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•THE RISE AND FALL OF ABIMELECH•By Joshua AdamsHe conquered cities.He murdered his own brothers.He burned people alive.And in the end, a woman whose name Scripture never even gives us dropped a rock on his head.This is the story of Abimelech in Judges 9, and it is one of the darkest warnings about pride, ambition, and judgment in the Bible.Abimelech wanted power.He was the son of Gideon, but he wasn't satisfied simply being one of Gideon's sons.He wanted to rule.So he went to his mother's relatives in Shechem, gathered support, hired “vain and light persons,” and murdered his brothers.Seventy sons of Gideon were placed on one stone.Sixty-nine died.Only Jotham escaped.Then Abimelech was made king.Judges 9:5–6.For three years, it looked like he had gotten away with it.That's the part we struggle with.We see wicked people prosper and wonder why God is silent.But God's silence should never be mistaken for God's approval.Eventually the kingdom Abimelech built through blood began tearing itself apart.Shechem rebelled.Abimelech attacked.He captured the city, killed its people, destroyed it, and sowed it with salt.Then he attacked the tower of Shechem and burned about a thousand men and women alive inside it.Judges 9:45–49.After that, Abimelech moved against Thebez.He captured the city and approached its strong tower.He was winning again.Then something happened nobody standing beneath that tower could have predicted.“And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to brake his skull.”Judges 9:53No army defeated him.No famous warrior challenged him.No mighty king brought him down.A woman standing above him dropped part of a millstone.The man who had murdered his brothers on a stone was crushed by a stone.And Abimelech knew he was dying.But even then, his pride was still alive.He ordered his armourbearer to kill him because he couldn't bear the thought of people saying:“A woman slew him.”Judges 9:54Imagine that.His skull was crushed.Death was seconds away.And he was still worried about his reputation.But Scripture doesn't let him rewrite the ending.It still tells us exactly what happened.A woman brought him down.Then Judges tells us something we cannot afford to miss:“Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren.”Judges 9:56There it is.God had not forgotten.Three years had passed.Abimelech had worn the crown.He had commanded armies.He had conquered cities.For a while, wickedness looked successful.Until it wasn't.Never mistake delayed judgment for forgotten judgment.Never envy somebody simply because their rebellion appears to be prospering.And never believe that because God hasn't answered something yet, He hasn't seen it.Abimelech climbed toward a throne over the bodies of his own brothers.He died beneath a tower because of a woman history never even bothered to name.Pride can build a throne.It just can't guarantee you'll stay on it.Read Judges 9.#Abimelech #Judges9 #BibleStudy #BibleStories #JesusChrist