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Monday, May 13, 2024

Typology in Judges 9

 Typology in Judges 9


[Judges 9:48 KJV]
And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that [were] with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid [it] on his shoulder, and said unto the people that [were] with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, [and] do as I [have done].

Zalmon means shadow perhaps relating the context as a shadow of Jesus Christ and the gospel. And Shechem means shoulder.

Jesus said:

[Luke 9:23 KJV]
And he said to [them] all, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

[Judges 9:28 KJV]
And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who [is] Abimelech, and who [is] Shechem, that we should serve him? [is] not [he] the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him?

Gaal means to loathe and Ebed means servant whereas Hamor means ass or donkey. The back of the donkey is cross-shaped.


Jotham's parable of the trees electing a king being a bramble and set the city of Shechem on fire. Abimelech the king cuts down bows and tells his followers to do the same in order to use them for the fire against the city. There also seems to be a word play between bone as Abimelech is of the same bone (h6106 עַצְמֵכֶם עֶצֶםʿeṣem) as the Shechemites and trees (h6086 הָעֵצִים עֵץ ʿēṣ) thus associating the trees to the Shechemites:

[Judges 9:2 KJV]

Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether [is] better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, [which are] threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I [am] your bone and your flesh.


[Judges 9:8 KJV]

The trees went forth [on a time] to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.


[Judges 9:8 KJV]

The trees went forth [on a time] to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.


[Judges 9:9 KJV]

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?


[Judges 9:10 KJV]

And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, [and] reign over us.


[Judges 9:11 KJV]

But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?


[Judges 9:12 KJV]

Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, [and] reign over us.


[Judges 9:13 KJV]

And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?


[Judges 9:14 KJV]

Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, [and] reign over us.


[Judges 9:15 KJV]

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.


[Judges 9:48 KJV]

And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that [were] with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid [it] on his shoulder, and said unto the people that [were] with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, [and] do as I [have done].


Also Abimelech was the son of Gideon the son of Joash, meaning God's fire. And when God set Abimelech against the Shechemites because they rejected him as king after three years he set their city on fire:

[Judges 8:31 KJV]

And his concubine that [was] in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.


[Judges 8:32 KJV]

And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTRnzNxx-vM