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Commentary on Judges 9 verses 7–21
We have here the only testimony that appears to have been borne against the wicked confederacy of Abimelech and the men of Shechem. It was a sign they had provoked God to depart from them that neither any prophet was sent nor any remarkable judgment, to awaken this stupid people, and to stop the progress of this threatening mischief. Only Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, who by a special providence escaped the common ruin of his family (Jdg 9:5), dealt plainly with the Shechemites, and his speech, which is here recorded, shows him to have been a man of such great ingenuity and wisdom, and really such an accomplished gentleman, that we cannot but the more lament the fall of Gideon's sons. Jotham did not go about to raise an army out of the other cities of Israel (in which, one would think, he might have made a good interest for his father's sake), to avenge his brethren's death, much less to set up himself in competition with Abimelech, so groundless was the usurper's suggestion that the sons of Gideon aimed at dominion (Jdg 9:2); but he contents himself with giving a faithful reproof to the Shechemites, and fair warning of the fatal consequences. He got an opportunity of speaking to them from the top of Mount Gerizim, the mount of blessings, at the foot of which probably the Shechemites were, upon some occasion or other, gathered together (Josephus says, solemnizing a festival), and it seems they were willing to hear what he had to say.
I. His preface is very serious: "Hearken unto me, you men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you, Jdg 9:7. As ever you hope to obtain God's favour, and to be accepted of him, give me a patient and impartial hearing." Note, Those who expect God to hear their prayers must be willing to hear reason, to hear a faithful reproof, and to hear the complaints and appeals of wronged innocency. If we turn away our ear from hearing the law, our prayer will be an abomination, Pro 28:9.
II. His parable is very ingenious - that when the trees were disposed to choose a king the government was offered to those valuable trees the olive, the fig-tree, and the vine, but they refused it, choosing rather to serve than rule, to do good than bear sway. But the same tender being made to the bramble he accepted it with vain-glorious exultation. The way of instruction by parables is an ancient way, and very useful, especially to give reproofs by.
1.He hereby applauds the generous modesty of Gideon, and the other judges who were before him, and perhaps of the sons of Gideon, who had declined accepting the state and power of kings when they might have had them, and likewise shows that it is in general the temper of all wise and good men to decline preferment and to choose rather to be useful than to be great. (1.) There was no occasion at all for the trees to choose a king; they are all the trees of the Lord which he has planted (Psa 104:16) and which therefore he will protect. Nor was there any occasion for Israel to talk of setting a king over them; for the Lord was their king. (2.) When they had it in their thoughts to choose a king they did not offer the government to the stately cedar, or the lofty pine, which are only for show and shade, and not otherwise useful till they are cut down, but to the fruit-trees, the vine and the olive. Those that bear fruit for the public good are justly respected and honoured by all that are wise more than those that affect to make a figure. For a good useful man some would even dare to die. (3.) The reason which all these fruit-trees gave for their refusal was much the same. The olive pleads (Jdg 9:9), Should I leave my wine, wherewith both God and man are served and honoured? for oil and wine were used both at God's altars and at men's tables. And shall I leave my sweetness, saith the fig-tree, and my good fruit (Jdg 9:11), and go to be promoted over the trees? or, as the margin reads it, go up and down for the trees? It is intimated, [1.] That government involves a man in a great deal both of toil and care; he that is promoted over the trees must go up and down for them, and make himself a perfect drudge to business. [2.] That those who are preferred to places of public trust and power must resolve to forego all their private interests and advantages, and sacrifice them to the good of the community. The fig-tree must lose its sweetness, its sweet retirement, sweet repose, and sweet conversation and contemplation, if it go to be promoted over the trees, and must undergo a constant fatigue. [3.] That those who are advanced to honour and dignity are in great danger of losing their fatness and fruitfulness. Preferment is apt to make men proud and slothful, and thus spoil their usefulness, with which in a lower sphere they honoured God and man, for which reason those that desire to do good are afraid of being too great.
2.He hereby exposes the ridiculous ambition of Abimelech, whom he compares to the bramble or thistle, Jdg 9:14. He supposes the trees to make their court to him: Come thou and reign over us, perhaps because he knew not that the first motion of Abimelech's preferment came from himself (as we found, Jdg 9:2), but thought the Shechemites had proposed it to him; however, supposing it so, his folly in accepting it deserved to be chastised. The bramble is a worthless plant, not to be numbered among the trees, useless and fruitless, nay, hurtful and vexatious, scratching and tearing, and doing mischief; it began with the curse, and its end is to be burned. Such a one was Abimelech, and yet chosen to the government by the trees, by all the trees; this election seems to have been more unanimous than any of the others. Let us not think it strange if we see folly set in great dignity (Ecc 10:6), and the vilest men exalted (Psa 12:8), and men blind to their own interest in the choice of their guides. The bramble, being chosen to the government, takes no time to consider whether he should accept it or no, but immediately, as if he had been born and bred to dominion, hectors, and assures them they shall find him as he found them. See what great swelling words of vanity he speaks (Jdg 9:15), what promises he makes to his faithful subjects: Let them come and trust in my shadow: a goodly shadow to trust in! How unlike to the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, which a good magistrate is compared to! Isa 32:2. Trust in his shadow! - more likely to be scratched if they came near him - more likely to be injured by him than benefited. Thus men boast of a false gift. Yet he threatens with as much confidence as he promises: If you be not faithful, let fire come out of the bramble (a very unlikely thing to emit fire) and devour the cedars of Lebanon - more likely to catch fire, and be itself devoured.
III. His application is very close and plain. In it, 1. He reminds them of the many good services his father had done for them, Jdg 9:17. He fought their battles, at the hazard of his own life, and to their unspeakable advantage. It was a shame that they needed to be put in mind of this. 2. He aggravates their unkindness to his father's family. They had not done to him according to the deserving of his hands, Jdg 9:16. Great merits often meet with very ill returns. especially to posterity, when the benefactor if forgotten, as Joseph was among the Egyptians. Gideon had left many sons that were an honour to his name and family, and these they had barbarously murdered; one son he had left that was the blemish of his name and family, for he was the son of his maid-servant, whom all that had any respect to Gideon's honour would endeavour to conceal, yet him they made their king. In both they put the utmost contempt imaginable upon Gideon. 3. He leaves it to the event to determine whether they had done well, whereby he lodges the appeal with the divine providence. (1.) If they prospered long in this villany, he would give them leave to say they had done well, Jdg 9:19. "If your conduct towards the house of Gideon be such as can be justified at any bar of justice, honour, or conscience, much good may it do you with your new king." But, (2.) If they had, as he was sure they had, dealt basely and wickedly in this matter, let them never expect to prosper, Jdg 9:20. Abimelech and the Shechemites, that had strengthened one another's hands in this villany, would certainly be a plague and ruin one to another. Let none expect to do ill and fare well.
Jotham, having given them this admonition, made a shift to escape with his life, Jdg 9:21. Either they could not reach him or they were so far convinced that they would not add the guilt of his blood to all the rest. But, for fear of Abimelech, he lived in exile, in some remote obscure place. Those whose extraction and education are ever so high know not to what difficulties and straits they may be reduced.
But lest I should appear to some to be sophistical, and to conjecture these things from mere probabilities, and to babble, I will bring forward to you, O virgins, from the Old Testament, written prophecy from the book of Judges, to show that I speak the truth, where the future reign of chastity was already clearly foretold.…Now it is clear that these things are not said of trees growing out of the earth. Inanimate trees cannot be assembled in council to choose a king since they are firmly fixed to the earth by deep roots. But on the whole these things are narrated concerning souls that—before the incarnation of Christ—luxuriated too deeply in transgressions, who approach God as beggars asking for mercy so that they may be governed by his pity and compassion. This mercy is what Scripture expresses by the figure of the olive, because oil is of great advantage to our bodies: it takes away our fatigue and ailments and offers light. For all lamplight increases when nourished by oil. So also God’s mercies entirely dispel death, assist the human race and nourish the light of the heart. Consider the laws [which were in effect] from the first created man successively on to Christ. Weren’t they imaginatively set forth in these words by the Scripture, in opposition to which the devil has deceived humanity? In it the fig tree has been associated with the command given to the man in paradise, because, when he was deceived, he covered his nakedness with the leaves of a fig tree; and the vine [has been related] to the instruction given to Noah at the time of the deluge, because he was mocked when overpowered by wine. The olive signifies the law given to Moses in the desert, because the prophetic grace, the holy oil, had failed from their inheritance when they broke the law. Lastly, the bramble aptly refers to the law that was given to the apostles for the salvation of the world: by their instruction we have been taught virginity, which is the only figure that the devil has not been able to make into a deceptive image. For this reason, also, the four Gospels have been given, because God has four times given the gospel to the human race and has instructed them by four laws, the times of which are clearly known by the diversity of the fruits. For the fig tree, on account of its sweetness and richness, represents the delights of man, which he had in paradise before the fall. Indeed, as we shall afterwards show, the Holy Spirit frequently takes the fruit of the fig tree as an emblem of goodness. But the vine, on account of the gladness produced by wine and the joy of those who were saved from wrath and from the deluge, signifies the change produced from fear and anxiety into joy. Moreover, the olive, on account of the oil that it produces, indicates the compassion of God, who again, after the deluge, bore patiently when people turned aside to ungodliness, so that he gave them the law and manifested himself to some, and nourished by oil the light of virtue, which is now almost extinguished.
And no one has been so illiterate as to think that similar fables of Aesop, related for the same purpose, ought to be called lies. But also in the sacred writings such passages are found, as in the book of Judges the trees look for a king to rule over them and speak to the olive and the fig and the vine and the bramble. Surely, all this is invented in order that we may reach the matter intended by means of a narrative [that is] fictitious, to be sure, but bearing a true and not a false signification.
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SUMMARY
Judges 9:10 captures a pivotal moment within Jotham's profound parable, where the trees, personifying the misguided citizens of Shechem, extend an invitation to the fig tree to become their king. This allegorical narrative, delivered by Gideon's sole surviving son, serves as a scathing prophetic indictment against the Shechemites for their treacherous decision to anoint Abimelech, a ruthless and self-serving individual, as their ruler. The fig tree's principled refusal to abandon its inherent purpose of bearing sweet, nourishing fruit for the sake of political power underscores a critical theological truth: truly beneficial and God-honoring leadership prioritizes humble service, productivity, and the welfare of others over the empty pursuit of authority, standing in stark contrast to the destructive ambition of those who eagerly seize power.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Jotham's parable in Judges 9 is a masterful display of several sophisticated literary devices, each contributing to its profound theological and moral message. The most pervasive and significant device is Allegory, where the entire narrative of the trees' search for a king functions as a symbolic representation of the fraught political situation in Shechem. The various trees symbolize different types of potential leaders, while the collective "trees" represent the people themselves. Personification is extensively employed, as inanimate trees are imbued with human attributes such as speech, desires, and the capacity for decision-making, rendering the abstract concepts of leadership, governance, and moral choice more accessible and viscerally impactful. The parable is also rich in Irony, particularly evident in the stark contrast between the inherently valuable, fruit-bearing trees (the olive, fig, and vine), who refuse kingship because it would compromise their true, beneficial purpose, and the utterly worthless, thorny bramble, who eagerly accepts, promising only a destructive "shadow." This ironic reversal powerfully underscores the profound folly of Shechem's choice. Finally, the parable itself functions as a potent Prophetic Warning and a curse, meticulously foretelling the mutual destruction of Abimelech and the men of Shechem, thereby demonstrating the narrative's profound power to convey divine judgment and the inevitable consequences of unrighteous choices.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Judges 9:10, situated within the profound context of Jotham's parable, offers deeply insightful theological reflections on the nature of leadership, the perilous allure of human ambition, and the inevitable consequences of rejecting divinely ordained wisdom. It teaches that authentic, God-honoring leadership is rarely characterized by the pursuit of power for its own sake, but rather by humble service, consistent productivity, and an unwavering commitment to the holistic well-being of others. The principled refusal of the fig tree (along with the olive and vine) to abandon their fruit-bearing purpose for the sake of ruling serves as a powerful critique against the notion that leadership inherently demands self-aggrandizement or a departure from one's inherently beneficial function. The parable implicitly warns against the grave dangers of choosing leaders who are primarily motivated by personal gain or who offer only a superficial "shadow" of protection without possessing true substance, thereby foreshadowing the negative and often destructive aspects of kingship that Israel would later experience. It profoundly emphasizes the critical importance of discernment in selecting those who govern, urging a preference for genuine character, integrity, and a demonstrated capacity for beneficial contribution over mere charisma, empty promises, or ruthless ambition.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Jotham's parable, particularly the fig tree's humble refusal to reign, stands as a timeless and profound mirror for our own discernment regarding leadership, whether in the political arena, corporate structures, community organizations, or even within our ecclesiastical spheres. It challenges us to look beyond superficial promises, charismatic appeals, or the allure of quick fixes, and instead, to actively seek out individuals whose lives are consistently marked by genuine fruitfulness, humble service, and an undeniable commitment to the flourishing and well-being of others. Do we, like the trees in the parable, prioritize those who offer real substance, nourishment, and lasting benefit, or are we swayed by those who primarily seek power for its own sake, promising only a deceptive "shadow" that offers no true protection or lasting advantage? The parable serves as a potent warning against the seductive allure of ambitious, self-serving leaders who, like the bramble, may initially offer a seemingly expedient solution but ultimately bring only destruction, barrenness, and discord. Our profound responsibility, both individually and collectively, is to choose wisely, supporting and empowering those who embody integrity, wisdom, and a selfless dedication to their true, beneficial purpose, rather than those who would readily abandon it for the fleeting grasp of authority.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is the significance of the fig tree refusing to be king?
Answer: The fig tree, alongside the olive tree and the vine, is depicted as inherently productive and beneficial, providing "sweetness" (its fruit) and nourishment. Its refusal to reign signifies that true value and purpose often lie in humble service and consistent contribution to the welfare of others, rather than in the burdens, distractions, and potential corruptions of political power. It highlights the profound truth that those who are genuinely valuable and contribute meaningfully to society may not actively seek positions of authority, preferring to continue their beneficial work. This stands in stark contrast to the bramble, which is unproductive, thorny, and harmful, yet eagerly accepts the kingship, illustrating the profound folly of choosing a leader based on ambition and self-interest rather than on character, usefulness, and a genuine capacity for good.
How does Jotham's parable relate to the broader narrative of Judges?
Answer: Jotham's parable in Judges 9 is a powerful and incisive commentary on the chaotic, morally compromised, and spiritually adrift state of Israel during the period of the Judges. It is strategically placed immediately following the death of Gideon, who had famously refused the offer of kingship, and the subsequent rise of his illegitimate and violent son, Abimelech. The parable functions as a direct prophetic indictment against the men of Shechem for their complicity in Abimelech's bloody coup and their foolish, self-serving choice to make him king. It encapsulates and vividly illustrates the pervasive themes of apostasy, the rejection of righteous and God-ordained leadership, and the self-destructive consequences of unchecked human ambition that permeate the entire book. The eventual mutual destruction of Abimelech and the men of Shechem (Judges 9:56-57) directly and powerfully fulfills Jotham's curse, reinforcing the central message that choosing an unworthy, self-serving leader inevitably brings ruin and divine judgment.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Jotham's parable, with its poignant portrayal of worthy, fruit-bearing trees refusing the crown and the barren, destructive bramble eagerly seizing it, finds its profound and ultimate Christ-centered fulfillment in the very person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Unlike the self-serving and violent Abimelech, Jesus is the quintessential "fruit-bearing" leader, the true vine (John 15:1) who came into the world not to be served, but to serve others, and ultimately to give His very life as a ransom for the many (Mark 10:45). He is the King who humbly entered Jerusalem, not with earthly pomp and military might, but riding on a lowly donkey (Matthew 21:5), demonstrating His divine authority through sacrificial love rather than worldly power. While the fig tree in the parable refused to reign in order to continue its valuable fruit-bearing, Jesus, the true and eternal King, willingly embraced the cross—the ultimate act of humble service and self-sacrifice—to bear the glorious fruit of salvation and eternal life for all who believe (John 12:24). He voluntarily laid down His life, thereby demonstrating that true leadership in God's eternal kingdom is fundamentally defined by self-giving love, humility, and sacrificial service, standing in stark and glorious contrast to the destructive ambition and barrenness offered by worldly rulers like Abimelech. Jesus is the benevolent King whom the "trees" (humanity) truly needed and still desperately need—one who brings abundant life, spiritual nourishment, and ultimate redemption, rather than the barrenness, thorns, and destruction offered by the pursuit of temporal power.