Who Was Jotham in the Book of Judges — Meaning Explained

Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon (Jerubbaal), is remembered for one of the most remarkable speeches in the Bible. After Gideon's death, his son Abimelech conspired with the men of Shechem to make himself king. Abimelech went to his mother's family in Shechem and persuaded them to support him. Then he took seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith and hired 'vain and light persons,' who followed him. He went to his father's house at Ophrah and 'slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone.' Only Jotham, the youngest, escaped by hiding. When the men of Shechem and Beth-millo gathered to crown Abimelech, Jotham stood on Mount Gerizim and shouted down a parable. '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.' The olive tree refused, not wanting to lose its oil. The fig tree and vine also refused, not wanting to give up their sweet fruit. Finally, the trees asked the bramble (thorn bush). The bramble agreed: '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.' Jotham then applied the parable: his father had fought for Shechem, yet they had killed his sons and made Abimelech — son of a slave woman — their king. '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.' Jotham then fled to Beer and lived there for fear of Abimelech. Three years later, God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, and they destroyed each other exactly as Jotham had prophesied. Jotham's parable is the first extended fable in Scripture and a powerful political protest. A young man, the sole survivor of a massacre, stood before a hostile crowd and pronounced judgment that God fulfilled to the letter.