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"wine", and of the ministry of honour and cheer that each afforded in fulfilling his
appointed service. The Bramble, however, has no such humble conception of his office.
He does not speak of oil, or wine, or even of sweetness. He says nothing about honour to
God or to man, but vaingloriously usurps the Divine prerogative and says: "Put your
trust in MY SHADOW."
In the prophetic utterance of Moses in Deuteronomy we read:
"He is the Rock, His work is perfect . . . . . Where are their gods, their rock in whom
they trusted?" (Deut. 32: 4, 37).
And in that beautiful record of faithfulness in a period characterized by utter lack of
faith, we read in the Book of Ruth:
"The Lord God of Israel, under Whose wings thou art come to trust" (Ruth 2: 12).
As the Psalmist writes:
"Is it better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man" (Psa. 118: 8).
The opposite course is described in Isa. 30: in relation to Egypt:
"Woe to the rebellious children . . . . . that take counsel, but not of Me . . . . . to
strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt"
(Isa. 30: 1, 2).
The same words that are rightly used of the Lord, both "trust" and "shadow", are
boldly appropriated by Abimelech, the Bramble. It is the spirit of Antichrist manifesting
itself in the nation of God's choice, a prophetic foreshadowing of the awful days to come.
The Bramble speaks of his shadow, but in fact he had none. He provides neither honour,
sweetness, nor cheer, and serves only as fuel for the fire. The word for "bramble" is
translated "thorn" in Psalm 58: 9, where the passage refers to the boiling of a pot over
a fire.
In the Gospels we read:
"Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" (Matt. 7: 16).
As the Lord spoke these words, the parable of Jotham would come to the minds of
many of His hearers. When He spoke, also, of the seed being choked with thorns and so
not bringing forth fruit unto perfection (Luke 8: 14), those of his hearers who knew the
Hebrew meaning of Jotham, and of his use of the word "perfect", would again think of
the degeneracy of the days of the Judges and of the danger of their recurrence. When the
apostle used the figure of the land bringing forth thorns and briers and being nigh unto
cursing (Heb. 6: 8), his hearers would no doubt go back in mind to this same parable.
We will not pursue the sad story of Abimelech's reign. He died an ignominious death,
at the hand of a woman, although he saved his face by calling upon his armour-bearer to