Judges 9
Virtually every account in the book of Judges paints this formative period in Israel’s history as a very dark, brutal time when everyone did what was right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25). The story of Abimelech’s rise to power is no exception. Judges 6-8 recounts the heroic deeds of Gideon, a Manassite from the clan of Abiezer who rescued the Israelites from the Midianites. After Gideon’s victory, he returned to his hometown of Ophrah, and Israel enjoyed peace for the rest of his lifetime. But Gideon also left a legacy of idolatry by him, by his family, and by many Israelites. Gideon had many wives and seventy sons, as well as a concubine in Shechem who gave birth to another son named Abimelech (Judges 8:29-32). It appears that when Abimelech grew up, he settled in Arumah, (Judges 9:31), just outside Manassite territory in the tribal allotment of Ephraim (Joshua 16-17; see “Poster Map of the Tribe of Manasseh (West) and Its Surroundings, circa 1200 B.C.” map). Perhaps this move to non-Manassite territory reflected Abimelech’s lack of a legitimate heritage from his Manassite father. Later, Abimelech visited his relatives in Shechem and convinced them to persuade the leaders of Shechem to make him ruler over the city. To ensure that none of his seventy brothers, who were legitimate heirs to Gideon, challenged his authority, Abimelech went to Ophrah and killed all but one of them. The only brother to escape was Jotham, the youngest, and he went to the top of Mount Gerizim and warned them against betraying Gideon by making Abimelech king. Then he fled to the town of Beer, perhaps the same as Beeroth near the town of Gibeon. After three years, however, the leaders of Shechem began to grow dissatisfied with Abimelech as their king, and a man named Gaal offered to rule in place of him. Abimelech’s ally Zebul, who was one of the leaders of Shechem, went to Arumah and told Abimelech what Gaal was planning to do. So Gideon and his men split up into four groups and secretly surrounded the city at night. Then they attacked Gaal’s men, and Gaal’s men retreated into Shechem. Zebul drove them back out into the fields, and Abimelech’s men defeated them and captured the city. Some of the leaders of Shechem fled into the temple of El-berith (or Baal-berith), but Abimelech and his men cut down branches from Mount Zalmon (likely Mount Ebal just north of Shechem) and set fire to the temple, killing about 1000 people inside. Then Abimelech and his men went to Thebez and attacked the city. Many of the citizens took refuge inside a strong tower in the town, and Abimelech prepared to set fire to the entrance. But a woman on the roof dropped a millstone on his head, crushing his skull, so Abimelech commanded his armor bearer to kill him.
Audio-Visual Reading of Acts 8
Acts 8
Acts 8 recounts the early ministries of Philip the Evangelist and the apostle Peter.
Jeremiah Prophesies of a Restored Jerusalem
Jeremiah 31:38-40
Jeremiah 30-31, often referred to as the Book of Consolation, is ultimately a message of hope after a time of judgment and exile. Though Israel and Judah have suffered devastation for abandoning the Lord, one day the Lord himself would restore them. It is not clear whether these chapters were written after the devastation (including the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.) had already occurred, or they were speaking of it in the future. In any case, they clearly foretold of a day of restoration that lay ahead for God’s people. Jeremiah 31:38-40 specifically notes that Jerusalem would one day be rebuilt as part of this restoration, but not merely as it was before. The restored city would be expanded to include even the two valleys that had previously marked the boundary of three quarters of the city. The prophecy visualized plans being made for these new boundaries (presumably to be bounded by walls) by detailing the path of a measuring line that would go out from the northwest corner of the Temple Mount, encircle the city, and return to the southeast corner of the Temple Mount (see also the “Jerusalem during the Time of Nehemiah, circa 445 B.C.” map). The “whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes” that would be included likely refers to the Hinnom Valley. By the time of Jeremiah, this valley had become known as the location of Topheth, a pagan altar where children were burned as a sacrifice to the Canaanite god Molech (see 2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31-32; 19:6-13). But Jeremiah foretold of a time when the Lord would bring such destruction upon Jerusalem that the valley would be filled with dead bodies (Jeremiah 19:6-9). Yet in the day of Israel and Judah’s restoration, the whole valley, along with the fields (or terraced gardens) running the whole length of the Kidron Valley, would be sacred to the Lord, and the new city would never again be uprooted or overthrown.
Hebrew Calendar, Festivals, and Seasonal Activities
Bible Mapper is pleased to release a clickable, searchable Hebrew calendar that includes festivals and seasonal activities. Click the snapshot below to go to the live calendar. (Note: The calendar must be viewed in a non-mobile browser to work correctly.)
Judah and Tamar
Genesis 38
The story of Judah and Tamar is likely set in the foothills (often called the Shephelah) of Judah around the general area of Adullam. The story opens by noting that Judah went “down” from his brothers, though it does not mention where his brothers were living. The last mention of their location, however, is in Genesis 35:27, where it notes that they were in Mamre in the vicinity of Hebron, appropriately situated at significantly higher elevation than Adullam. After settling in this area, Judah married a Canaanite woman, who bore him three sons. The passage also notes that Judah’s wife was living in Kezib when she bore their third son, so presumably Judah was living there as well. This is likely the same location called Aczib elsewhere in Scripture (Josh 15:44; Micah 1:14). Judah then took a wife, Tamar, for his oldest son, but his son soon died. So Judah instructed his second son to fulfill the common custom of marrying his brother’s widow and raising children in his brother’s name. Though this son married Tamar, he refused to have children by her, so the Lord put him to death. Then Judah instructed Tamar to remain in her father’s house as a widow until his third son was old enough to marry her, but secretly he feared that his third son might die like his brothers if he married her. Sometime after this Judah’s wife died, and Judah made plans to go “up” to Timnah, where his sheep were being sheared. Several other passages of Scripture (Joshua 15:10; Joshua 19:43; Judges 14; 2 Chronicles 28:18) mention a place called Timnah, which was located at Tall Batashi along the Sorek Brook, but it is unlikely that this is the same Timnah mentioned in this story, because Tall Batashi is at a very low elevation, so it could hardly be said that Judah went “up” to that Timnah from Aczib or Adullam. Instead the Timnah of Genesis 38 may have been located at Khirbet et Tabbaneh northeast of Adullam (likely also mentioned in Joshua 15:57) and higher in elevation. If Timnah is indeed located there, Enaim may have been located at Khirbet Beth Ikka, though this identification is less certain (see also Joshua 15:34, which mentions a town called Enam). Returning to the story, the passage notes that, upon hearing of Judah’s plans to go up to Timnah, Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute, went up to Enaim, and seduced Judah on his way to Timnah as part of a plan to bring shame upon him for not providing his third son, who was now an adult, to her as a husband. It is interesting to note that the word Enaim, which means “the place of two springs,” can also mean “the place of two eyes,” and some commentators have speculated that the writer was making a play on words with the name of the village, because it was at Enaim that Judah failed to recognize Tamar, and later he failed to recognize his own hypocrisy in denouncing Tamar for her sexual immorality.
