Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
Abimelech is the dark center of Judges: the son of Gideon by a concubine who uses political manipulation, kinship appeals, and silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire worthless and reckless men and kill his seventy brothers on one stone. He then makes himself king at Shechem.
Jotham, the only surviving brother, climbs Mount Gerizim and delivers the trees-seeking-a-king fable. The trees ask the olive, the fig, and the vine to be king. Each refuses: why should I leave my productive purpose to sway over the trees? Only the bramble accepts, and the bramble's offer is: if you truly anoint me king, then come and take shelter in my shadow. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
The fable is the OT's most sophisticated political theology: power sought for its own sake attracts only those without productive purpose, and the rule of the worthless produces fire. Abimelech rules three years. He destroys Shechem. He is killed at Thebez when a woman drops an upper millstone on his head. He asks his armor-bearer to run him through so it cannot be said a woman killed him, and it is said anyway.
Thread 3 is the negative type: Abimelech is what the King must not be, self-appointed, kin-killing, bramble-like. Thread 4 is the willing acceptance of his kingship by Shechem, and Thread 5 is the dispensational warning: premature kingship outside divine appointment produces destruction.
Abimelech, the first and failed attempt at monarchy in Israel, kills seventy brothers and rules for three years before a millstone kills him; Jotham's fable of the trees is the most sophisticated political parable in the OT.
אֲשֶׁר יִמְשָׁל בָּכֶם אֶבֶן הָרֹאשׁ הַזֹּאת (asher yimshol bakhem even ha-rosh hazzot): may this stone be a witness against you: the conclusion of Jotham's curse from Mount Gerizim; Abimelech's reign will end by a millstone dropped from a tower by a woman; the stone that crushes echoes the stone cut without hands in Daniel 2; failed human kingship always ends with the stone
threads t3 · t4 · t5 · see Judges 9:7-15 · 1 Samuel 8:4-22 · Revelation 17:16
