References (37)
And his concubine who was in Shechem [present-day Nablus in Samaria, see ] also bore him a son, and she named him Abimelech.
[Abimelech means "my father is king." This must have been his mother's wish and how she viewed Gideon. Gideon himself refused to be a king, see , so the name is in that sense a lie, but may be an expression of his mother's utopia or desire.]
And Avimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, went to Shechem to his mother's brothers and spoke with them and with all the family of his grandfather's house. He said:
And his mother's brothers spoke in his ear to all the men of Shechem [so that they would really hear], all these words, and their hearts were inclined to follow Avimelech, for they said, "He is our brother."
And they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Baal-berith [], with which Avimelech hired worthless (Hebr. reiq) and light (Hebr. pachaz) men [two expressions for various loose people] who followed him.
And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the men of Beth Millo, and went and made Abimelech king by the terebinth tree that is by the pillar that is in Shechem.
And know that if you have acted in truth and sincerity in making Avimelech king, and if you have done good to Jerubbaal [Gideon] and his house, and have done to him according to what his hands deserve,
and you rise up against my father's house today and have struck down his sons, 70 men on one stone, and have made Avimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem because he is your brother,
if you have acted in truth and sincerity toward Jerubbaal and toward his house today, then rejoice in Avimelech, and let him also rejoice in you.
But if not, let fire come out from Avimelech and consume the men of Shechem and Beit-Millos, and let fire come from the men of Shechem and from Beit-Millo and consume Avimelech.
And Jotham ran away and fled and went to Beer [the spring] and lived there for fear of his brother Avimelech. [There are many cities that have "spring" in their name (e.g., Beer-Sheva), but perhaps it is the city of el-Bireh north of Shechem in the Jezreel Valley near Gideon's hometown of Ophrah, see .]
And Avimelech was prince over Israel three years.
And God (Elohim) sent an evil spirit between Avimelech and the men of Shechem [cf. ], and the men of Shechem acted treacherously toward Avimelech,
so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal came upon them, and their blood was laid on Avimelech, their brother who killed them, and on the men of Shechem who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.
And the men of Shechem set men in ambush on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who passed by them on the way, and it was told to Avimelech.
And they went out into the field and gathered their wine and trod the grapes and held a feast and went into the house of their gods and ate and drank and cursed (spoke ill of, literally "took lightly") Avimelech.
And Gaal, the son of Ebed, said, "Who is Avimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal? And Zebul his commander? You may serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem, but why should we serve him?
If this people were given into my hand, I would destroy Avimelech." And he said to Avimelech, "Enlarge your army and come out!"
And he sent messengers to Abimelech at Timnah, saying, "Behold, Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his brothers have come to Shechem, and behold, they are stirring up the city against you.
So Avimelech got up at night, along with all the people who were with him, and they lay in ambush against Shechem in four groups.
And Gaal, the son of Ebed, went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate, and Avimelech and the people who were with him rose up from the ambush.
And Zebul said to him, "Where is your mouth when you say, 'Who is Avimelech that we should serve him? Is this not the people you have despised? Go, I beg you, and fight against them."
And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem and fought against Avimelech.
And Avimelech pursued him, and he fled before him, and many were wounded, even to the entrance of the gate.
And Avimelech lived in Aroma, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers so that they would not live in Shechem.
And it came to pass in the morning, when the people went out into the field, that it was told Avimelech.
And Avimelech and the groups that were with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance to the city gate, and the two groups rushed over all who were in the field and struck them down.
And Avimelech fought against the city all day, and he took the city and struck down the people who were in it, and he broke down the city and scattered it with salt.
And it was told Avimelech that all the men of Shechem's tower were gathered together.
And Avimelech went up to Mount Tsalmon, he and all the people who were with him. And Avimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a branch from the trees and picked it up and laid it on his shoulder, and he said to the people who were with him, "What you have seen me do, hurry and do as I have done."
And all the people cut down their branches, each one his own, and followed Avimelech and laid them against the citadel and set them on fire, so that all the men of Shechem's tower died, about 1,000 men and women.
And Avimelech went to Tevet and camped opposite Tevet and took it. [Probably today's Tubas, 15 km northeast of Shechem. No archaeological excavations have yet been made at the site.]
And Avimelech came to the tower and fought against it and came near the door of the tower and burned it with fire.
But a woman threw an upper millstone on Avimelech's head and crushed his skull.
And when the men of Israel saw that Avimelech was dead, they all went to their homes.
And God (Elohim) repaid Avimelech for the evil he had done to his father when he slew his seventy brothers,
And after Avimelech, Tola [meaning worm or scarlet], the son of Puah, arose to save Israel, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.
Who struck down Abimelech [], the son of Jerubbesheth [Gideon]? [Abimelech was Gideon's son, see . Gideon was also called Jerubbaal, see , here in a different spelling where the idol Baal is replaced with boshet, which means shame, see also Eshbaal/Ishbosheth (; ). Jerubesheth literally means 'shame shall contend'.] Was it not a woman who threw the upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died in Tabeeth? [Today the city of Tubas, 15 km northeast of Shechem, see ] Why did you go so close to the wall? Then you shall say, 'Your servant Orija the Hittite is also dead.'"
