of them also took refuge in a tower, he proceeded to use the same stratagem against them : but being grown incautious from success, he went too near the tower, so that a woman threw a piece of a millstone upon his head, and brake his skull : and he, indignant at the thought of being killed by a woman, " ordered his armour-bearer to slay him, that it might not be said, A woman slew him™."
Behold now how exactly the parable was verified! " God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and his subjects," on purpose that their ingratitude to Gideon and his family might be punished"; and the issue of the contest, as the historian remarks, was a literal accomplishment of Jotham's prediction ; Abimelech and the Shechemites mutually proving a scourge and a curse to each other".]
From this history then we may learn,
1. To be unambitious in prosperity —
[Never had man a better opportunity to gratify ambition than Gideon: yet he forbore to do it, and preferred the station which God in his providence had assigned him. In this he was truly wise. The acquisition of power is, in fact, the dere- liction of ease. The increase of comforts by means of it bears no proportion to the increase of cares. Solomon in all his grandeur found nothing but "vanity and vexation of spirit." Jeremiah's advice to Baruch is worthy the attention of all : " Seekest thou great things unto thyself? seek them not."]
2. To be patient in adversity —
[Great indeed was the cause of complaint which Jotham had both against Abimelech and the Shechemites: yet behold, here were no invectives against them : he contented himself with simply declaring in God's name his testimony against them. Had he been an uninterested person, he could not have borne his testimony in milder terms. This is a pattern which we shall do well to follow. Let us therefore ** not render evil for evil, or railing for railing," but " commit ourselves to Him who judgeth righteously."]
3. To look forw^ard to a future time of retribution — [We may appear for a season to succeed, and to reap a
pleasant fruit from the iniquities we have sown. But what did Abimelech's success avail him at the end of three years ? and what thinks he of all his murders at this hour ? So we may appear to succeed in the acquisition of unlawful pleasures or dishonest gains: but what shall we reap from such practices in a little time? and what comfort will our confederates in iniquity afford us at the last day ? Now the vile seducer or the base
I" ver. 50—54. " ver. 23, 24. o ver. 56, 57.
272.~1 jephthah's vow. Tjo
adulterer may rejoice in, and with, his guilty companions: but what execrations will they mutually vent against each other, when God's time is come ! Know ye, Beloved, that "evil pur- sueth sinners;" and " though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished."]