Psalm 34 – I will teach you the fear of the LORD

Preamble: Firstly, this psalm is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Secondly, in the KJV translation, the preamble, “Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.” was not present. This preamble was inserted into the NKJV and also in this NIV translation. Such an insertion for a psalm was meant to provide the context or “type” of context for the psalm. However, the issue here was that it had introduced ambiguity due to the word, “Abimelech”.

Of David, there was a specific name, “Ahimelech” but not “Abimelech”. Ahimelech was the priest at Nob, the priest that David had approached when the latter was on the run from King Saul, after the 2nd time Jonathon had told on his father’s ill-intention, to David. This was recorded for us in 1 Sam 21:1-9. But in that passage there was no pretence of being insane. It is possibly not an inadvertent mistake made in the spelling of the word, where “b” should have been “h”, as thought by some.

Who then is Abimelech in David’s time? In that same chapter of 1 Sam 21, in verses 10-14, we read that, from on that day, the day David left the temple at Nob, he went to Gath, in the territory of the Philistines. In 1 Sam 21:13, we read that David pretended to be insane, and in verse 14, he managed to get away from the Philistine king at Gath, on the account of that faked insanity. But the Philistine king name was not Abimelech but Achish. Because there were 2 other Philistine kings being referred to as “Abimelech”, it is believed that perhaps, “Abimelech” was also used the same way as “Pharaoh” was used to refer to Egyptian kings, and so, it is possible that “Abimelech” was referring to Achish, and not Ahimelech, the priest at Nob.

In any case, it was all pointed to that season of David’s life, and that is the purpose of this insertion.]

The way to read this article is that the orange underlined texts are the verses of the Bible (NIV, unless otherwise stated). The black texts following the Bible verses (and enclosed by square brackets) are my commentaries. At the end of these Bible texts and commentaries, I may have inserted a section on "Points to take note/What we have learnt/can learn".



Psalm 34

Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left. [Please see comments in the preamble.]

1 I will extol the LORD at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
2 My soul will boast in the LORD;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the LORD with me;
let us exalt his name together. [Regardless, whether it was before Ahimelech, the priest at Nob or before Achish, king of Gath, the situation for David at this season of his life was that he was on the run from King Saul who had wanted to kill him, despite his great service as the chief commander of the king, and that he was steadfastly loyal to the king. This was after the 2nd time king Saul’s son, Jonathan, had helped David to find out the evil intention of Saul, and David had to flee, and with this flight, he would be a fugitive of the King.

Yet, here, we read that David declared that he would extol the LORD at all times; he would praise the LORD always. His soul would (still) boast in the LORD. Let all the afflicted hear and rejoice, said David. David called for his hearers to join him to glorify the LORD, to exalt His name together.]
4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame. [Recounting the past faithfulness of the LORD towards him, he said he sought the LORD, and He answered him; God delivered him from all his (past) fears.

Then he declared that those who look to God are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. David had experienced such, and continued to believe such, and he declared such.]
6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. [I believe verse 6 was referring to David himself. He called himself as “this poor man”. This is not an inferiority complex manifesting itself; rather it was an honest understanding of one’s state before the omnipotent God. In men’s terms, David was hardly a poor man; he was a mighty warrior, “Saul (also a warrior with great physique) slain his thousands, but David, his tens of thousands”; and David was highly respected by many (many great men followed him, despite him having lost his rank in the army of the king, and was on the run {a fugitive of the King}); and he was loved by many; and the house of his father, Jesse, was of some means. David said he called, and the LORD heard him; and He saved him out of all his (past) troubles.

David declared that the angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them. David called for hearers to come to experience the Omnipotent God – come, and taste, and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. David always sought refuge in the LORD, and in no others, or in no other thing. This had always been David’s attitude, and we can read of such in other psalms of his. For example, in Ps 62:1-2, we read of the same:

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

David then summed up the state of one who lives in the fear of the LORD – those who fear the LORD lack nothing (v9). Verse 10 must be read together with v9, and it is not quite appropriate for people to quote v10, to imply those who seek the LORD, per se, will lack nothing. It is those who seek the LORD in the fear of Him that will lack nothing.

Lions were used here with connotation to mean that no matter how majestic and powerful men might be (even to the extent that they might be like the lions), they still could grow weak and hungry, in other words, have times of needs; but for those who fear the LORD, not that they will not have such needs, but when they seek the LORD, their lack will disappear; but not necessarily so, for those whose dependence is not on the LORD.]
11 Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 A righteous man may have many troubles,
but the LORD delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The LORD redeems his servants;
no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him. [Having elaborated on what was so good about being fearing the LORD, in the next part of this psalm, David said (v11), “I will teach you the fear of the LORD”.


Let’s recap what is so good about living in the fear of the LORD:

1. When you call to the LORD, He answers you (v6).

2. The angel of the LORD encamps around you, and delivers you (v7).

3. You will be able to taste and see the goodness of the LORD (i.e. be blessed of the LORD) as you refuge in the LORD (v8). You will see many good days (v12).

4. Resting on the above, that is how the LORD delivers you from your (own) fear (v4).

5. And when your fear is no more {delivered by the LORD as you have sought Him in the fear of Him}, your face will be radiant, and not covered with shame (v5) {when you are fearful, your face is not radiant; it is only when you are confident, and that confidence is in the LORD, that your face will be radiant}.

6. Your confidence in the LORD is not misplaced, and over time, you will be like David, able to glorify the LORD, and exalt his name (v3), able to boast in the LORD (v2), and extol Him at all times, and have the praises of Him always on your lips.

7. To sum it all, you will lack no good thing when you seek Him in the fear of Him (vv 9 & 10).


This is David’s teaching on the fear of the LORD:

1. Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies (v13). You will see many good days {don’t you love that kind of life?}(v12).

2. Turn from evil and do good (v14a).

3. Seek peace, and pursue it (v14b). The peace here should be interpreted in the context of the verse of turning from evil and doing good. So, here is an example of “peace” as not being an “airy, fairy” thing which one cannot grasp or do not know how to obtain it. When one does a bad thing or an evil thing, there is always the uneasiness, a “disturbness” in him. Over time, the accumulation of such, will cause one to lose peace, and so, an easy way to look at peace is to look at the opposites - uneasiness, “disturbness”, fear, guilt, shame, etc. The opposite of righteousness is unrighteousness or evil or wickedness. And so, one has to stay on the righteous side, pursue righteousness, and that means that one has to turn from evil, avoid evil, and avoid doing bad; do good, instead.

4. God is holy and righteous. The foundation of his throne comprised righteousness and justice (Ps 89:14a). This means that God, by His very nature is opposed to non-holiness, unrighteousness, evil, wickedness, and injustice. Holiness, righteousness, and justice have affinity with God, and such will draw out God’s love and faithfulness. Holiness, righteous, and justice is first, and come next, is the love and faithfulness of God. Love and faithfulness go before Him (Ps 89:14b).

5. It is no wonder David declared that the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their cry (v15); the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, and even to cut them off {if one remains stubbornly wicked, I believe he faces the risk of being counted or reckoned with Satan, and may suffer the same destiny as Satan} (v16).

6. When the righteous cry out, the LORD not only hears; He delivers them from all their troubles (v17).

7. It is entirely possible that righteous ones can have their hearts broken, and their spirit crushed. Verse 18 should be read together with the verse preceding it and that after it. In fact, what v17 was also saying was that righteous people do have troubles! If they were without troubles just because they were righteous, then there was no need of God’s hearing and delivering of them from their troubles. By the same reasoning, righteous people do get hurt (be brokenhearted), and their spirits do get crushed by insensitive and cruel people. But David declared that the LORD is close to the righteous who are brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit {and Holy Spirit can quicken (and re-quicken) the spirit of men}.

8. There we have it – a righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all (v19). God protects him (v20). Here, the choice use of “his bones”, in my interpretation, was meant not only to say that God provides physical protection to the righteous ones, it also meant to say that the LORD enables the righteous to stand, for “his bones” or “his frame” was symbolic of that which holds us up.

9. Ultimately, this will be apparent:

(a) Evil (meaning here, the principalities of darkness) will slay (even if, indirectly) the wicked men {or those who remain stubbornly wicked}; the enemies of the righteous will be condemned (v21). In the end, those judged wicked (opposite of righteous ones), they will be condemned (to Hell). What this meant is that if one does not live in the fear of the LORD, he is prone to be ensnared to wickedness, and if he remains stubbornly so, evil will be the cause of his destruction.

(b) The LORD redeems His servants {His righteous} (v22). Contextually, therefore, what it meant was that only the righteous are the servants of God. In fact, Scripture had it that unless one is righteous, all his works are like filthy rags. It is important to understand that it is not suddenly, David mentioned another group of people; no, David was referring to the righteous as servants of God, and what that also implied was that righteous ones of God do not contribute nothing, do not do nothing, of no fruit acceptable to the LORD – righteous ones bear fruits, and so, are the servants of the LORD. And so, contextually, it is also not anyone who takes refuge in Him, will not be condemned, but it is anyone who is live in fear of LORD who takes refuge in Him, who will not be condemned.

10. To sum it all up, to live in the fear of the LORD, is to embrace 1 Pet 1:16 (or Lev 19:2) – For it is written, “Be holy because I am holy.” Our God is a holy God; that is Him. So, be holy, be righteous, be just.

Lastly, since it is an acrostic poem, I have attempted a re-cast of it; making it acrostic to the English alphabets, all 26 alphabets:


Psalm 34 {recast – acrostic to English alphabets, by Anthony Chia}

(A)t all times, I will extol the LORD.
(B)e on my lips, His praise will always be.
(C)ome whatever may, my soul will boast in the LORD, and so, let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
(D)o as I do, glorify the LORD, and exalt His name with me.
(E)ncumbered by fear, but when I sought the LORD, He answered me and delivered me from it.
(F)aces with radiance, and not shame, will be had, for those who look to Him.
(G)reat company of angels encamp around those who fear Him, and He delivers them.
(H)urry, taste and see that the LORD is good, for blessed, is the man who takes refuge in Him.
(I) declare, “Those who fear Him lack nothing. So, fear the LORD, you saints.”
(J)oyfully I say, “The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
(K)ingdom people, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
(L)onging for many good days in your life, then keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies.
(M)ake it a point to turn from evil;
(N)either should you ignore doing good.
(O)mit not the seeking of peace;
(P)ersist in it.
(Q)uick to go for righteousness, for the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.
(R)est assured that the face of the LORD is against those who do evil;
(S)urely, He will cut off the memory of them from the earth.
(T)he righteous ones cry out, and the LORD hears them;
(U)ntil He delivers them from all their troubles will He ceases to act.
(V)erily, the LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
(W)hen a righteous man is troubled, and he may have many troubles, the LORD delivers him from it, each time;
(X)-ray will show none is broken, for He protects all his bones.
(Y)es, evil will slay the wicked, and the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
(Z)ealously, on the other hand, the LORD redeems His servants with none condemned, of those who take refuge in Him.]


Anthony Chia – Do not just say, “Those who seek the LORD will lack no good thing”, but rather say, “Those who seek the LORD in the fear of Him will lack no good thing” or “The righteous will lack no good thing”, for Ps 37:25 says: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”

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Judges 9 – Abimelech, a king who was not

The way to read this article is that the orange underlined texts are the verses of the Bible (NIV, unless otherwise stated). The black texts following the Bible verses (and enclosed by square brackets) are my commentaries. At the end of these Bible texts and commentaries, I have inserted a section on "Points to take note/What we have learnt/can learn".
{For full listing of all articles in this series, click here}

Abimelech

1 Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal {Gideon} went to his mother's brothers in Shechem and said to them and to all his mother's clan, 2 "Ask all the citizens of Shechem, 'Which is better for you: to have all seventy of Jerub-Baal's sons rule over you, or just one man?' Remember, I am your flesh and blood." [Towards the end of the episode on Gideon in Judges 8, Abimelech was mentioned as the son of Gideon, from a Shechem concubine. The early inhabitants of Shechem are descendants of Hamor (probably the city name took after Hamor’s son name, Shechem), and Hamor was the descendants of Hivites, and Hivites descended from Ham, one of the 3 sons of Noah (Ham, Shem and Japheth). (Israelites descended from Abraham who descended from Shem, son of Noah). In this sense, Abimelech was a mixed-blood between an Israelite from the tribe of Manasseh (one of the two tribes of the house of Joseph, who was one of the son of Israel {aka Jacob}), circumcised, and a descendant from another line from Noah, uncircumcised. From the manner that it was recorded in Judges 8:29-31, it would appear that the other sons of Gideon were from the Israelites’ blood line; not mixed-bloods. Actually way back in Genesis 34, there was already a feud between Hamor (and his son Shechem) and Abraham (and his sons). Abimelech saw himself as different from the other sons of Gideon, He saw himself more a Shechemite than an Israelite. So after Gideon’s death, he went to Shechem to rally support particularly from his maternal uncles.]
3 When the brothers {of Abimelech’s mother} repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, "He is our brother." 4 They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelech used it to hire reckless adventurers, who became his followers. 5 He went to his father's home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, escaped by hiding. 6 Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Shechem to crown Abimelech king. [When Abimelech’s maternal uncles got for him the support of the Shechemites, he (Abimelech) got some reckless followers and went back to Ophrah, his father’s town and sought the lives of all his brothers. All the brothers got killed except the youngest by the name of Jotham. Then Abimelech went back to Shechem to be crowned as King Abimelech by the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo (probably a satellite town of Shechem, chief activity there being worship of gods, complete with citadels (temples)). We see later that Jotham spoke against the coronation by way of a parable. There was no mention of fellow Israelites’ reactions to the coronation, of whether they would recognize Abimelech as King. I suspect they did not recognize Abimelech as King, although we read in verse 22 below that Abimelech governed Israel for 3 years. Bible scholars generally consider the “Kings” period as having started only with the installation of King Saul (this happened much later). This period is still being referred to as the “Judges” period.]
7 When Jotham was told about this, he climbed up on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, "Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you. 8 One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, 'Be our king.' [Jotham’s Parable of Reproach on Mount Gerizim. There is very little by way of commentary on this parable. This is what came to my mind as the exposition for this parable: You will remember in Judges 8, we read that the Israelites wanted to make Gideon the King after he had killed the kings of Midian. Trees in the Bible sometimes referred to men. Men are like trees planted of the Lord. The olive tree, I believe, was referring to Gideon. Olive is a symbol of peace. Gideon was a symbol of peace – he brought peace to the people after 7 years of severe oppression under the Midianites. Also how he handled the conflict between the Ephraim and Manasseh (Judges 8:1-3) reflected this.]
9 "But the olive tree answered, 'Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and men are honored, to hold sway over the trees?' [Gideon, we have read in Judges 8 refused. Jotham said the answer for the refusal was that the candidate was of the view that he would lose fruitfulness if he were to be made King. This, you see later, is the same answer for all other potential candidates, until Jotham reached the thornbush. The understanding, I believe, up to that time was that the Lord was the King. In fact the people of God knew very well that their heritage, as was practiced by Moses, demanded that they just have representatives to go before God for major directions - the Lord was the King. Moses, in his days, always went before the Tabernacle (in which God dwelt), which followed the movements of the Israelites; even Moses was not known like a King. Men are like trees planted of the Lord to bear fruits, olive tree to give oil, fig trees to bear fig fruits, vine to bear grapes for wine, etc. – that, I believe, was the understanding. The understanding was that to take up kingship which was not in the vocabulary of God for the people, so to speak, would cause one to lose one’s fruitfulness.]
10 "Next, the trees said to the fig tree, 'Come and be our king.' [The fig tree here, I believe, was referring to the children, excluding Abimelech, the mix-blood, of Gideon. The fig is a many-in-one fruit. I believe fig tree has the connotation of children.] 11 "But the fig tree replied, 'Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?' [Those children of Gideon also declined to be king.]
12 "Then the trees said to the vine, 'Come and be our king.' [Trees referred to men, in general. Vine also referred to men but it has a more specific meaning. I believe vine was used for God’s people, which in the Judges period was referring to the Israelites, and in our modern days is referring to Christians. Joseph was said to a fruitful vine (Gen 49:22), and Jesus talked about Himself as the true vine (John 15:1). Men are likened as trees, and when they have become Christians, they are likened as vines (John 15:5).] 13 "But the vine answered, 'Should I give up my wine, which cheers both gods and men, to hold sway over the trees?' [The “more eligible” Israelites also declined to be king for the same reason – The Lord was the King, everyone was only to do his part, be fruitful at his station, and not to set himself up as the King or Lord, because God did not indicate the installation of a king was called for.].
14 "Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, 'Come and be our king.'[The thornbush here, I believe, was referring to Abimelech. Finally the people asked Abimelech to be king.] 15 "The thornbush said to the trees, 'If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!' [By this, Jotham was prophesying what would happen if Abimelech became king. Everyone must be subject to him and if they did not, he would destroy them, even the eminent people (cedars of Lebanon).] 16 "Now if you have acted honorably and in good faith when you made Abimelech king, and if you have been fair to Jerub-Baal and his family, and if you have treated him as he deserves- 17 and to think that my father fought for you, risked his life to rescue you from the hand of Midian 18 (but today you have revolted against my father's family, murdered his seventy sons on a single stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his slave girl, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is your brother)- 19 if then you have acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub-Baal and his family today, may Abimelech be your joy, and may you be his, too! 20 But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelech and consume you, citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelech!" [Jotham continued to prophesise that there would be mutual destructions for the people who installed Abimelech as king and Abimelech himself, at the hands of each other. It was obvious that the people did not act honorably and in good faith, and was not fair to Gideon and his family despite Gideon’s deliverance of people from the hands of cruelty of the Midianites.] 21 Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and he lived there because he was afraid of his brother Abimelech. [Jotham exhibited courage despite being afraid. Remember what I said about the difference between being afraid and courage. One can be afraid and yet be of courage (You may want to re-read my commentary on Judges 7:9-12). I believe that God honored that courage and remembered his favor for Gideon, and extended that favor unto Jotham and brought Jotham’s prophesy to pass, which you would read, in the subsequent verses.]
22 After Abimelech had governed Israel three years, 23 God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem, who acted treacherously against Abimelech. 24 God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal's seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers. 25 In opposition to him these citizens of Shechem set men on the hilltops to ambush and rob everyone who passed by, and this was reported to Abimelech. [The Lord was bringing to pass the prophesy of Jotham. God sent an evil spirit. In a number of places in the Bible, we read of God sending evil spirits against people/individuals. Here is one example, and another example was what happened with King Saul – God sent a tormenting spirit against Saul. (The “Kings” period is after the “Judges” period in the Bible). It is my belief that the most fundamental attribute of God is holiness. (Many people put love as number one. In my opinion, that would be inadequate to explain some of the events in the Bible). In short, holiness necessitates punishment, and the sending of the evil spirit was a punishment. I do not see any evil in God meting out punishment. In verse 25, we read that the citizens of Shechem started to disregard Abimelech.] 26 Now Gaal son of Ebed moved with his brothers into Shechem, and its citizens put their confidence in him. 27 After they had gone out into the fields and gathered the grapes and trodden them, they held a festival in the temple of their god. While they were eating and drinking, they cursed Abimelech. 28 Then Gaal son of Ebed said, "Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should be subject to him? Isn't he Jerub-Baal's son, and isn't Zebul his deputy? Serve the men of Hamor, Shechem's father! Why should we serve Abimelech? 29 If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Abimelech, 'Call out your whole army!' " [These verses gave us a clue to the blood line of the Shechem citizens, and so the maternal blood line of Abimelech, like I explained in the beginning of this chapter. There was an individual called Shechem and his father was Hamor. The city was probably named after Shechem. Hamor was an Hivite, and Hivites are descendants of Ham, one of the 3 sons of Noah, the other two being Shem (from whom descendants of Abraham, and therefore Israel{Jacob},came from), and Jepheth. So here, we read that this fellow called Gaal, instigating a revolt by reminding the citizens of Shechem their blood line, and said that Abimelech was in fact not a true Shechemite because his father, Gideon, was an Israelite, a descendant from Abraham, from Shem (son of Noah), and not from Hamor (although Abimelech’s mother was), and not from Ham, son of Noah. Isn’t it ironical that Abimelech before his installation, was arguing that he was different from the other children of Gideon, that he was brother to the Shechemites! Genesis 34 recorded that there was a feud between Abraham and Hamor. Abraham’s sons killed Hamor and Shechem (Hamor’s son) over Shechem’s affair with Dinah, daughter of Abraham. Gaal was capitalizing on the past feud between the descendants of the two bloodlines.] 30 When Zebul the governor of the city heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry. 31 Under cover he sent messengers to Abimelech, saying, "Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you. 32 Now then, during the night you and your men should come and lie in wait in the fields. 33 In the morning at sunrise, advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, do whatever your hand finds to do." 34 So Abimelech and all his troops set out by night and took up concealed positions near Shechem in four companies. 35 Now Gaal son of Ebed had gone out and was standing at the entrance to the city gate just as Abimelech and his soldiers came out from their hiding place. 36 When Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul, "Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains!" Zebul replied, "You mistake the shadows of the mountains for men." 37 But Gaal spoke up again: "Look, people are coming down from the center of the land, and a company is coming from the direction of the soothsayers' tree." 38 Then Zebul said to him, "Where is your big talk now, you who said, 'Who is Abimelech that we should be subject to him?' Aren't these the men you ridiculed? Go out and fight them!" 39 So Gaal led out the citizens of Shechem and fought Abimelech. 40 Abimelech chased him, and many fell wounded in the flight—all the way to the entrance to the gate. 41 Abimelech stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem. [The above recorded the clash between citizens of Shechem led by Gaal, and Abimelech, led by Zebul. Zebul won and drove Gaal out of Shechem. The part about Abimelech was asked to come to Shechem in the night to position men was because I believe Abimelech was perhaps residenced at his father’s hometown, and ruled from there (verse 22).] 42 The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields, and this was reported to Abimelech. 43 So he took his men, divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose to attack them. 44 Abimelech and the companies with him rushed forward to a position at the entrance to the city gate. Then two companies rushed upon those in the fields and struck them down. 45 All that day Abimelech pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it. [We read in verse 22, Abimelech governed Israel for three years, whether or not he was recognized as King over the Israelites was another matter. So, Abimelech’s seat of power was not just Shechem, otherwise he would be destroying himself. Here we read he operated from outside the city of Shechem, captured it and destroyed the city.] 46 On hearing this, the citizens in the tower of Shechem went into the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith. 47 When Abimelech heard that they had assembled there, 48 he and all his men went up Mount Zalmon. He took an ax and cut off some branches, which he lifted to his shoulders. He ordered the men with him, "Quick! Do what you have seen me do!" 49 So all the men cut branches and followed Abimelech. They piled them against the stronghold and set it on fire over the people inside. So all the people in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women, also died. [In those days, it was not uncommon for cities to build towers, in and outside the cities. Some were more elaborate, equipped with temple (citadel), the belief being that gods would protect their cities; some were less. What was said of, here, was probably one such towers, fully equipped with a temple stronghold, and this tower was probably outside the city, since the city of Shechem was already destroyed (verse 45). Basically, Abimelech led the troops to set fire and burnt down the whole tower, killing all the people inside, about 1,000 people. Abimelech was probably very pleased with what he had done, especially the last bit of being the first to light the fire to burn the tower (he copied his father’s act; Gideon was first to blow the trumpet and smashed the jar to let out the fire from the torch within, in the major battle against the Midianites). The first part of the prophesy of Jotham came to pass – the destruction of citizens of Shechem by the hands of Abimelech.] 50 Next Abimelech went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it. 51 Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women—all the people of the city—fled. They locked themselves in and climbed up on the tower roof. 52 Abimelech went to the tower and stormed it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire, 53 a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull. 54 Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can't say, 'A woman killed him.' " So his servant ran him through, and he died. 55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they went home. [After his success at burning the tower of Shechem, Abimelech went on to Thebez, a nearby city, about 15km away. Some commentators said that Thebez was attacked because they refused to accept Abimelech when he was installed as king, others said that the people there conspired with the Shechemites to revolt against him. I believe it could be that some of the Shechemites fled to the nearby city, and Abimelech just wanted to completely destroy the rebels (and those who helped the rebels) – the prophesy of Jotham said that citizens of Shemchem and Beth Millo (not just Beth Millo) would “do him in”. When the remaining people in the town fled into the town’s tower, Abimelech thought he could just do the same thing he did for the tower of Shechem, torch it. Little did he know that a woman would drop a millstone on his head and cracked his skull.] 56 Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. 57 God also made the men of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them. [The mutual destructions of the parties, citizens of Shechem and Abimelech had come to pass, just as prophesised by Jotham.]


What have we learnt in this episode of Abimelech?
1. Don’t plot evil; don’t do evil; don’t join evil.

2. Don’t “touch” the favored ones of God, not even their families.

3. God is holy, He will punish where punishment is due.

4. From that concerning Jotham, we learnt these:

a. Courage is important, and needed, to serve God, and God honors that

b. We are olive tree (the body of believers liken as a huge olive tree; we are a part thereof).

i. Olive represented peace, we are to seek and guard peace, be peace-makers, bring peace.

ii. Olive tree produces olive fruits from which we get oil. Oil represented fruitfulness.

iii. So, as olive trees, we are to produce olive oil, be peaceful, peace for self and others, and be fruitful. Accordingly if we violate peace and go about things that are inconsistent with God’s word or wishes (that definitely isn’t fruitfulness), we are either a "bad” olive tree or we are no longer one because the test of an olive tree is that it produces olive oil. In the story above, becoming the King was not consistent with God’s word/wishes, so the wise candidates said they would not give up their oil, in other words, fruitfulness.

c. We are vine (and we are to abide in the true vine, Jesus Christ).

i. As in the metaphor of the olive tree, peace and fruitfulness are the same things stressed by Jesus in his teaching. Jesus himself, being the Prince of Peace. If we want peace, we must abide in true vine, Jesus. If we abide in Him, we will have peace, and just as He is Peace, we will be peace.

ii. The fruit of the vine is grapes, from which we get wine. Similarly put, wine represented fruitfulness, like the oil, for the olive tree. Again, Jesus in his teachings, stressed fruitfulness. What will happen to a vine that bears no fruit? Jesus basically said it was useless and its fate would be into the fire to be burnt (The vine and the branches {John 15:1-8}). It is important what we go about doing in this life are not inconsistent with God’s word or wishes. Despite the various interpretations of the Parable of the withering of the fig tree (Matt 21:18-19), I believe one of the point Jesus was trying to put across was that fruitfulness is what God wants, not what we think God should want or what we want.

iii. Abide in Jesus, and we can be both peaceful, peace for self and peace for others, and be fruitful. Some of us have a measure of the first part, peace but lack the second. I believe it is because we have not embraced the Holy Spirit fully. Do you know that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, and also the Spirit of Christ Jesus? Yes, we have the written word of God, the Bible, but it is the Holy Spirit who makes the word alive to us, and in real time, in actual setting, gives us the prompting for us to do what God wants done in real time and actual situation. Scripture said that it is the Holy Spirit who knows the mind of God. So if we want to know what God’s wills are, from, or in addition to the written word, we have to embrace the Holy Spirit. Do you know that oil is used to symbolize the Holy Spirit? In other words, like what the olive oil represented (fruitfulness), the Holy Spirit is critical to fruitfulness; which is not surprising since we have just said the Holy Spirit is the one who knows the mind of God, and fruitfulness gets to do with what God wants, not what we think God should want or what we want.




Anthony Chia – This is what is said in Proverbs 3:33 – The LORD's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.

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