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Abimelech, son of Gideon and of the enslaved woman from the Bent Place (where Joseph was buried), suggested to his mother’s people that they might support his campaign to be king. His mother’s people proposed this idea to the landholders of the Bent Place, and all agreed. Seventy pieces of silver were taken from the city’s temple of the Covenant God and given to Abimelech. 

Flush with cash, Abimelech hired a ruthless crew, and together they went and killed Gideon’s sons (Abimelech’s half-brothers). Seventy men were killed for the price of seventy pieces of silver. Only one son escaped: Jotham, Gideon’s youngest, who stood on the Blessing Mountain and proclaimed,

“No one wants to lead you people anyway! If kings were trees, neither the olive tree nor the fig tree nor even the grape vine would consent to being crowned. Only the bramble, with its harsh thorns and its propensity for building obstacles, would agree to become king. On a side note,” Jotham continued, “if all seventy of my brothers sinned against the Bent Place, then rest assured I can understand your actions. If not, then may the gods of your neighbors rise up against you.” Then Jotham fled to save his life.

With all the sons of Gideon out of the picture, the campaign donors from the Bent Place came together and crowned Abimelech king.

As often happens with the purchase of power, the landholders of the Bent Place became discontent over time. They began robbing travelers in the mountain passes near the Bent Place. They vetted potential new kings who might do more for them than Abimelech. When Abimelech learned of their disloyalty, he took his troops to the Bent Place. First he slaughtered all the commoners of the place, lying in wait to kill them as they left the city in the morning to tend the fields. Then he surrounded the temple of the Covenant God, where all the landholders had gathered to hide, and he burned it to the ground.

From the Bent Place, Abimelech and his troops went to the nearby city of the Strong God’s temple, and they encamped against the city. When the people retreated to the city’s towering temple, Abimelech and his troops fought to burn down its door. One woman, who had brought her millstones into the tower in the event of a long siege, threw the upper millstone from the roof onto Abimelech. As he lay dying, Abimelech instructed his armor bearer to put him out of his misery with a sword, lest he die to the sound of people mocking him for being killed by a millstone.

Thus a woman who worshiped the Strong God defeated the king who was funded by landholders who worshiped the Covenant God. And the One God Who Is & Shall Be considered the question of kings to be put to rest.

a retelling of Judges 9