Our first reading is from the book of Judges, a
book from the Hebrew Scriptures that perhaps is not very familiar to us. In this reading, Abimelech, the son of the great
judge Gideon, is made the ruler to succeed his father. However, he does so treacherously, having
killed his 70 half-brothers to eliminate all of his rivals, with his youngest
half brother Jotham the only one surviving. His reign is
recorded as being unprincipled and ambitious, with him often battling his own
subjects for power and control.
When Jotham is told about his brother Abimelech
being made ruler, he tells the fable of
the trees. All of the trees who bear
great fruit and who produce much for society do not want to be made king,
because that would compromise their productivity and their gifts. However, the briar, which produces no fruit
and has the leisure to accept this position, is the one who consents to being
king, even though it cannot even provide shade or anything of worth for the
other trees.
Israel wanted a king because their other neighbors
had one. They were not content with God
as their head. We all have heroes and
people we admire in life, and hopefully we all have heroes and people we admire
for their faith. Do we admire them for
the right reasons, or is this just folly?
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