Abimelech
Pronounced uh-BIM-eh-lek
- Meaning
- "My father is king; Father of the king"
- Origin
- Hebrew
Abimelech means "my father is king" in Hebrew. Several significant figures bear this name, most notably the son of Gideon who made himself king through violence — becoming one of the Bible's most vivid cautionary tales about illegitimate ambition. After Gideon's death, Abimelech murdered seventy of his brothers on a single stone to eliminate rivals to the throne. Only Jotham, the youngest, escaped. From atop Mount Gerizim, Jotham told the famous Parable of the Trees — where the olive, fig, and vine refused to rule, but the worthless bramble eagerly accepted the crown. "Let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon." Abimelech's reign lasted only three years before civil war erupted. He was ultimately killed when a woman dropped a millstone on his head from a tower in Thebez. Mortally wounded, Abimelech ordered his armor-bearer to kill him so it wouldn't be said "a woman slew him." An earlier Abimelech was the Philistine king of Gerar who dealt with both Abraham and Isaac — demonstrating more integrity than either patriarch in the matter of their wives.
Spiritual meaning
Abimelech's bramble-king story warns that when worthy leaders refuse responsibility, unworthy ones seize it. Illegitimate power always ends in destruction — for the ruler and those around him.
Related verses (KJV)
"And he went unto his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone."
Judges 9:5 (KJV) →"And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to brake his skull."
Judges 9:53 (KJV) →