Judges and Ruth by Barry G. Webb

Author:Barry G. Webb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crossway

But such uncontrolled rage is dangerous. It makes people lose perspective, trust no one, see enemies everywhere, kill innocent people, and in the end overreach themselves and bring about their own destruction. We saw it to some extent in Gideon’s vendetta against Zebah and Zalmunna in Judges 8; now we see it again in a more terrible form in Abimelech.

Slaughter in Shechem (vv. 42–49)

The battle fought here is a virtual repeat of the one in verses 22–41, but this time it is fought against unarmed civilians and is carried to a far more extreme end. In reality it is no battle at all, but a massacre carried out with ruthless efficiency. With the crisis apparently over, the people of Shechem “went out into the field” near the city (v. 42), perhaps to see how much it had been damaged or to try to start working it again. The last time they “went out into the field,” though, it was to conspire with Gaal against Abimelelch (v. 27). Now someone still loyal to Abimelech suspects that mischief is afoot again and tells Abimelech (v. 42). It is more paranoia than a sober assessment of the situation, hinting that the “evil spirit” of verse 23 is still at work. But it gives Abimelech the only excuse he needs to attack them. A rout ensues, as before. This time, however, it is not just the people who are destroyed, but their whole city. Shechem is razed to the ground and symbolically “sowed . . . with salt” as a way of cursing it and consigning it to perpetual desolation (v. 45).12 But Abimelech is not finished yet. Some of the rulers, “all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem,” have escaped. Seeing that the end was near, they had somehow got out before the city was destroyed and have taken refuge in “the stronghold of the house of El-berith” (v. 46).13 This was probably a fortified temple complex outside the city walls, with a tower that was designed to be a last place of refuge if the city itself fell. The “leaders” in question may have been a group of men with special responsibility for the defense of this fortress. But when they hear how total the destruction of the city has been, they realize that defending even the fortress will be impossible and retreat into the tower to await their fate (v. 47).

They don’t have long to wait. Determined that no one will escape, Abimelech commands his men to help him gather wood and stack it against the tower. When it is torched, the conflagration kills everyone in the tower—not just the leaders, but all who have taken refuge with them, one thousand human souls in all, including women and children (v. 49). It’s a literal holocaust, complete immolation. Fire has gone forth from the bramble and destroyed the people of Shechem, just as Jotham said it would (v. 15). And that, surely, should have at last satisfied Abimelech’s lust for revenge. But alas, it did not.

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