^ Isai. XXXV. 3, 4, and Heb. xii. 13.
jotham's parable.
Judg. ix. 7 — 15. ^nd token they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive-tree, Heign thou over us. But the olive-tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith hy me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees ? And the trees said to the Jig -tree. Come thou, and reign over us. But the Jig-tree said unto them. Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to he pro- moted over the trees? Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. And the vine said unto them. Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to he promoted over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the bramhle. Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees. If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow : and if not, letjire come out of the hramble, aiid devour the cedars of Lebanon.
THE method of instructing by parables is of great antiquity : it obtained among the Jews from the earhest period of their history: but the first that is recorded, and indeed the first extant in the world, is that which w^e have just read. The peculiar excel- lence of that mode of instruction is, that it arrests the attention more forcibly, and conveys knowledge more easily, than a train of reasoning could do; and convinces the judgment, before that prejudice has had time to bar the entrance of truth into the mind. The parable before us is exceeding beautiful, and admirably adapted to the occasion on which it was spoken. That we may open it fully, we shall consider, I. The occasion of it —
Gideon had refused the promotion which all Israel had offered him —
[After the expulsion of the Midianites, " the men of Israel proposed to make Gideon their king, and to perpetuate that honour in his family : but Gideon, having no reason to think that this invitation was from God, and being desirous that God alone should be the king of his people, declined the honour, saying, " The Lord shall rule over you^." At the same time, wishing to preserve the remembrance of those astonish- ing victories which God had wrought for them by him, he requested his victorious soldiers to give him the golden ear- rings which they had taken from the Midianites, together with the chains which were about the necks of their camels : and with them he made a very splendid ephod, which was con- secrated u.nto God. Wliether he intended to make use of this ephod in the place of that which had been made for Aaron'', we cannot say ; but we have no doubt of his having sincerely intended to honour God by it ; though, alas ! through the proneness of the heart to superstition and idolatry, " it became a snare to him, and to his house '^." In a word, he affected not honour for himself and his family, but desired only that God should be glorified.]
After his death however, Abimelech aspired to, and gained, the throne of Israel —
[Gideon had seventy sons by many different wdves ; and, by a concubine, one, whom he called Abimelech. This bastard- son, being of an ambitious mind, made use of his mother's relations to impress the minds of the Shechemites with an
a Judg. viii. 22, 23. ^ Exod. xxviii. 6 — 12. <• Judg. viii. 27.
271. j JOTHAm's PAllADLi;. 49
idea, that all the seventy sons of Gideon would be so many petty tyrants among them ; and that it wovdd be better for them to have one king over them, than so many ; and that, if they vpere of that opinion, they w^ould do better to choose Abimelech, who was related to them, than any of the others, who had no particular interest in their welfare. Having thus insinuated himself into the favour of the Shechemites, he pre- vailed upon them to supply him with money out of the treasury of Baal-berith, their idol: and with that "he hired vain and light persons" to go with him and murder all his seventy bre- thren. What an awful proof is this, of the cruel nature of amhitio7i, which could instigate him to such an inhuman act ; and of the ease with which instruments may he pi'octired to perpetrate any evil that the human heart can conceive ! The deliberation with which this bloody man executed his project, was truly astonishing : one would have supposed, at least, that he would murder them all hastily in their beds ; but, as though he delighted in that accursed work, he brought them all forth, and " slew them all on one stone'^.'"' Jotham alone, the youngest of them all, escaped : and, when he was informed that Abimelech had been made king, he availed himself of an opportunity which some public meeting of the Shechemites afforded him, to stand on Mount Gerizim, and address the principal inhabitants. His address was short, as one Avould naturally expect : but it was much to the purpose ; and it was contained in the parable which we have read, together with a brief application of it to their own conduct.]