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Abimelech’s name. We would assume in its full, ruthless awfulness as one by
that parents would carefully choose their one, with a ceremonial cruelty, Abimelech
children’s names; it is striking that the “slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal,
narrator is so careful to stress the thought- being threescore and ten persons, upon
fulness with which Gideon set his son’s one stone” (9:5). In his rejection of king-
name as Abimelech. ship, Gideon’s words were irreproachable.
If the text emphasises the deliberation “I will not rule over you,” he had said,
involved in the choice of Abimelech’s “neither shall my son rule over you: the
name, it also highlights our difficulty in LORD shall rule over you” (8:23). But his
understanding exactly what that name
means, and what that meaning signifies. actions in claiming the enormous spoil
There are a number of possibilities for the from the Ishmaelites, in amassing wives
meaning. Keil and Delitzsch are unusual and concubines, and in the naming of his
in suggesting that it means “king’s father.” son were not altogether consistent with
More widely canvassed options include those words. Abimelech, as children do,
“Melek is my father,” with reference to had noticed this inconsistency, and inher-
Malik, a deity worshiped in various parts ited and exaggerated a sense of monarchi-
of the ancient world, or “The king is my fa- cal entitlement.
ther.” The difficulty in imagining Gideon It is a story we have all seen play out
5
giving his son such an overtly pagan name again and again. Men and women who
perhaps makes the latter interpretation have lived their lives for God and who
more likely, but it comes with its own
ambiguity: does “father” here refer to have had spiritual ambitions for them-
Jehovah or to Gideon? This ambiguity selves too often have worldly ambitions
is impossible to resolve, and even if we for their children. A gap opens up between
give Gideon the full benefit of the doubt, word and deed; our actions tell our chil-
it is striking that this name – so carefully dren where our priorities really lie. And
selected – should allow two such different we cannot be surprised if it is the lessons
interpretations. of our deeds that they put into practice,
Whether or not Gideon intended the and not that of our words.
name to hint at a dynastic claim, Abimel- The failures in Gideon’s home life had
ech certainly seems to have understood tragic consequences for his family. His
it in that way. In the following chapters, failure also had alarming consequences
all the ambition that Gideon had only for the nation, which had to endure three
imperfectly suppressed manifests itself
years of incompetent and ultimately ty-
rannical leadership.
5 Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth, New American
Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Group, 1999), Gideon was a good judge. He brought
304 points out that the three other Abimelechs the nation deliverance from bondage and
in the OT (Gen 20, 26, Psa 34 superscription)
were all Philistines, a circumstance that perhaps famine and gave her forty years of rest. But
makes this unpalatable option more plausible. his failure in his family meant that his line
He also raises the possibility that Abimelech was all but wiped out; of his many sons,
“functioned as a dynastic title for Philistine
kings.” If this is so, Gideon’s desire to found a only Jotham survived. And that meant
dynasty has become very overt. that he left no legacy of lasting peace.

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