Abimelech: The King God Never Chose

Bible Believing Christian
Oct 10
4 min read

Abimelech: The King God Never Chose

Abimelech’s story is one of ambition without calling, leadership without character, and power without purpose. It’s the first attempt at monarchy in Israel—and it ends in total collapse.

While Judges 9 reads like a political thriller, its message is timeless: God’s people were never meant to rule by self-exaltation, but by submission to Him. Abimelech’s reign is not an anointing from God but an appointment by bloodshed. His life warns us that it’s possible to win the throne and lose your soul.

Biblical Foundation

“Now Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s relatives, and spoke to them and to the whole family of the household of his mother’s father, saying, ‘Speak, now, in the hearing of all the leaders of Shechem, “Which is better for you, that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or that one man rule over you?” Also, remember that I am your bone and your flesh.”’” (Judges 9:1–2, NASB)

“So they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men, and they followed him.” (Judges 9:4, NASB)

The Hebrew name Abimelech (אֲבִימֶלֶךְ) means “My father is king.” The irony drips from the page: Gideon had refused kingship, saying, “The Lord shall rule over you” (Judges 8:23), yet his son names himself as royalty.

In the Septuagint (LXX), the same name is rendered Ἀβιμέλεχ, and the translators emphasize his ἀνομία—lawlessness. His rule, devoid of divine calling, becomes an archetype for illegitimate authority.

Historical & Contextual Notes

After Gideon’s death, Israel’s unity disintegrated. The people desired stability more than sanctity, and Abimelech exploited that desire. He appealed to tribal loyalty (“I am your bone and flesh”) and funded his coup with silver from a pagan temple. In Hebrew, “worthless and reckless men” are called ’ănāšîm rêqîm ûpōḥazîm (אֲנָשִׁים רֵקִים וּפֹחֲזִים)—literally, empty and impulsive men.

He murdered his seventy brothers on one stone, an image of systematic evil, echoing the altars of false gods. Only Jotham, the youngest, escaped. His fable of the trees (Judges 9:7–15) is the first recorded parable in Scripture—a prophetic satire exposing the absurdity of Abimelech’s kingship.

The olive, fig, and vine all refuse to “rule over the trees,” valuing fruitfulness over control. Only the bramble—thorny, combustible, and useless—seeks to reign. Jotham’s moral is chilling: “Fire will come out of the bramble.” And it does—Abimelech dies when a woman drops a millstone on his head, crushing the very ambition that consumed him.

The LXX sharpens the irony: ἐξῆλθεν πῦρ ἐκ τῆς ἀκανθῆς—“fire came out of the thornbush.” The same Greek root appears in Mark 15:17, describing the “crown of thorns” pressed onto Christ’s head. The false king brings destruction; the true King bears it.

Misconceptions / Objections

“Abimelech was one of Israel’s judges.”

No—Abimelech is never called a judge (šōpēṭ) in Scripture. His rule is self-appointed, not Spirit-anointed. He is Israel’s anti-judge, the counterfeit deliverer.

“God approved his reign temporarily.”

Not at all. God allows Abimelech’s rise as judgment, not endorsement. In Judges 9:23, “God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem.” His downfall is divine justice, not divine cooperation.

“Abimelech’s story is about politics.”

It’s about idolatry—the worship of power. His throne is built from the altar of Baal, showing that when God’s people crave worldly systems of control, they end up ruled by their own idols.

Theological Reflection

Abimelech embodies the human desire to be in control. His name claims royal identity, but his life denies divine authority. Every step of his rule is a mirror of Eden’s temptation: “You will be like God.”

The structure of Judges 9 is poetic justice in motion:

Abimelech kills his brothers on a stone.

He rules by fear and false religion.

A woman, the least threatening member of society, ends his reign by dropping a stone on his head.

The very weapon he used becomes his undoing. As Proverbs 26:27 says, “He who digs a pit will fall into it.”

The Hebrew word for “millstone,” rĕḥeb (רֶכֶב), can also mean “upper stone”—a deliberate pun on kingship. The one who sought the highest place dies beneath the lowest tool.

The LXX captures this irony vividly: κατέκοψεν αὐτοῦ τὸ κρανίον—“it crushed his skull.” The same imagery appears again in Genesis 3:15, where the seed of the woman crushes the serpent’s head. Abimelech’s death becomes an echo of God’s ancient promise: evil will destroy itself, and righteousness will prevail.

Connection to Christ

Abimelech’s self-made kingship stands in stark contrast to Christ’s divine kingship. Abimelech seizes power by bloodshed; Christ receives His throne through His own blood poured out.

Both are crowned—Abimelech with pride, Christ with thorns. One kills to reign; the other dies to redeem.

Where Abimelech burned Shechem in wrath, Jesus wept over Jerusalem in compassion. Where Abimelech’s fire consumed his people, Christ’s Spirit descended as tongues of fire to empower them.

Abimelech shows us what happens when man exalts himself as king. Christ shows us what happens when the true King humbles Himself as a servant.

Christ-Centered Conclusion

Abimelech’s story is not a footnote—it’s a warning. It exposes what happens when ambition outruns calling, when charisma replaces character, and when power becomes an idol.

The “king God never chose” reminds us that the greatest danger to the Church is not outside it but within it—the heart that says, “My will be done.”

God’s Kingdom does not advance through self-promotion but through self-denial. The One who truly rules is the One who first bowed low.

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself…” (Philippians 2:5–7, NASB)