2. Another king of Gerar, in the time of Isaac (Gen. xxvi, 1-22), supposed to have been the son of the pre- ceding. B.C. cir. 1985. Isaac sought refuge in his ter- ritory during a famine ; and having the same fear re- specting his fairMesopotamian wife, Kebekah, as his fa- ther had entertained respecting Sarali (supra), he re- ported her to be his sister. This brought upon him the rebuke of Abimelech when he accidentally discovered the -truth. The country appears to have become more cultivated and populous than at the time of Abraham's visit, nearly a century before ; and the inhabitants were more jealous of the presence of such powerful pastoral chieftains. In those times, as now, wells of water were of so much importance for agricultural as well as pasto- ral purposes, that the}"- gave a proprietary right to the soil, not previously appropriated, in which they were dug. Abraham had dug wells during his sojourn in the country ; and, to bar the claim which resulted from them, the Philistines had afterward filled them up; but they were now cleared out by Isaac, who proceed- ed to cultivate the ground to which they gave him a right. See Well. The virgin soil yielded him a hundred-fold ; and his other possessions, his flocks and herds, also received such prodigious increase that the jealousy of the Philistines could not be suppressed, and Abimelech desired him to seek more distant quar- ters. Isaac complied, and went out into the open country, and dug wells for his cattle. But the shep- herds of the Philistines, out with their flocks, were not inclined to allow the claim to exclusive pasturage in these districts to be thus established ; and their oppo- sition induced the quiet patriarch to make successive removals, until he reached such a distance that his operations were no longer disputed. Afterward, when he was at Beersheba, he received a visit from Abime- lech, who was attended by Ahuzzath, his friend, and Phichol, the chief captain of his army. They were re- ceived with some reserve by Isaac ; but when Abime- lech explained that it was his wish to renew, with one so manifestly blessed of God, the covenant of peace and good-will which had been contracted between their fathers, they were more cheerfully entertained, and the desired covenant was, with due ceremony, con- tracted accordingly (Gen. xxvi, 26-31). From the facts recorded respecting fhe connection of the two Abimelechs with Abraham and Isaac, it is manifest that the Philistines, even at this early time, had a gov- ernment more organized, and more in unison with that type which we now regard as Oriental, than appeared among the native Canaanites, one of whose nations had been expelled by these foreign settlers from the territory which they occupied. (See Origen, Opera, ii, 94r-97; Saurin, Discours, i, 308; Dissert, p. 207.) — Kitto, s. v. Sec Philistine. h
3. A son of Gideon by a concubine wife, a native of Shechem, where her family had considerable influ- ence (Judg. ix). Through that influence Abimelech was proclaimed king after the death of his father, who had himself refused that honor when tendered to him, both for himself and his children (Judg. viii, 22-24). In a short time, a considerable part of Israel seems to have, recognised his rule (Ewald, Gesch. Jsr. ii, 444),
ABIMELECH
20
ABISHAG
which lasted three years (B.C. 1322-1319). One of
the first acts of his reign was to destroy his brothers, seventy in number, being the first example of a sys- tem of barbarous state policy of which there have been frequent instances in the East, and which indeed has only within a recent period been discontinued. They were slain " on one stone" at Ophrah, the native city of the family. Only one, the youngest, named Jotham, escaped ; and he had the boldness to make his appearance on Mount Gerizim, where the Shechem- ites were assembled for some public purpose ( perhaps to inaugurate Abimelcch), and rebuke them in his fa- mous parable of the trees choosing a king (sec Jose- phus, Ant. v, 7, 2) ; a fable that has been not unaptly compared with that of Menenius Agrippa (Livy, ii, 32 ; comp. Herder, Geist der Ilebr. Poesie, ii, 2G2). See Jotham; Parable. In the course of three years the Shechemites found ample cause to repent of what they had done; they eventually revolted in Abime- lech's absence, and caused an ambuscade to be laid in the mountains, with the design of destroying him on his return. But Zebul, his governor in Shechem, contrived to apprise him of these circumstances, so that he was enabled to avoid the snare laid for him ; and, having hastily assembled some troops, appeared unexpectedly before Shechem. The people of that place had meanwhile secured the assistance of one Gaal (q. v.") and his followers, who marched out to give Abimelcch battle. He was defeated, and returned into the town ; and his inefficiency and misconduct in the action had been so manifest that the people were in- duced by Zebul to expel him and his followers (comp. Josephus, Ant. v, 7, 4). But the people still went out to the labors of the field. This being told Abime- lech, who was at Arumah, he laid an ambuscade in four parties in the neighborhood ; and when the men came forth in the morning, two of the ambushed bodies rose against them, while the other two seized the city gates to prevent their return. Afterward the whole force united against the city, which, being now de- prived of its most efficient inhabitants, was easily taken. It was completely destroyed by the exasper- ated victor, and the ground strewn with salt (q. v.), symbolical of the desolation to which it was doomed. The fortress, however, still remained ; but the occu- pants, deeming it untenable, withdrew to the temple of Baal-Berith, which stood in a more commanding situation. Abimelcch employed his men in colleetin and piling wood against this building, which was then set on fire and destroyed, with the thousand men who were in it. Afterward Abimelcch went to reduce Thebez, which had also revolted. The town was taken with little difficult^-, and the people withdrew into the citadel. Here Abimelech resorted to his fa vorite operation, and while heading a party to burn down the gate, he was struck on the head by a large stone cast down by a woman from the wall above- Perceiving that he had received a death-blow, he di- rected his armor-bearer to thrust him through with his sword, lest it should be said that he fell by a woman's hand (.ludg. ix). Abimelech appears to have been a bold and able commander, but uncontrolled by relig- ion, principle, or humanity in bis ambitious enterprises (Niemeyer, Charakl. iii. 324). His fate resembled that of Pyrrhus II, king ofEpirus (Justin, xxv, 5; Pausan. i,13 ; Val. Max. v,l, 4 ; comp. Ctesias, Ere. 42 ; Thucyd. iii, 74) ; and the dread of the ignominy of its being said of a warrior that he died by a woman's hand was very general (Sophocl. Track. 10G4; Senec. Here. (F.t. 1176). Vainly did Abimelech seek to avoid this dis- grace (Saurin^ Disc. Ili-t. iii, 400); lor the fact of his death by the hand of a woman was long after associ ated with his memory (2 Sam. xi, 21). See Shechem. 4. In the title of Psa. xxxiv, the name of Abimelech Is interchanged for that of Achish (q. v.), king of Gath, to whom David iled for refuge from Saul (1 Sam. xxi, 10).