Judges 9

What’s Happening?

After Gideon dies, his 70 sons are given control of Israel. One of Gideon’s sons, Abimelek, conspires with his mother and her relatives to overthrow his father. Eventually he begins his reign by slaughtering 69 of his father’s sons on a stone (Judges 9:5-6).

But Jotham escapes Abimelek’s purge and uses a fable to warn those who are now following Abimelek (Judges 9:7). Jotham warns that honorable men are slow to accept leadership (Judges 9:11). Abimelek's meteoric rise, Israel’s uncritical allegiance to him, and Abimelek’s thirst for power will one day destroy them (Judges 9:20).

This is exactly what happens. Abimelek is slowly handed over to the same violence he inflicted on his brothers (Judges 9:24). God is done showing mercy to Israel, and instead promises fairness and perfectly proportionate retribution (Judges 9:56-57). Throughout Abimelek’s story God is ominously silent except to further confirm Israel’s chosen path of self-destruction.

This does not mean God is absent in Abimelek’s increasingly grisly victories (Judges 9:49). Rather, God directs Abimelek’s bloodlust to its deserved end.

Just as Abimelek's conspiracy depended on the support of his mother’s family and the slaughtering of his brothers on a stone, Abimelek is killed by a mother with a stone. Abimelek receives perfectly proportional retribution for his crimes in the form of a woman crushing his skull with a rock (Judges 9:53).

Where is the Gospel?

Paul tells us in Romans that God’s judgment is often seen when he “hands us over” to the very desires we chase (Romans 1:24). That’s what happens to Abimelek. When we enthrone the gods of this world—violence, greed, dominance—we shouldn’t expect mercy but the slow and brutal fairness those gods always return (Romans 2:6). The harm we do circles back.

That is genuinely good news for those wounded by evil. God promises that injustice will not go unanswered; those who destroy will be destroyed in kind.

But Jotham’s warning hangs over all of us (Romans 3:23). Israel rejected the rightful sons of Gideon and embraced a false king; we reject God’s good rule and pledge allegiance to the same cruel gods Abimelek served. We trust power, appetite, and self-exaltation to secure the safety and satisfaction we crave. And just like Jotham predicted, those gods eventually turn on us.

Yet God’s fairness is not his final word.

Into a world spiraling under its own violence, God sends another Judge—Jesus. He is the rightful ruler Abimelek pretended to be. But instead of seizing power or unleashing revenge, Jesus enters the world our sin has corrupted. And instead of letting the consequences of our rebellion fall back on us, he steps underneath them himself.

Jesus allows our violence, fear, and cruelty to curve back onto him—as the full exposure of what humanity has chosen. On the cross, he absorbs the world’s evil, and in doing so he ends the cycle of the gods’ “fair” retribution. That is how God shows himself just and the justifier of those who trust Jesus (Romans 3:25–26).

Jesus is the leader we have never deserved. He is the Judge who takes the blow instead of delivering it. He is the King who responds to our rebellion with mercy instead of proportional payback. And under his rule the only thing left for us is mercy.

See for Yourself

May the Holy Spirit open your eyes to see the God who puts an end to evil with perfect justice. And may you see Jesus as the Judge who steps into our violence to give us mercy instead of retribution.