Judges 9:46-57: a reflection

46When all the men of the tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered into the stronghold of the house of Elberith. 47Abimelech was told that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. 48Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an ax in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done!” 49All the people likewise each cut down his bough, followed Abimelech, and put them at the base of the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women. 50Then Abimelech went to Thebez and encamped against Thebez, and took it. 51But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women of the city fled there, and shut themselves in, and went up to the roof of the tower. 52Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it, and came near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. 53A certain woman cast an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, and broke his skull. 54Then he called hastily to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, that men not say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’ His young man thrust him through, and he died.” 55When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they each departed to his place. 56Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father in killing his seventy brothers; 57and God repaid all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads; and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came on them.

The story of Abimelech, who had murdered his seventy brothers to seize power, ends with his own violent death, and the narrator draws the lesson plainly: Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father in killing his seventy brothers. The evil Abimelech had done came back upon his own head; the wickedness he committed against others returned to him. What he had sown in cruelty, he reaped in his own destruction. God repaid the evil he had done, bringing it back on the one who did it; the wrong Abimelech committed was answered by a like end.

Notice how the evil Abimelech did returned upon him. He had shed his brothers' blood to gain power; and in the end, his own life was taken, God repaying his wickedness on his own head. The wrong he had done did not simply pass; it came back upon the one who did it. What Abimelech had sown, he reaped; the cruelty he inflicted returned to him. It is a sobering pattern: the evil we do has a way of returning upon us, and God, in his justice, repays the wickedness we commit. The blood Abimelech shed came back on his own head; the wrong was answered in kind.

That is worth taking to heart, for the evil we do has a way of returning upon us, and God repays wickedness. We can imagine that the wrong we do to others will simply pass, that we will not have to answer for it; but Abimelech's wickedness returned upon his own head, God repaying what he had done. What we sow, we tend to reap; the evil we do can come back upon us. Do not imagine that the wrong you do to others will simply pass without consequence; the evil we do has a way of returning upon us, as Abimelech's wickedness came back on his own head. Let the sobering truth that the evil we do returns upon us turn you from wronging others, as God repaid Abimelech's wickedness on his own head; for what we sow we reap, and the wrong we do to others has a way of coming back upon us, answered by the justice of God.

Lord, the story of Abimelech, who had murdered his seventy brothers to seize power, ends with his own violent death, and the narrator draws the lesson plainly: thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father in killing his seventy brothers. The evil Abimelech had done came back upon his own head; the wickedness he committed against others returned to him. What he had sown in cruelty, he reaped in his own destruction. Show me how the evil Abimelech did returned upon him. He had shed his brothers' blood to gain power; and in the end, his own life was taken, you repaying his wickedness on his own head. The wrong he had done did not simply pass; it came back upon the one who did it. What Abimelech had sown, he reaped. It is a sobering pattern: the evil we do has a way of returning upon us, and you, in your justice, repay the wickedness we commit. Take that to my heart, for the evil I do has a way of returning upon me, and you repay wickedness. I can imagine that the wrong I do to others will simply pass, that I will not have to answer for it; but Abimelech's wickedness returned upon his own head. What I sow, I tend to reap. Keep me from imagining that the wrong I do to others will simply pass without consequence; the evil I do has a way of returning upon me, Lord. Let the sobering truth that the evil we do returns upon us turn me from wronging others, as you repaid Abimelech's wickedness on his own head.