Abimelech (Abimelech) is the son of the concubine of Gideon , who, upon the death of his father, persuaded the inhabitants of Shechem to make him king ( Judgment 8:31 ). He then put to death seventy of his brothers, who lived in his father's house, in Ofra. Only the youngest survived - Iofam , who managed to escape. On this occasion, Jotham uttered to the Shechelians a satirical parable about the trees that elect the king ( Judges 9: 7-20 ). After several defeats, he was mortally wounded in the head, during the siege of the city of Tevets , with a fragment of a millstone thrown by one woman from the roof of the Tevets tower. So as not to be told that a woman had killed him, he ordered his squire to pierce him with a sword, and so he died ( Judges 9: 54-57 ). [one]
| Avimelech | |
|---|---|
| Heb. אֲבִימֶלֶךְ | |
 Gustave Dore The death of Abimelech. | |
| Floor | |
| Name interpretation | My father is king |
| Name in other languages | Greek Αβιμέλεχ |
| Occupation | |
| Mentions | Judges |
| Father | Gideon |
After his death, Shechem and the surrounding area became forever Israeli. According to some biblical critics, the name "Abimelech" contains a symbolic reference to the role of this person in the history of the Israeli people: he was the "father of the king", that is, the founder of royal power, the first judge who appropriated the title "melech" (king), which was legalized only later, since the time of Saul [2] .
Notes
Literature
- Abimelech // Biblical Encyclopedia of Archimandrite Nicephorus . - M. , 1891-1892.