Our Legacy

Judges 9-10; Psalms 49; 1 Corinthians 16

“Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to his mother’s brothers in Shechem…‘Remember, I am your flesh and blood.’…They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelech used it to hire reckless adventurers, who became his followers. He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers…Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Milo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Shechem to crown Abimelech king.”

Judges 9:1, 2, 4-6

Illegitimate authority is birthed out of rejection and resentment. It is gained through violence and requires force to be maintained. Because Abimelech’s mother was a concubine, it meant he would never share in the inheritance of Gideon’s sons. While his father conquered through obeying the Lord (with trumpets, torches, and clay jars), Abimelech murdered his brothers, and eventually murdered the citizens of Shechem. It is ironic that the temple of Baal-Berith where Abimelech hired mercenaries to kill Gideon’s seventy sons, became the same location where the citizens of Shechem were killed by the same mercenaries. It is also painful to realize the location of the great oak tree of Moreh by Shechem, where Abimelech was crowned, was where Abraham, Jacob, and Joshua covenanted with God. We reap what we sow apart from the redeeming grace of God!

“Lord God, establish your truth and your ways in my family, for your glory.”