BEN F. VICK, JR.
This article continues last week's, but our interest in this number is Mount Gerizim, the mount of blessing.
After the death of Gideon, the men of Shechem agreed to make Abimelech, the son of Gideon, their ruler since he was their brother. They gave him 70 pieces of silver, which he used to hire worthless fellows to slay all seventy of his half-brothers. However, Jotham, one of his half-brothers, escaped the mass execution. Jotham went to the top of Gerizim and told a fable for all the men of Shechem to hear (Judges 9: 7-21).
D. R. Dungan said, "…a fable is an illustration made by attributing human qualities to animate and inanimate beings. The truth or moral to be enforced may be of a very high order, but the actors are selected from those beings which are incompetent to do such things. Like a parable it is put into a form of a story; but unlike the parable, its actors are unreal which the parable is made from the actual occurrences of life, and no one is made to act a fictitious part." Further, Dungan wrote, "The fable is better suited to indicate some blunder made by men, and to serve the purpose of amusing criticism, than to illustrate any high moral truth. Hence, it is little used in the Scriptures" (Hermeneutics, pp. 244-245).
And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem. And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands; (For my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian: And ye are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother;) If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you: But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech. And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother (Judges 9:6–21).
McGarvey visited Mount Gerizim and other sites in the Bible lands in 1879. He was fifty years old. Concerning Mount Gerizim, he wrote:
Next to Jacob's well and Joseph's Tomb, the object of greatest historical interest about Shechem is the summit of Mount Gerizim. It is ascended on horseback by a very steep and toilsome ride, starting from the camping-place just west of the city….As we climbed the steep, with our faces nearly due east, we see just over the town, on the brow of the mountain, a projecting ledge entitled Jotham's Rock. We at once accept it; from its perfect fitness, as the spot on which Jotham stood when, by his forcible and original fable, he rebuked the She'chemites in the valley below, for their cruelty and ingratitude toward his father Gideon. He must have stood on a spot where he could be heard and seen from the valley below, and yet be out of reach of an arrow-shot; and at the same time, he must have had a safe way of retreat when his speech was ended. The rock in question meets all of these conditions; for it stood high above the people, yet near to them, and the steep face of the mountain prevented a rapid pursuit of Jotham, while his retreat was unobstructed. (Lands of the Bible, pp. 289-290.)
After Abimelech ruled for three years, Jotham's curse on Shechem and Abimelech came to pass. Abimelech slew the people of Shechem, and a woman of Thebez from a tower threw a millstone upon his head, and according to his request, his armorbearer slew him with his sword.
There are at least six lessons from this fable: (1) The men of Shechem were ungrateful for what Gideon had done; (2) To be a leader involves a man in a great deal of toil and care; (3) To be invested with power for the public good means to lose one's privileges; (4) Men are sometimes blind to their interests in the choice of their guides; (5) Those capable of leading sometimes fail to use their talents; (6) Those least competent and worthy are most ready to assume responsibilities and take command. The weak, worthless, and wicked will ever be foremost to thrust themselves into power.
GOD GIVE US MEN
God give us men. The time demands strong minds,
Great hearts, true faith, and willing hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And condemn his treacherous flatteries without winking.
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking;
For while the rabble with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds
Mingle in selfish strife; lo, Freedom weeps!
Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps.
--Babcock