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"And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother's brethren,
and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father,
saying, Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for
you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over
you, or that one reign over you? Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh"
(Judges 9: 1, 2).
Abimelech's words had the desired effect, and the men of Shechem made him king.
Sixty-nine out of the seventy sons of Gideon were slain at Ophrah "upon one stone".
Possibly this refers to the rock that figures so prominently in Judges 6: 21-26. If so, this
would indicate another blow at the worship of the true God, and the triumph of Baal.
Moreover, the place chosen by the men of Shechem for making Abimelech king was "by
the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem". Here Joshua had made a covenant with
Israel (Josh. 24: 1-26), and had set up a great stone under the oak (see margin of
Judges 9: 6), declaring that this stone would be a witness against them if they denied
their God. Here, too, the sanctuary of God had stood, as we see from Josh. 24: 26. It
is evident, therefore, that Abimelech's coronation was a direct attack upon the
sovereignty of the Lord. And yet in Abimelech we have Israel's first king, a tragic
foreshadowing of the time of the end.
One Son of Gideon escapes death, and his name is Jotham, meaning Jehovah is
Perfect. The bearing of this name will be evident when we observe how Jotham uses the
very word "perfect" in Judges 9: 16:
"If ye have done truly and sincerely (perfectly)."
The connection is confirmed when we notice that at this same spot, Joshua had said:
"Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity (perfectly)" (Josh. 24: 14).
The Lord had said to Abraham, "Walk before Me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17: 1)
and had called upon Israel saying: "Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God"
(Deut. 18: 13). An examination of the contexts will leave us in no doubt as to the
meaning of the term.
There is one further point which is perhaps more important than everything else.
Abimelech had been made king at the very place where the sanctuary had stood. At this
place, therefore, the priest would have received answer by Urim and Thummim. Now the
word Thummim is the word "Perfection" put into the plural. There is but one King that
will successfully rule and reign for God on earth, and He will be a King-Priest "after the
order of Melchisedec". There will be but one Kingdom on earth that will received Divine
approval, and that will be a "Kingdom of Priests". In this lies the secret of all human
failure in this respect. Man desires a King. Even Israel would have taken Christ and
made Him King; but External law, however righteous and good, breaks down before the
impotence of unregenerate hearts. A Priest as well as a King is needed to put away sin,
and to write the laws upon the hearts of a saved people. Gideon apparently had some
inkling of this truth: