Dr Paul Allen

Jesus christ(coptic) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "Ye shall give three cities on this side Jordan, and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan , which shall be cities of refuge ." ( Numbers 35:14 ) When the Israelites entered the promised land, God told Joshua to provide six "cities of refuge" into which those who had slain someone could flee for refuge until a trial could ascertain the facts and render a proper verdict. As such, these cities are a type of Christ , through whom "we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us" ( Hebrews 6:18 ). The names of the six cities are given in Joshua 20:7-8 as Kedesh , Shechem , Hebron, Bezer , Ramoth , and Golan. The meanings of these names seem planned especially to foreshadow this spiritual application. Kedesh means "holy place," and Christ in the New Jerusalem is the ultimate refuge, for "the Lamb |is| the temple of it" (

English: Abimelech was a son of the great judge Gideon (Judges 9:1) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) After Abimelech had reigned over Israel three years, God sent a spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem (Judg. 9:22–23a). Abimelech reigns for three years, and not just as king of Shechem but as king of Israel! His coronation by the Shechemites seems to be accepted by the nation as a whole, though his enthronement in Shechem on the Manasseh-Ephraim border may mean little to the far-flung tribes. In any case, as Matthew Henry notes, “It is not said, ‘He judged Israel,’ or did any service at all to his country, [only that] he enjoyed the title and dignity of a king.” Then God makes His first—and, indeed, His only—appearance in the narrative of chapter 9. He sends “a spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem … that the crime done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be settled and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and o

English: Abimelech was a son of the great judge Gideon (Judges 9:1) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “If then you have acted in truth and sincerity … then rejoice in Abimelech.… But if not, let fire come from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and Beth Millo; and let fire come from the men of Shechem and from Beth Millo and devour Abimelech!” (Judg. 9:19–20) Jotham does not leave the men of Shechem to puzzle out the meaning of his parable. Before fleeing into lifelong exile, he gives the interpretation, publicly charging Abimelech and the Shechemites with their heinous crimes and warning of the dire consequences that are sure to flow from their unholy alliance. The emphasis here is on “ ‘truth and sincerity’ ”; this is the salt with which all of life is to be seasoned in Israel (see Josh. 24:14). “ ‘If’ ” Jotham says, ‘ “you have acted in truth and sincerity in making Abimelech king, and … if then you have acted in truth and sincerity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, the

English: Nablus and Mount Gerizim Français : Israël - Naplouse et le mont Gerizim avant 1899 עברית: שכם והר גריזים (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us!’ ” ( Judg. 9:14). The men of Shechem have crowned Abimelech as king—despite the fact that he has just Carried out a mass fratricide. God is clearly judging Israel by leaving the people to their sin. As Matthew Henry notes, “It was a sign they had provoked God to depart from them that neither any prophet was sent nor any remarkable judgment, to awaken this stupid people, and to stop the progress of this threatening mischief.” However, God has not left Himself without a witness against evil. One of Gideon ’s 70 sons managed to survive the massacre— Jotham , the youngest of them all, who hid himself from Abimelech and his thugs ( Judg. 9:5). Does Jotham seek to raise an army to avenge his brothers or to defend his alleged crown rights? No, he contents himself with

English: Abimelech was a son of the great judge Gideon (Judges 9:1) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) And all the men of Shechem gathered together, all of Beth Millo, and they went and made Abimelech king beside the terebinth tree at the pillar that was in Shechem ( Judg. 9:6). At the end of Judges 8, the Israelites turn to idolatry after the death of their great judge, Gideon . Thus, as chapter 9 opens, the nation is again at the point in the cycle when God allows oppression to come upon His people. That is indeed what happens in this chapter, but the source of the oppression is shocking—it is brought by Abimelech, the son of Gideon by his concubine. “The apostasy of Israel … is punished, not as the former apostasies by a foreign invasion, or the oppressions of any neighboring power, but by [conflict] among themselves,” Matthew Henry writes in his commentary on Judges. Gideon formally rejected an offer to become king of Israel and establish a dynastic succession (Judg. 8:23). H