91 Now Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, went to Shechem to his mother's family, and said to them and to all the family of his mother's father, 2 Say now in the ears of all the townsmen of Shechem, Is it better for you to be ruled by all the seventy sons of Jerubbaal or by one man only? And keep in mind that I am your bone and your flesh. 3 So his mother's family said all this about him in the ears of all the townsmen of Shechem: and their hearts were turned to Abimelech, for they said, He is our brother. 4 And they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech got the support of a number of uncontrolled and good-for-nothing persons. 5 Then he went to his father's house at Ophrah, and put his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, to death on the same stone; however, Jotham, the youngest, kept himself safe by going away to a secret place. 6 And all the townsmen of Shechem and all Beth-millo came together and went and made Abimelech their king, by the oak of the pillar in Shechem.
7 Now Jotham, on hearing of it, went to the top of Mount Gerizim, and crying out with a loud voice said to them, Give ear to me, you townsmen of Shechem, so that God may give ear to you. 8 One day the trees went out to make a king for themselves; and they said to the olive-tree, Be king over us. 9 But the olive-tree said to them, Am I to give up my wealth of oil, by which men give honour to God, and go waving over the trees? 10 Then the trees said to the fig-tree, You come and be king over us. 11 But the fig-tree said to them, Am I to give up my sweet taste and my good fruit and go waving over the trees? 12 Then the trees said to the vine, You come and be king over us. 13 But the vine said to them, Am I to give up my wine, which makes glad God and men, to go waving over the trees? 14 Then all the trees said to the thorn, You come and be king over us. 15 And the thorn said to the trees, If it is truly your desire to make me your king, then come and put your faith in my shade; and if not, may fire come out of the thorn, burning up the cedars of Lebanon. 16 So now, if you have done truly and uprightly in making Abimelech king, and if you have done well to Jerubbaal and his house in reward for the work of his hands; 17 (For my father made war for you, and put his life in danger, and made you free from the hands of Midian; 18 And you have gone against my father's family this day, and have put to death his sons, even seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his servant-wife, king over the townsmen of Shechem because he is your brother;) 19 If then you have done what is true and upright to Jerubbaal and his family this day, may you have joy in Abimelech, and may he have joy in you; 20 But if not, may fire come out from Abimelech, burning up the townsmen of Shechem and Beth-millo; and may fire come out from the townsmen of Shechem and Beth-millo, for the destruction of Abimelech. 21 Then Jotham straight away went in flight to Beer, and was living there for fear of his brother Abimelech.
22 So Abimelech was chief over Israel for three years. 23 And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the townsmen of Shechem; and the townsmen of Shechem were false to Abimelech; 24 So that punishment for the violent attack made on the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, and for their blood, might come on Abimelech, their brother, who put them to death, and on the townsmen of Shechem who gave him their help in putting his brothers to death. 25 And the townsmen of Shechem put secret watchers on the tops of the mountains, and they made attacks on all who went by on the road and took their goods; and word of this came to Abimelech. 26 Then Gaal, the son of Ebed, came with his brothers, and went over to Shechem; and the men of Shechem put their faith in him. 27 And they went out into their fields and got in the fruit of their vines, and when the grapes had been crushed, they made a holy feast and went into the house of their god, and over their food and drink they were cursing Abimelech. 28 And Gaal, the son of Ebed, said, Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem, that we are to be his servants? Is it not right for the son of Jerubbaal and Zebul his captain to be servants to the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem? But why are we to be his servants? 29 If only I had authority over this people! I would put Abimelech out of the way, and I would say to Abimelech, Make your army strong, and come out. 30 Now Zebul, the ruler of the town, hearing what Gaal, the son of Ebed, had said, was moved to wrath. 31 And he sent to Abimelech at Arumah, saying, See, Gaal, the son of Ebed, and his brothers have come to Shechem, and they are working up the town against you. 32 So now, get up by night, you and your people, and keep watch in the field secretly; 33 And in the morning, when the sun is up, get up early and make a rush on the town; and when he and his people come out against you, do to them whatever you have a chance to do. 34 So Abimelech and the people with him got up by night, in four bands, to make a surprise attack on Shechem. 35 And Gaal, the son of Ebed, went out, and took his place at the doorway into the town; then Abimelech and his people got up from the place where they had been waiting. 36 And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, See! people are coming down from the tops of the mountains. And Zebul said to him, You see the shade of the mountains like men. 37 And Gaal said again, See! people are coming down from the middle of the land, and one band is coming by way of the oak-tree of the Seers. 38 Then Zebul said to him, Now where is your loud talk when you said, Who is Abimelech that we are to be his servants? Is this not the people whom you were rating so low? Go out now, and make war on them. 39 So Gaal went out at the head of the townsmen of Shechem and made war on Abimelech. 40 And Abimelech went after him and he went in flight before him; and a great number were falling by the sword all the way up to the town. 41 Then Abimelech went back to Arumah; and Zebul sent Gaal and his brothers away and would not let them go on living in Shechem. 42 Now the day after, the people went out into the fields; and news of it came to Abimelech. 43 And he took his people, separating them into three bands, and was waiting secretly in the field; and when he saw the people coming out of the town, he went up and made an attack on them. 44 And Abimelech with his band made a rush, and took up their position at the doorway into the town; and the other two bands made a rush on all those who were in the fields, and overcame them. 45 And all that day Abimelech was fighting against the town; and he took it, and put to death the people who were in it, and had the town pulled down and covered with salt. 46 Then all the townsmen of the tower of Shechem, hearing of it, went into the inner room of the house of El-berith. 47 And word was given to Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem were there together. 48 Then Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, with all his people; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand and, cutting down branches of trees, took them and put them on his back. And he said to the people who were with him, Be quick and do as you have seen me do. 49 So all the people got branches, every man cutting down a branch, and they went with Abimelech at their head and, massing the branches against the inner room, put fire to the room over them; so all those who were in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women, were burned to death with it.
50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and put his army in position against Thebez and took it. 51 But in the middle of the town there was a strong tower, to which all the men and women of the town went in flight and, shutting themselves in, went up to the roof of the tower. 52 And Abimelech came to the tower and made an attack on it, and got near to the door of the tower for the purpose of firing it. 53 But a certain woman sent a great stone, such as is used for crushing grain, on to the head of Abimelech, cracking the bone. 54 Then quickly crying out to his body-servant, he said to him, Take out your sword and put an end to me straight away, so that men may not say of me, His death was the work of a woman. So the young man put his sword through him, causing his death. 55 And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they went away, every man to his place. 56 In this way Abimelech was rewarded by God for the evil he had done to his father in putting his seventy brothers to death; 57 And God sent back on to the heads of the men of Shechem all the evil they had done, and the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubbaal, came on them.
101 Now after Abimelech, Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, became the saviour of Israel; he was living in Shamir in the hill-country of Ephraim. 2 He was judge over Israel for twenty-three years; and at his death his body was put to rest in the earth in Shamir. 3 And after him came Jair the Gileadite, who was judge over Israel for twenty-two years. 4 And he had thirty sons, who went on thirty young asses; and they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which are named Havvoth-Jair to this day. 5 And at the death of Jair his body was put to rest in the earth in Kamon.
6 And again the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, worshipping the Baals and Astartes, and the gods of Aram and the gods of Zidon and the gods of Moab and the gods of the children of Ammon and the gods of the Philistines; they gave up the Lord and were servants to him no longer. 7 And the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the children of Ammon. 8 And that year the children of Israel were crushed under their yoke; for eighteen years all the children of Israel on the other side of Jordan, in the land of the Amorites which is in Gilead, were cruelly crushed down. 9 And the children of Ammon went over Jordan, to make war against Judah and Benjamin and the house of Ephraim; and Israel was in great trouble.
10 Then the children of Israel, crying out to the Lord, said, Great is our sin against you, for we have given up our God and have been servants to the Baals. 11 And the Lord said to the children of Israel, Were not the Egyptians and the Amorites and the children of Ammon and the Philistines 12 And the Zidonians and Amalek and Midian crushing you down, and in answer to your cry did I not give you salvation from their hands? 13 But, for all this, you have given me up and have been servants to other gods: so I will be your saviour no longer. 14 Go, send up your cry for help to the gods of your selection; let them be your saviours in the time of your trouble. 15 And the children of Israel said to the Lord, We are sinners; do to us whatever seems good to you: only give us salvation this day. 16 So they put away the strange gods from among them, and became the Lord's servants; and his soul was angry because of the sorrows of Israel. 17 Then the children of Ammon came together and put their army in position in Gilead. And the children of Israel came together and put their army in position in Mizpah. 18 And the people of Israel said to one another, Who will be the first to make an attack on the children of Ammon? We will make him head over all Gilead.
17 And it came about that on one of these days he was teaching; and some Pharisees and teachers of the law were seated there, who had come from every town of Galilee and Judaea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was with him, to make those who were ill free from their diseases. 18 And some men had with them, on a bed, a man who was ill, without power of moving; and they made attempts to get him in and put him before Jesus. 19 And because of the mass of people, there was no way to get him in; so they went up on the top of the house and let him down through the roof, on his bed, into the middle in front of Jesus. 20 And seeing their faith he said, Man, you have forgiveness for your sins. 21 And the scribes and Pharisees were having an argument, saying, Who is this, who has no respect for God? who is able to give forgiveness for sins, but God only? 22 But Jesus, who had knowledge of their thoughts, said to them, Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is the simpler: to say, You have forgiveness for your sins; or to say, Get up and go? 24 But so that you may see that on earth the Son of man has authority for the forgiveness of sins, (he said to the man who was ill,) I say to you, Get up, and take up your bed, and go into your house. 25 And straight away he got up before them, and took up his bed and went away to his house giving praise to God. 26 And wonder overcame them all, and they gave glory to God; and they were full of fear, saying, We have seen strange things today.
27 And after these things he went out, and saw Levi, a tax-farmer, seated at the place where taxes were taken, and said to him, Come after me. 28 And giving up his business, he got up and went after him. 29 And Levi made a great feast for him in his house: and a great number of tax-farmers and others were seated at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes made protests against his disciples, saying, Why do you take food and drink with tax-farmers and sinners? 31 And Jesus, answering, said to them, Those who are well have no need of a medical man, but those who are ill. 32 I have come, not to get the upright, but sinners, so that they may be turned from their sins.
33 And they said to him, The disciples of John frequently go without food, and make prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees; but your disciples take food and drink. 34 And Jesus said, Are you able to make the friends of the newly-married man go without food when he is with them? 35 But the days will come when he will be taken away from them, and then they will go without food. 36 And he said to them, in a story, No man takes a bit of cloth from a new coat and puts it on to an old coat, for so the new coat would be damaged and the bit from the new would not go well with the old. 37 And no man puts new wine into old wine-skins, for fear that the skins will be burst by the new wine, and the wine be let out, and the skins come to destruction. 38 But new wine has to be put into new wine-skins. 39 And no man, having had old wine, has any desire for new, for he says, The old is better.
(Read Luke 5:17-26)
How many are there in our assemblies, where the gospel is preached, who do not sit under the word, but sit by! It is to them as a tale that is told them, not as a message that is sent to them. Observe the duties taught and recommended to us by the history of the paralytic. In applying to Christ, we must be very pressing and urgent; that is an evidence of faith, and is very pleasing to Christ, and prevailing with him. Give us, Lord, the same kind of faith with respect to thy ability and willingness to heal our souls. Give us to desire the pardon of sin more than any earthly blessing, or life itself. Enable us to believe thy power to forgive sins; then will our souls cheerfully arise and go where thou pleasest.
(Read Luke 5:27-39)
It was a wonder of Christ's grace, that he would call a publican to be his disciple and follower. It was a wonder of his grace, that the call was made so effectual. It was a wonder of his grace, that he came to call sinners to repentance, and to assure them of pardon. It was a wonder of his grace, that he so patiently bore the contradiction of sinners against himself and his disciples. It was a wonder of his grace, that he fixed the services of his disciples according to their strength and standing. The Lord trains up his people gradually for the trials allotted them; we should copy his example in dealing with the weak in faith, or the tempted believer.
