Next Abimelek went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it. Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women—all the people of the city—had fled. They had locked themselves in and climbed up on the tower roof.

Judges 9:50-54

50 Next Abimelek went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it. 51 Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women—all the people of the city—had fled. They had locked themselves in and climbed up on the tower roof. 52 Abimelek went to the tower and attacked it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire, 53 a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull. 54 Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, ‘A woman killed him.’” So his servant ran him through, and he died.

Today’s title is “Proud King or Humble Servant”

The era of Judges is very similar to our time. The new generation after Joshua forgot somehow completely who God is and what God has done. They didn’t have godly leaders like Moses and Joshua. Therefore, the basic principle of life in the era of Judges was “Do whatever you like”. As a matter of fact, that was the conclusion of the book of Judges. It says, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit (Judges 21:25).” Don’t you think that you have heard sayings like this somewhere? Yes, you have heard it every stage of current public education starting from kindergarten. The underlying philosophy of current so-called democratic education is pretty much the same as the time of Judges. Abimelech was one of the firm believers of the principle. He was one of the many children of Gideon who saved Israelites from the Midianites. Israelites wanted to make Gideon their king. Gideon, however, humbly declined it. His son, Abimelek was very different. His name “Abimelek” means “my father is a king.”. Even though Gideon didn’t become a king. Abimelek proudly asserted himself as a son of the king. Unlike other children of Gideon, he gathered people around him and have them make him a king. He was arrogant and ruthless. He slaughtered seventy of his brother except one. He defeated many of his enemies and destroyed them mercilessly. He spared no one who dared to stand against him. He was a very confident and able warrior. He was confident about his own power. Even in today’s episode, he besieged and captured the city of Thebez. All the people fled to the tower in the city. They were at the mercy of Abimelech. The ruthless and confident Abimelek would never spare them. He was about to set a fire to it. Then a woman dropped a millstone from the top. It cracked Abimelek’s skull. There’s some humor in the story. A big macho guy who was so confident of himself got his skull cracked by a nameless woman. I chuckle inside whenever I read this. But it was indeed God who did all this. He wanted to teach us a lesson. The lesson is clear. We are no kings. We have the true king whom we have to depend on. Our true king humbled himself to become a servant. He died for us. Which of the two should we follow, proud king Abimelek or humble servant Jesus? The choice must be obvious. What scares me is that I run into many contemporary Abimelek in our time. Whether they say it or, their lifestyle completely ignores God. They indeed act as they saw fit. How about you? Are you following the proud king or the humble servant?