Judges Chapter 9 Abimelech's Conspiracy Abimelech the son of Jerubael went to Shechem to his mother's relatives and set to them into the whole clan of his mother's family, saying in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubael rule over you or that one rule over you. Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh. And his mother's relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, He is our brother. And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-Bereath, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows who followed him. And he went to his father's house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubael, seventy men on one stone, but jotham the youngest son of Jerubael was left, for he hid himself. And all the leaders of Shechem came together at Bethmelot, and they went and made Abimelech king by the oak of the pillar at Shechem. When it was told to jotham, he went and stood on top of the mount Gevrazeem, and cried aloud and said to them, Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. The trees once went out to annoy a king over them, and they said to the olive tree rain over us, but the olive tree said to them, Shall I leave my abundance by which gods and men are honored? And go hold sway over the trees. And哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎哎 If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon." Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and integrity when you made a bimalek king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubael and his house, and have done to him as his deeds deserved, for my father fought for you and risked his life and delivered you from the hand of Midian, and you have risen up against my father's house this day, and have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made a bimalek the son of his female servant king over the leaders of Shchakam, because he is your relative. If you have acted in good faith and integrity with Jerubael and with his house this day, then rejoice in a bimalek and let him also rejoice in you. But if not, let fire come out from a bimalek and devour the leaders of Shchakam and Bethmelo, and let fire come out of the leaders of Shchakam and from Bethmelo and devour a bimalek. And Jotham ran away and fled and went to Baer and lived there because of a bimalek his brother. The Downfall of a Bimalek A bimalek ruled over Israel three years, and God sent an evil spirit between a bimalek and the leaders of Shchakam, and the leaders of Shchakam dealt treacherously with a bimalek, that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubael might come, and their blood be laid on a bimalek their brother who killed them, and on the men of Shchakam who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. And the leaders of Shchakam put men in ambush against him on the mountaintops, and they robbed all who passed by them along the way, and it was told to a bimalek. And Gaul the son of Abed moved to Shchakam with his relatives, and the leaders of Shchakam put confidence in him, and they went out into the field and gathered the grapes from their vineyards and trod them and held a festival, and they went into the house of their God and ate and drank and reviled a bimalek. And Gaul the son of Abed said, Who is a bimalek? And who are we of Shchakam? That we should serve him. Is he not the son of Jerubael and is not Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shchakam, but why should we serve him? Would that his people were under my hand? Then I would remove a bimalek, I would say to a bimalek, increase your army and come out. When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaul, the son of Abed, his anger was kindled. He sent messengers to a bimalek secretly saying, Behold Gaul the son of Abed and his relatives have come to Shchakam, and they are stirring up the city against you. Now therefore go by night, you and the people who are with you, and set an ambush in the field. Then in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, rise early and rush upon the city. And when he and the people who are with him come out against you, you may do to them as your hand finds to do. So a bimalek and all the men who are with him rose up by night and set an ambush against Shchakam in four companies. And Gaul the son of Abed went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city. And a bimalek and the people who were with him rose from the ambush. When Gaul saw the people he said to Zebul, Look, people are coming down from the mountaintops. And Zebul said to him, You mistake the shadow of the mountains for men. Gaul spoke again and said, Look, people are coming down from the center of the land. And one company is coming from the direction of the diviner's oak. When Zebul said to him, Where is your mouth now? You who said, Who is a bimalek, that we should serve him? Are not these the people whom you despised? Go out now and fight with them. And Gaul went out at the head of the leaders of Shchakam and fought with the bimalek. An abimalek chased him and he fled before him and many fell wounded up to the entrance of the gate. An abimalek lived at Arama and Zebul drove out Gaul and his relatives so that they could not dwell at Shchakam. On the following day the people went out into the field and abimalek was told he took his people and divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. And he looked and saw the people coming out of the city so he rose against them and killed them. Abimalek and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city while the two companies rushed upon all who were in the field and killed them. An abimalek fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed the people who were in it and he raised the city and sowed it with salt. When all the leaders of the tower of Shchakam heard of it, they entered the stronghold of the house of Elberth. Abimalek was told that all the leaders of the tower of Shchakam were gathered together. An abimalek went up to Mount Zalman, he and all the people who were with him. An abimalek took an axe in his hand and cut down a bundle of brushwood and took it up and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the men who were with him, What you have seen me do, hurry, do as I have done. So every one of the people cut down his bundle and following abimalek put it against the stronghold and they set the stronghold on fire over them so that all the people of the tower of Shchakam also died, about 1,000 men and women. Then abimalek went to Thebes and encamped against Thebes and captured it. But there was a strong tower within the city and all the men and women and all the leaders of the city fled to it and shut themselves in and they went up to the roof of the tower and abimalek came to the tower and fought against it and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. And a certain woman threw an upper millstone on abimalek's head and crushed his skull. Then he called quickly to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, Draw your sword and kill me lest they say of me, a woman killed him. And his young man thrust him through and he died. And when the men of Israel saw that abimalek was dead, everyone departed to his home. Thus God returned the evil of abimalek which he committed against his father in killing his 70 brothers. And God also made all the evil of the men of Shchakam return on their heads and upon them came the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubael. John chapter 6 verses 1 through 24. Jesus feeds the 5,000. After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the Feast of the Jews was at hand, lifting up his eyes then and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him. Jesus said to Philip, Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat? He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, 200 Denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many? Jesus said, Have the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down, about 5000 number. Jesus then took the loaves and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told the disciples, Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost. So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, They said, This is indeed the prophet who was to come into the world. Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. Jesus walks on water. When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, Got into a boat and started across the sea, took a pernum. It was now dark and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rode about three or four miles, They saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat. And they were frightened, but he said to them, It is I do not be afraid. Then they were glad to take him into the boat and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. I am the bread of life. On the next day, the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, And that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples. But that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there nor his disciples, They themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. Psalm chapter 77 verses 10 through 20. Then I said, I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the deeds of the Lord. Yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What God is great like our God. You are the God who works wonders. You have made known your might among the peoples. You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. When the water saw you, O God, When the water saw you, they were afraid. Indeed, the deep trembled. Clouds poured over water. The skies gave forth thunder. Your arrows flashed on every side. The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind. Your lightnings lighted up the world. The earth trembled and shook. Your way was through the sea. Your path through the great waters. Yet your footprints were unseen. You led your people like a flock. By the hand of Moses and Aaron.
