people generally prefer to be useful rather than great. There was no need for the trees to choose a king, because they were all trees planted by the Lord, who would protect them (Psalm 104:16). There was also no need for Israel to talk about appointing a king, since the Lord was their king.

When they thought about choosing a king, they did not offer it to the stately cedar or the tall pine, which are more for display and shade than for fruit, but to the fruit-bearing trees, the vine and the olive. People who bring fruit and real good to the public are rightly valued more than those who only want to make an impression. A truly good and useful person is worth great honor.

The reason given by all these fruit trees for refusing was much the same. The olive says, in effect, “Should I leave my oil, by which both God and people are served and honored?” Oil and wine were used at God’s altar and also at people’s tables. The fig tree says, “Should I leave my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?” The margin reads, “go up and down for the trees.” This shows that government brings a great deal of labor and care. The one promoted over others must go up and down for them and make himself a servant to business.

It also shows that those raised to public power must give up their private interests and advantages for the good of the community. The fig tree would lose its sweetness, its quiet rest, and its pleasant fruitfulness if it took on that rule. It would have to face constant strain. It further warns that people lifted to honor are in danger of losing their fruitfulness and usefulness. Promotion often makes people proud and lazy, and that spoils the very usefulness by which they once honored God and man. For this reason, those who truly want to do good are often afraid of becoming too great.

He also exposes the ridiculous ambition of Abimelech, whom he compares to the bramble or thornbush (Judges 9:14). He imagines the trees inviting him, “Come and reign over us,” perhaps because he did not know that Abimelech had first pushed for this promotion himself (Judges 9:2), but thought the Shechemites had invited him. Even so, the foolishness of accepting it deserved rebuke. A bramble is a worthless plant, not counted among the trees. It is useless and fruitless, and even harmful, scratching and tearing those who come near. It begins under the curse, and it ends in fire. Such a man was Abimelech, yet he was chosen to rule by the trees, and by all the trees. This election seems to have been more unanimous than the others.

We should not think it strange when folly is raised to high honor (Ecclesiastes 10:6), when the worst men are lifted up (Psalm 12:8), or when people are blind to their own good in choosing their leaders. The bramble, once chosen, does not pause to consider whether it should accept. It immediately acts as if it were born for dominion, and boasts that the people will find him as they found him. See the proud and empty words he speaks (Judges 9:15), and the promises he makes to his loyal followers: “Let them come and trust in my shadow.” What a poor shadow to trust in. How unlike the shadow of a great rock in a dry land, which is how a good ruler is described (Isaiah 32:2). Trust in his shadow, when he is more likely to scratch them than shelter them, and more likely to hurt them than help them. This is how people boast of a false gift.

Yet he threatens as confidently as he promises. If they are not faithful, he says, fire will come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon. That is an unlikely thing for a bramble to do, since it is more likely to catch fire itself and be burned up.

His application is very direct and plain. First, he reminds them of the many good services his father had done for them (Judges 9:17). Gideon had fought their battles, risking his own life for their great benefit. It was shameful that they even needed to be reminded of this. Then he sharpens the charge of their ingratitude toward his father’s family. They had not treated him according to what he deserved for all he had done (Judges 9:16).

Great merits often receive very poor returns, especially from later generations when the one who helped them is forgotten, as Joseph was among the Egyptians. Gideon had left many sons who brought honor to his name and family, and these men had been brutally murdered. He had one son left who seemed to bring shame on the family, because he was the son of his maidservant, a fact anyone concerned for Gideon’s honor would have tried to hide. Yet that was the very man they made their king. In both choices, they showed the deepest possible contempt for Gideon.

Jotham then leaves the outcome to prove whether they had done right, putting the case in God’s hands. If they continued to prosper in this wicked act, they could at least claim they had done well, as in Judges 9:19. In effect he says, “If what you have done to Gideon’s family can stand up before justice, honor, or conscience, then enjoy your new king.” But if, as he knew, they had acted in a shameful and evil way, then they should not expect lasting success, as in Judges 9:20. Abimelech and the men of Shechem had strengthened each other in this crime, but they would become a curse and a ruin to one another. No one should expect to do evil and still come to a good end.

After giving this warning, Jotham escaped with his life, Judges 9:21. Either they could not catch him, or they were so convinced by his words that they would not add his murder to their other guilt. Still, because he feared Abimelech, he lived in exile, somewhere far away and out of sight. Even those with noble family lines and careful upbringing do not know what hardships and narrow escapes may one day come their way.