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Bible study · Judges 9:1-57

Judges 9: The bramble king

Read Judges 9:1-57 before you meet.

In a few lines

Judges 9 never names the LORD, yet it ends "Thus God repaid" (9:56). Abimelech asked to "rule" with the very verb Gideon refused (8:23; 9:2), and in Jotham's fable only the bramble will reign, offering its "shade" (9:15): the word Zebul uses for the "shadows" that are Abimelech's army coming (9:36).

The verse to carry

“Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father in killing his seventy brothers;”

Judges 9:56

To talk about

  1. 1. In Jotham's fable the olive, the fig and the vine each ask whether they should give up what they give "and go to wave back and forth over the trees" (9:9-13). Is there something good you give now that position or recognition could pull you away from?

  2. 2. The men of Shechem followed Abimelech because "He is our brother" (9:3). Jotham asked instead whether they had "dealt truly and righteously" (9:16). When have you gone along with someone because they were one of your own, rather than weighing what they did?

  3. 3. The chapter never names the LORD, yet it ends, "Thus God repaid" (9:56). Where has it helped you to leave repaying a wrong to God, and where do you find that hard?

Prayer requests