Judges 9-10

March 16

Judges 9-10

Abimelech was a wicked man. He killed his seventy brothers so he could rule over Israel. After ruling over Israel for three years, God began to stir things up for Abimelech. He went to Shechem and fought the people who supported him when he first grabbed for power. He wiped out the people and destroyed the city. Some of the people hid in the tower of Shechem, but Abimelech took brush and placed it at the base of the tower and lit it on fire and killed all the people in the tower. Abimelech liked the results of his attack on Shechem so much, he moved on to Thebez. The people of Thebez also fled to a tower, but we are told it was a strong tower.  

The writer of Proverbs wrote; "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." (Proverbs 18:10, NIV) Abimelech did not run to the Lord, he ran from the Lord. God repaid him for his wickedness. But the people who ran to the strong tower were saved. A woman in the tower dropped a millstone on Abimelech’s head which caused a fatal wound.

We cannot run from God and expect to succeed. Our sin, our rebellion will catch up to us eventually. But if we run to God for our protection, He is faithful and will protect us. God got tired of Israel’s on again off again relationship. He allowed the Philistines to conquer them. Once again Israel cried out to God, but this time He refused to listen. He told them to cry out to the gods they were serving. If they were going to serve them, let the idols save them.

God so loved Israel that He could not continue to ignore them. God loves us, He is our strong tower. God may get angry with us, but if we truly repent and turn to Him, He will hear from heaven and will save us.