April 3- guest post by Pamela

Today's reading from the One Year Chronological Reading Plan is Judges 9:22-11:28

Scripture: Judges 9:52-57

⁵² Abimelech went to the tower and stormed 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. ⁵⁵ When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they went home.

⁵⁶ Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ God also made the men of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.

Observation: Do not be arrogant and overconfident in your own abilities because God can use anyone and anything to show that He is in control.

Application: Almost leaning on the side of morbid, this was the passage that really stood out for me from today's readings for a few reasons.

The first reason is that Abimelech, riding high on the wave of his recent accomplishment, decides to undertake another battle. His latest victory, no doubt, made him believe that he could do the same thing and be just as successful. How often do we as believers feel the need to call on God when things are going right? When we experience success, we become confident in our own abilities and feel less dependency on God. However, it is in our overconfidence that we can make disastrous mistakes.

The second reason this passage stood out for me was the disastrous mistake that Abimelech made...standing too close to the wall and getting crushed. I thought this was interesting commentary:

Can you imagine this unnamed woman’s amazement to look down from her lofty perch on the tower roof and see Abimelech standing directly below her? There she stood, with her upper millstone in her hands. It was too easy (I was about to say it was a “no-brainer”) for her to release the stone and watch it land on his head, crushing his skull.

How often do we not see something about to "crush" us? You can think of it on the other side too...how often do we not realize why were have to go through difficult circumstances such as lugging that millstone (An upper millstone was between twelve and eighteen inches in diameter, and several inches thick, and could have weighed as much as twenty-seven pounds. It was quite a heavy object, according to this commentary) just to be in the right time and the right place for God to use us.

The third reason this passage stood out for me was the obvious embarrassment we feel when we make a foolish mistake and our first instinct is to cover it up. Abimelech did not want anyone to know that he had been outsmarted by a woman and killed with a tool used by women. Instead, he asks his armour bearer to kill him so that he can save face. Little does he know that his attempt to cover up this foolish mistake was not successful and his mistake would be remembered.

This commentary says: It was one thing for a soldier to suffer a mortal blow from the enemy while in battle. It was quite another to be struck on the head with a millstone, cast down by a woman. Abimelech had sufficient time to see that a woman had mortally wounded him. In his last moments of life, he ordered his armor-bearer to draw his sword and run him through, so that his death was the result of a more manly blow. But he would not be allowed the honor of a noble death; his would be a death that would be spoken of for years to come, as we see from Joab’s words (anticipating David’s response to the death of Uriah) in 2 Samuel 11:²⁴

21 Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone down on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ Then just say to him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead’” (2 Samuel 11:21).

It was the worst kind of death a king and military commander could have suffered, and yet it was also appropriate because of Abimelech’s treatment of his brothers.

God can use anything (millstone) and anyone (unnamed woman) to show that He is in control. He has a purpose and a plan and His will will be done.

Prayer: Dear Lord, You are an amazing and all-knowing God. We don't often see or understand what your will is. We can become confident and arrogant in our thoughts and actions and think we can do it all on our own. Thank you for putting circumstances in our life that make us more dependant on you even if we don't realize it at the time. I pray that You will use us in the way that You see fit. Amen.

Tomorrow's passage: Judges 11:29-15:20