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6 Then all the lords of
Shechem and all Beth-millo came together and made Abimelech Gideon’s illegitimate son
king by the terebinth at the memorial pillar in Shechem. 7 When
this was reported to Jotham, another son of Gideon he went and stood at the top of
Mount Gerizim and cried out in a loud voice:
“Hear me, lords of
Shechem,
and may God hear you! 8 One day the trees went
out
to anoint a king over themselves.
So they said to the olive
tree,
‘Reign over us.’ 9 But the olive tree answered
them,
‘Must I give up my rich oil,
whereby gods and human beings are
honored,
and go off to hold sway over the trees?’
10 Then the trees said to
the fig tree,
‘Come; you reign over us!’11 But the fig tree
answered them,
‘Must I give up my sweetness
and my sweet fruit,
and
go off to hold sway over the trees?’
12 Then the trees said to
the vine,
Come you, reign over us.’13 But the vine answered
them,
‘Must I give up my wine
that cheers gods and human beings,
and go
off to hold sway over the trees?’
14 Then all the trees said
to the buckthorn,
‘Come; you reign over us!’
15 The buckthorn answered
the trees,
‘If you are anointing me in good faith,
to make me king over
you,
come, and take refuge in my shadow.
But if not, let fire come from
the buckthorn
and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’
The rest of Judges
9 shows that this did not end (or begin) well. Perhaps this illustrates
what happens when God’s people take matters into their own hands, rather than waiting
for/yielding to/executing God’s direction.
2 Lord, the king finds joy
in your power;
in your victory how greatly he rejoices! 3 You have
granted him his heart’s desire;
you did not refuse the request of his
lips.
Selah
4 For you welcomed him
with goodly blessings;
you placed on his head a crown of pure gold.5
He asked life of you;
you gave it to him,
length of days forever.6 Great
is his glory in your victory;
majesty and splendor you confer upon him.7
You make him the pattern of blessings forever,
you gladden him with the joy
of your face.
Indeed, the word of God
is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even
between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and
thoughts of the heart.
1 “The kingdom of heaven
is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After
agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 Going
out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and
he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is
just.’ 5 So they went off. [And] he went out again around noon, and
around three o’clock, and did likewise. 6 Going out about five
o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand
here idle all day?’ 7 They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’
He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ 8 When it was
evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and
give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ 9 When
those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily
wage. 10 So when the first came, they thought that they would
receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. 11 And on
receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These
last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore
the day’s burden and the heat.’ 13 He said to one of them in reply,
‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual
daily wage? 14 Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? 15 [Or] am I not free to do as I
wish with my own money? God is sovereign and hence
free to make decisions that are different from those that we, from our far less
informed positions, would make. Further, God’s
decisions produce better results. Take the parable of the talents, Matthew 25:14-30, for
example. It might, from a purely human perspective, seem arbitrary for God to
have given the three servants differing amounts of money. But it turns out that
those differences corresponded to their differing abilities to produce good
results. The cumulative result was that God’s resources were used with maximum
efficiency. In contrast, a distribution according to human perspective, would
have resulted in some of those resources being less effectively used because they
would have been given to less effective servants. Are you envious because I am generous?’ The landowner’s (i.e. God’s) generosity here is
consistent with the extravagant generosity described in Isaiah 55 .16 Thus, the last will be
first, and the first will be last.” This looks like the
same dynamic displayed in Luke 15:1-7
The contrast
between the outcome here and that in Judges 9 is striking. Here, God’s decision
resulted in everyone getting at least as much as they deserved, and some
receiving extravagant grace. In Judges 9 we see the opposite result: blood shed
and injustice.
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