And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulcher of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
ABIMELECH
The Story of the Sons of Gideon, and the Evil Which Befell Them.
ABIMELECH SEIZES THE LEADERSHIP.
(This is the first of the bloody conflicts for leadership in Hebrew history, so common after the kingdom was established. Abimelech, the son of Gideon, whose mother was a woman of Shechem and a servant, killed all the other children but Jotham, and died himself in battle after a brief period of supremacy.)
And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother's brethren, and spoke with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying, "Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, 'Which is better for you, that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are threescore and ten persons, rule over you, or that one rule over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.'"
And his mother's brethren spoke of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, "He is our brother." And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light fellows, who followed him. And he went unto his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of [{333}] Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.
AN OLD FABLE.
(This is one of the earliest of those stories called fables in which animals or trees or other things not living are represented as speaking and acting like living persons. Such stories were usually told to teach some lesson.)
And all the men of Shechem assembled themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem. And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, "Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, 'Reign thou over us.' But the olive tree said unto them, 'Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honor God and man, and go to wave to and fro over the trees?' And the trees said to the fig tree, 'Come thou, and reign over us.' But the fig tree said unto them, 'Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave to and fro over the trees?' And the trees said to the vine, 'Come thou, and reign over us.' And the vine said unto them, 'Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to wave to and fro over the trees?' Then said all the trees to the bramble, 'Come thou, and reign over us.' And the bramble [{334}] said to the trees, 'If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'